"Record labels need to treat their artists as valuable employees with a livable wage and health insurance and protection. Labels, we got you – but do you got us?” - Chappell Roan, 2025 Grammy Awards.

 

It was the year of the “new” artist at this year’s Grammy Awards. Every single nominee in the Best New Artist category was featured and while Sabrina Carpenter and Chappell Roan got their own stand-alone performances, the others performed a high-energy back-to-back medley that truly had me out my seat the entire time. More on that electrifying performance later, but let’s start with the Best New Artist Grammy winner, who I predicted last week at The Squawk, even though, if we’re keeping it real, she was as much of a sure thing as you can get.  

The Grammys broadcast was dominated by the girls, since women dominated the music industry in 2024. Out of the 8 nominees for Best New Artist, 5 of them are female. If you all recall, it was only six years ago when former Recording Academy CEO Neil Portnow said that women in music needed to “step up” in order to be recognized at the Grammys. Now with the inclusion of three thousand new board members, the committee is much more well-rounded, allowing for a result that better represents the culture. I guess the girls really “stepped up”, didn’t they? Not that they ever needed to. With Chappell Roan taking home the award for Best New Artist, she’s now the eighth woman in a row to win the award. Her unapologetic acceptance speech seemed like a full circle moment as she has been open about her difficult path to making it in the music industry. The way that she was able to command her respect on that stage is something to be celebrated, because let’s face it, that was never the case before. Artists always had to do exactly what they were told for fear of being blackballed by the labels. If last night showed us anything, it’s that the more successful Chappell is, the louder she’ll be about calling it out.   

 

Chappell’s stage presence was on full display during her performance of “Pink Pony Club” which to me was the shiniest and gayest thing I’ve seen on TV this year so far. It’s quite magical as well to see both Chappell Roan and Lady Gaga on the same award show, as a lot of Chappell’s costumes and general style reminds me of the early Gaga days. Chappell’s Best New Artist, to me, is redemption for Gaga not getting hers. Especially since the rules of the category have changed drastically since the days of Gaga being a new artist. Now, an artist like Sabrina Carpenter, who actually is on their sixth album can be eligible for nomination, given that it was a “breakout” year for her, and my what a breakout.

 

Miss Carpenter manifested this major evening back in 2019, further reinforcing that when you manifest something out into the world, it just may come back to you two times over. 

Sabrina Carpenter's tweet

Sabrina may not have been the Grammys Best New Artist but she did win in the Best Pop Solo Performance and the Best Pop Vocal Album categories so, among the new artist nominees, she actually won the most awards, cementing her birth as the next greatest pop superstar has happened in front of our very eyes over the last year. Because it’s not just about the music, it’s also about the performance of pop stardom. 

One thing I truly appreciate about Sabrina is how committed she is to her image, the Betty Boop style pinup girl that is all cartoon yet sexy all at once? Her performance was comedy, sex, and vocals, a triple threat. We got tap dancing! A blue sparkly showgirl number! A jazz remix of “Espresso”! I could go on and on, but the fact is nobody was having more fun through all this than Sabrina. 

 

Between Chappell Roan and Sabrina Carpenter, the show was barely an hour in before the rookies completely took over, reinforcing the general consensus that this year was one of the strongest years for breakthroughs.

From one breakthrough to another, another lady that made her presence known last night was Doechii. She makes history for becoming only the third female artist after Lauryn Hill and Cardi B to win the Grammy for Best Rap Album. The fact that it was Cardi B who was the one presenting Doechii with the award makes this the perfect moment for female rappers everywhere. That moment when she corrects herself in her acceptance speech from two to three women who have won… I could watch that on replay time after time. 

 

As Dionne Warwick said: 

Dionne is right, Doechii is a star in every sense of the word. Her flow is reminiscent to that of Left Eye, with her theatrical delivery, bouncy beats to accompany them and electrifying stage presence. Her performance of “CATFISH” and “DENIAL IS A RIVER” made her one of the top trending topics on X with over 335k tweets at a time at one point. If the reaction of the stars in the room, and the audience on social media, is any indication, one could argue it was the best performance of the night. It was giving Missy Elliott with a 2025 edge and a hint of Salt n’ Pepa’s spice. When I say that my music taste is mixing old with the new, Doechii is the exact artist I can use as an example of that. She takes the best things about female rap of the past and matches it to today’s standards. She truly is the one – and wow, I’m just so glad the Grammy’s got it right.

