This year marked the 68th annual Grammy Awards held at the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles, California on Sunday, Feb. 1. Trevor Noah hosted for the sixth and final time. This year included two new awards: Best Traditional Country Album, won by Zach Top’s “Ain’t In It For My Health” and Best Album Cover, won by Tyler, the Creator’s “Chromakopia.” The Grammys featured performances from all Best New Artist nominees, Sabrina Carpenter, Lady Gaga, Justin Bieber, Rosé and Bruno Mars and many more.
The Best New Artist Award is one of the four main awards handed out at the Grammys, and fans were on the edge of their seats to see who won between the eight talented artists. All of the nominees performed back-to-back in an incredible spectacle. The Marías, an indie pop band, performed their hit song “No One Noticed” and included a verse from the extended Spanish edition. Addison Rae, a pop singer, performed her song “Fame Is A Gun.” Rae’s song ended, leading into the next nominee’s song accompanied by a choreographed dance, “Gnarly” by Katseye, a K-pop girl group. Leon Thomas, R&B singer and former child actor, performed his song, “Mutt” and later in the night won Best R&B album and Best Traditional R&B performance. Alex Warren sang the song no one could escape in 2025, “Ordinary.” There was unfortunately a malfunction with his earpiece, either way his performance was still very impressive. Sombr, an alternative indie singer, sang his song “12 to 12” and jumped into the crowd to dance. Olivia Dean, soul-pop singer and the winner of this category, performed her hit song “Man I Need.” Lola Young belted out her song “Messy” which went on to win Best Pop Solo Performance. Last year, Chappell Roan won this award, and she came back to announce it this year.
Billie Eilish won Song of the Year for “Wildflower,” beating Lady Gaga, Doechii, Rosé and Bruno Mars, Bad Bunny, “Golden” from K-Pop Demon Hunters, Kendrick Lamar with SZA and Sabrina Carpenter. Last year, this award was won by Kenrick Lamar for “Not Like Us.” Some fans were confused how this song appeared on the nominee list, because it came out in early 2024. In the 2025 Grammy Awards, Billie was nominated for seven Grammys, and won none of them, to many fans’ disappointment as they thought she deserved many of them. Eilish decided to release “Wildflower” as a single again in February 2025, putting it in the window to be nominated in this year’s Grammy Awards. Billie Eilish’s fans were shocked but extremely excited for her win, and most believe it was well deserved.
Record of the Year went to Kendrick Lamar with SZA for their hit song “Luther.” Last year, Kenrick Lamar also won for his song “Not Like Us.” Some don’t know this, but Song of the Year focuses more on the songwriting and Record of the Year focuses more on the artist, producers, engineers, performance and production of a song. Other nominees for Record of the Year were Bad Bunny, Sabrina Carpenter, Doechii, Billie Eilish, Lady Gaga, Chappell Roan and Rosé and Bruno Mars. The whole group of producers, songwriters, other song contributors and of course the singers, went on stage to accept the award.
The biggest award of the night, Album of the Year, has been highly anticipated. Last year, Beyoncé won for her country album, “Cowboy Carter.” This year it was won by Puerto Rican singer Bad Bunny’s album, “Debí Tirar Más Fotos” beating Justin Bieber, Sabrina Carpenter, Clipse, Pusha T and Malice, Lady Gaga, Kendrick Lamar, Leon Thomas and Tyler, the Creator. This was a historic win, marking it the first time an album performed primarily in Spanish has won Album of the Year. Bad Bunny also headlined the Super Bowl on Sunday, Feb. 8.
Other notable winners include best new artist nominee Lola Young winning Best Pop Solo Performance for “Messy,” Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande with Best Pop Duo/Group Performance for “Defying Gravity” and Lady Gaga winning Best Pop Vocal Album for “Mayhem.”
This year’s 68th annual Grammy Awards was full of historic wins and iconic performances. Next year, the Grammys will not be hosted by Trevor Noah, who has hosted for the last six years, but it is unknown who will be the new host. Watch out for any new artists, songs or albums that could be featured in next year’s Grammy Awards. The cut off is around Aug. 30th, so anything released from Aug. 30th of 2025 to 2026 could be in next year’s Grammys.
