Grammy Awards 2025: Beyoncé & Kendrick Lamar clinch top honours

While Southern California continues to grapple with the devastation caused by recent wildfires, the music industry in the US organised its first major event since the crisis began: the 67th Annual Grammy Awards. However, considering the recent tragedy, the Recording Academy, which hosts the event, reimagined the Grammys to not only celebrate music but also raise additional funds for wildfire relief efforts and recognise the bravery of first responders who risked their lives to protect others. The premiere ceremony, which preceded the main event, officially opened this year’s Grammys with a heartfelt tribute to first responders and wildfire victims. It also saw the announcement of winners in 84 of the total 94 categories.

Leading the Grammy nominations this year was American singer-songwriter Beyoncé, who secured an impressive 11 nods and set a new record for the most nominations in a single year by a female artiste. This brought her total Grammy nominations to 99, making her the most-nominated artiste in the history of the awards - surpassing the previous record of 88, which she shared with her husband Jay-Z. Her latest album ‘Cowboy Carter’ (2024) also became the third-most-nominated album in Grammy history. Following closely behind, Charli XCX and Post Malone earned eight nominations each, while Kendrick Lamar and Billie Eilish received seven per artiste.

Despite Beyoncé leading the nominations, Kendrick Lamar dominated the event with his diss track ‘Not Like Us’, claiming five awards. Besides winning ‘Best Rap Performance’ and ‘Best Rap Song and Best Music Video’, the track also took home ‘Song of the Year’ and ‘Record of the Year’ titles. Meanwhile, Beyoncé’s ‘Cowboy Carter’ was named the ‘Album of the Year’ and ‘Best Country Album’. This is her first time winning ‘Album of the Year’. During the event, she also made history as the first Black female artiste to earn the Grammy for ‘Best Country Album’.

Indian American vocalist and entrepreneur Chandrika Tandon won the Grammy award for the album ‘Triveni’ in the ‘Best New Age, Ambient or Chant Album’ category. Tandon, also a global business leader and the older sister of former CEO of ‘PepsiCo’ Indra Nooyi, won the award along with her collaborators South African flautist Wouter Kellerman and Japanese cellist Eru Matsumoto. This was Tandon’s second Grammy nomination after 2009’s ‘Soul Call’ and first win.

Four-time Grammy winner and Indian tabla maestro Zakir Hussain was excluded from the ‘In Memoriam’ segment that was streamed live as part of the awards ceremony, leaving many Indian fans furious.

Hussain, however, found a mention on the ‘In Memoriam’ list on the official website of the Recording Academy, alongside ghazal maestro Pankaj Udhas, folk singer Sharda Sinha and sarod player Aashish Khan.

During the live event, the Grammys honoured musicians such as Liam Payne, Kris Kristofferson, Cissy Houston, Tito Jackson, Joe Chambers, Jack Jones, Mary Martin, Marianne Faithfull, Seiji Ozawa and Ella Jenkins.

Singer Chris Martin, fresh from the India leg of his band Coldplay’s world tour ‘Music of the Spheres’, performed the ‘In Memoriam tribute’ with guitarist Grace Bowers on his song ‘All My Love’.

The main event began at 6.30 am IST on Monday (8 pm EST on Sunday), with South African comedian and political commentator Trevor Noah returning as host for the fifth consecutive year.

Winners of 67th Grammy Awards

Album of the Year: ‘Cowboy Carter’ - Beyoncé

Song of the Year: ‘Not Like Us’ - Kendrick Lamar

Record of the Year: ‘Not Like Us’ - Kendrick Lamar

Best Pop Duo/Group Performance: ‘Die With A Smile’ - Lady Gaga & Bruno Mars

Producer of the Year (Non-Classical): Daniel Nigro

Best New Artist: Chappell Roan

Songwriter of the Year (Non-Classical): Amy Allen

Best Pop Solo Performance: ‘Espresso’ - Sabrina Carpenter

Best Pop Vocal Album: ‘Short n’ Sweet’ - Sabrina Carpenter

Best Dance Pop Recording: ‘Von Dutch’ - Charli XCX

Best Dance/Electronic Album: ‘Brat’ - Charli XCX

Best Rock Performance: ‘Now and Then’ - The Beatles

Best Metal Performance: ‘Mea Culpa (Ah! Ça ira!)’ - Gojira, Marina Viotti & Victor Le Masne

Best Rock Album: ‘Hackney Diamonds’ - The Rolling Stones

Best Alternative Music Performance: ‘Flea’ - St. Vincent

Best Alternative Music Album: ‘All Born Screaming’ - St. Vincent

Best R&B Album: ‘11:11 (Deluxe)’ - Chris Brown

Best Rap Performance: ‘Not Like Us’ - Kendrick Lamar

Best Melodic Rap Performance: ‘3’ - Rapsody Featuring Erykah Badu

Best Rap Song: ‘Not Like Us’ - Kendrick Lamar, songwriter (Kendrick Lamar)

Best Jazz Performance: ‘Twinkle Twinkle Little Me’ - Samara Joy Featuring Sullivan Fortner

Best Jazz Vocal Album: ‘A Joyful Holiday’ - Samara Joy

Best Jazz Instrumental Album: ‘Remembrance’ - Chick Corea & Béla Fleck

Best Latin Jazz Album: ‘Cubop Lives!’ - Zaccai Curtis, Luques Curtis, Willie Martinez, Camilo Molina & Reinaldo de Jesus

Best Alternative Jazz Album: ‘No More Water: The Gospel of James Baldwin’ - Meshell Ndegeocello

Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album: ‘Visions’ - Norah Jones

Best Contemporary Instrumental Album: ‘Plot Armor’ - Taylor Eigsti

Best Country Solo Performance: ‘It Takes A Woman’ - Chris Stapleton

Best Country Duo/Group Performance: ‘II Most Wanted’ - Beyoncé Featuring Miley Cyrus