 

As Beyoncé sings in her 2016 classic “Formation”, you know you that bitch when you cause that conversation. If that’s the case, then Benson Boone needs to join Doechii in that baddie category, because his little Freddie Mercury bodysuit and charming performance of “Beautiful Things” caused its own conversation online.

Let’s call a spade a spade: Benson is cute, the kind of cute where I feel I need to make him dinner and take care of him so he can be rested before he heads to work in the morning. Plus, his energy is needed in music today. The Freddie Mercury energy is refreshing, and gives me hope that the new generation of artists have truly done their homework on the greats that arrived before them. From his thrilling summersault off the piano, to his now viral “adjustment” at the end, this performance was the gift that kept on giving for online meme creators everywhere (for better or worse lol). The internet being the internet, there’s definitely a good portion out there letting this boy have it, but hey I loved the performance, jokes be damned. 

Benson was just the first of the boys who also had their shine this year. Other nominees like Teddy Swims have been referenced in previous editions of my “MC’s Music Lounge” column right here on LG. Swims’ latest record was just dropped a few weeks ago. His stunning performance of hit #1 smash hit “Lose Control” is sure to drive up interest in that project, if the GIVEON and Muni Long collabs weren’t enough (Muni Long took home her own Grammy last night as well). 

It is an honour to just be nominated, or at least that’s what the powers that be try to tell you. Most of the time that is the case, but there’s the odd time where it’s just confusing as to why an artist doesn’t take home at least one trophy, and in my opinion, the greatest snub of the night was Shaboozey. “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” was easily the biggest song of 2024. His performance had the entire Grammy audience on their feet, spreading joy across the faces of all our fave celebs. Unfortunately, that didn’t translate to a win because he was completely shut out of all five categories he was nominated in. It is not abnormal for an artist to come out with no wins, after all, both Billie Eilish and Taylor Swift lost all their awards last night. The difference is that those two didn’t have the biggest song of the year, which in turn became the song with most weeks at #1 on Billboard in history. I was particularly shocked to see Kacey Musgraves take the Best Country Song category over him, and from the looks of the conversation online, I’m not the only person who felt this way. 

 

The beauty of the Grammys is the potential to reach multiple demographics. Yes, you have Gen Z watching with their phones open ready to go straight to X or TikTok and discuss. You also have the Gen X’ers and Boomers watching on cable TV, like my mother who was particularly taken with the performance from one of Britain’s greatest exports, RAYE. I knew that she was going to tear the house down with her powerhouse Amy Winehouse meets Whitney Houston vocals. What I didn’t expect was the text from my mother saying “Who was that last singer! She was great!”. Once you get the attention of the moms, you know you’ve made it, baby. If nothing at all, RAYE made her mark on the North American Grammy stage. 

https://x.com/finelinerica/status/1886241182545531072

Every year we get an incredible crop of new artists that make up the nominees for the coveted award, the one category that you can only win once. There was something special in the air this year though. Every nominee stood out in their own unique way, and made their own stamp on the evening. This year’s Grammys ceremony as a whole was for me one of the most entertaining telecasts in years. Star power, talent, and virtually no major upsets. A great Grammys to cap off a great year in music. 

I’ll be back tomorrow with a new edition of MC’s Music Lounge, but until then you can enjoy this playlist of this year’s Grammy rookies for your listening pleasure. 

 

 

Several artists including Chappell Roan, Sabrina Carpenter, Doechii, Benson Boone, Shaboozey, and Raye attended the 67th GRAMMY Awards.
Photo credits: Fernando Allende/ Broadimage Entertainment/ David Fisher/ Shutterstock, Lisa OConnor/ AFF-USA.com/ MEGA/ WENN

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