The 2025 Grammys took place on Sunday, Feb. 2, 2025. Over the last couple of years, the Grammys have become quite controversial, and this year was no exception. Many of the selected winners were questionable, and some artists got robbed of well-earned awards. At this point, the Grammys are more about politics within the industry than the actual quality and meaning of the music.
One strong example of this from this year’s Grammys is the Album of the Year award. Beyoncé won this award for her album “Cowboy Carter.” This album was Beyoncé branching out into country music, earning it a Grammy for Country Album of the Year as well. It did hold much significance for the black community in that the country genre is white dominated. Beyoncé showed the rural black experience of the many colored people who live in the South or the Delta and identify with Beyoncé’s message. While this is important for representation, Beyoncé’s album musically speaking was not anything special or even popular with audiences. The songs became repetitive and the production did not add much to the music. Her collaborations were solid, but the album overall is not something people reach for and was mediocre compared to some of her previous work. This is reflected in how it charted in comparison to other albums nominated for this award. According to the New York Times, “Cowboy Carter” charted at number one for two weeks. This does not begin to compare to Taylor Swift’s “Tortured Poets Department” in popularity, which remained at number one for 17 weeks according to Billboard.
While “Cowboy Carter” was supposed to be Beyoncé’s step into the country genre, people have doubted if it has a real country feel. There are moments that hint toward country, but overall the album goes in many directions veering from the genre. The collaborations do not make sense for a country album, and the album does not sound cohesive. Other country artists who represented the genre at its core lost awards to an album that barely qualifies as country. “Cowboy Carter” winning Country Album of the Year without being true country music shows the Grammy’s focus on the standing of the artist making the music rather than what piece of work fits the category best.
Another example of the politics within the Grammys is Kendrick Lamar’s song “Not Like Us.” This record-breaking song won five Grammys this year: best music video, best rap performance, song of the year and record of the year (ABC news). “Not Like Us” was very popular among listeners this year. The main reason this song became so popular was not because it did anything particularly musically impressive, new or different, but because of the drama surrounding the song. In 2024, Kendrick Lamar and Drake had a very public argument, often communicating this in their music. “Not Like Us” is one of the songs that demonstrates this. In this song, Lamar calls out Drake in a variety of ways with his lyrics, alleging that Drake was involved with minors. The accusations made by Lamar in this song are what made it so famous, not its musical innovation.
The Grammys need to refocus on innovation within music or a well-put-together, perfectly crafted piece of music or album when choosing winners. This year, for example, Billie Eilish’s album “Hit Me Hard and Soft” was cohesive, meaningful and showed something new. It was her branching out, showing the industry something different. The songs on the album were different from each other, not blending together, but still sounding like they fit together. The album was a piece of art that was personal to the artist, and listeners could tell Eilish poured all she had into it. Eilish, however, won no awards for this album, even though it is undoubtedly her best work to date. Eilish got beat out in multiple categories by Beyoncé and Lamar, who arguably made music that was less meaningful or simply worse.
In all, the Grammys have become too much about politics and the situations surrounding music rather than the actual creativity and originality of the music. Award shows like the Grammys should be promoting innovation in music and focusing on cohesiveness and overall sound. The world asks to see a reboot of the Grammys in 2026 after this year’s disappointments.
