Kendrick Lamar gains five wins for one song; Beyoncé finally wins Album Of The Year; Doechii becomes the third woman ever to win Best Rap Album. I’ll give my thoughts and opinions on this eventful night, award by award.
Album of the Year: Beyoncé – ‘Cowboy Carter’
After fifteen years of nominations in this category, Beyoncé finally won the award on her fifth try for venturing into the Country genre. Although this may not have been her best effort compared to the other five, she was long overdue for the accolade, and The Grammys agreed. My favourite album of those nominated would have to be ‘HIT ME HARD AND SOFT’ by Billie Eilish, but given that she’s already won in this category before with a better album, I wasn’t too bothered she missed out this time. I also would have loved to see Andre 3000 win with his instrumental flute album, but that was unlikely and I was just happy to see it nominated. I wouldn’t have minded ‘Brat’ taking it after its huge success throughout the summer, but overall, Beyoncé’s win made sense.
Record of the Year: Kendrick Lamar – ‘Not Like Us’
This was the clear winner in my eyes and I’m happy that it took it home and became the first diss track to win the award. This song dominated most of 2024 after Lamar’s hugely successful year, and the West Coast production, led by Mustard, certainly deserved the praise. I think The Grammys made the right decision here. If I had to choose the next best option, it would be any of them except, The Beatles and their AI-driven song ‘Now and Then’, and ‘Fortnight’ By Taylor Swift and Post Malone. I’m still shocked that either of them got nominated!
Song of the Year: Kendrick Lamar – Not Like Us
I was confident that either Billie Eilish or Bruno Mars and Lady Gaga would win this award, so I was pleasantly surprised when I saw that Lamar took home Song of the Year too. Although I would have liked to see ‘Birds of a Feather’ win, ‘Not Like Us’ was my favourite of those nominated, so I can’t complain. You could also make the argument that it was lucky to have even been nominated, as Eilish chose ‘Lunch’ to be the lead single for her 2024 album and ‘Birds of a Feather’ seemed to have only become a single due to its popularity on TikTok. I was disappointed to see Taylor Swift and Shaboozey nominated, but what can you expect when they were two of the biggest songs of the year and The Grammys always gravitate towards popularity?
Best New Artist: Chappell Roan
I was expecting Sabrina Carpenter to win this one, but I knew it always had to be between her and Roan. I’m glad Roan won since Carpenter really shouldn’t have been considered a new artist, ‘Short n’ Sweet’ being her sixth studio album and not the first to be widely successful. My first choice to win would have been Doechii, not only because of her music being innovative and entertaining, but also her brilliant marketing that got her worldwide fame and a new record label deal with Kendrick Lamar’s pgLang. Raye would have also been a great winner and her performance on the night was breathtaking. However, I’m not mad at Roan’s win and think it was well deserved.
Now that we’ve covered the general field awards, it’s time to take a look at the Rap and R&B winners.
Best Rap Performance: Kendrick Lamar – ‘Not Like Us’
Lamar was pretty much guaranteed to win this award, either with his feature on Metro Boomin and Future’s ‘Like That’ which started the rap battle between him and Drake, or with his smash hit ‘Not Like Us’, which ended the beef and crowned Lamar the unanimous winner. I’m glad the latter was chosen. It was another good choice from the Grammys. It was also nice to see Common, Pete Rock and Doechii get nominated in this category.
Best Rap Song: Kendrick Lamar – ‘Not Like Us’
The same can be said again for this award; It was always going to be between ‘Like That’ and the winner. Kanye West’s ‘Carnival’ being nominated in this category made me lose all faith in The Grammys but at least it didn’t win. Glorilla was also a poor choice but Rapsody’s ‘Asteroids’ was tasteful and deserved.
Best Melodic Rap Performance: Rapsody, Erykah Badu – 3:AM
I’m happy with this choice as I think Rapsody’s laid-back delivery paired well with Badu’s graceful vocals deserved the applause. I think ‘We Still Don’t Trust You’ by Future and Metro Boomin featuring The Weeknd was a good cut and also deserving of the award.
Best Rap Album: Doechii – Alligator Bites Never Heal
I am very pleased to see Doechii take home this award as this record was my favourite of the nominations. I think 2025 will be a big year for Doechii and this is a great start. Collaboration albums ‘We Don’t Trust You’ by Metro Boomin and Future, and ‘The Auditorium, Vol 1’ by Common and Pete Rock also would have been good choices. I was expecting Eminem to win but I am very glad he didn’t as I wasn’t a fan of ‘The Death Of Slim Shady’.
Best R&B Performance: Muni Long – Made For Me (Live On BET)
This being the live recording of the song gave Muni Long the opportunity to showcase her vocals without any edits or effects and this performance is an extremely impressive one. I think this was a deserved win for Long. However, I would have preferred to see Jhene Aiko win with ‘Guidance’ and her heavenly vocals on the relaxed track. I think all of the nominations are pretty decent selections and all of them have great R&B performances.
Best R&B Song: SZA – Saturn
Although this is one of SZA’s weaker songs, I still enjoy it and think the win was deserved. It fits better that this won best song rather than best performance. I think Muni Long with the captivating ‘Ruined Me’ would have been a good choice too. I also think Coco Jones’ ‘Here We Go (Uh Oh) is a lovely, luxurious melody and glad that it got both in this category and Best R&B Performance too.
Best Traditional R&B Performance: Lucky Daye – ‘That’s You’
Every nomination in this category deserves to be here and are all beautiful, slow R&B tracks. That being said, I have no complaints about Daye being the winner with his groovy ‘That’s You’. I would have liked to see Muni Long win with her clean song, ‘Make Me Forget’.
Best R&B Album: Chris Brown – 11:11 (Deluxe)
The popularity bias seemed to influence a lot on this award as I’m not sure that Brown was the best album out of the bunch but it certainly was the most popular. I believe that Muni Long was the rightful winner with her modern record, ‘Revenge’. Lucky Daye could have also been a good pick, but unfortunately, The Grammys made the wrong decision here.
In summary, this year was a pretty good year of selections from The Grammys, where most of the time, the best piece nominated won. This may be due to the increased range in voter demographics this year to create a more included and fair system. However, the same can be said this year as every other year I’ve followed The Grammys; They can’t help but be swayed dramatically by whatever was popular throughout the year. Especially in the main categories, there are many brilliant albums, artists and songs that get completely ignored and insulted by watching mediocre counterparts take their spots. Unfortunately, I think we just have to accept that there will always be people unappreciated by The Grammys every year, but at least they aren’t as bad as The Brit Awards. I congratulate The Grammys for giving credit to good music this year and the Artists who won or got nominated.