Grammys 2025 LIVE updates: Beyoncé finally wins album of the year; Not Like Us named song of the year

Thank you for joining us for all the fun, chaos and nakedness that was the 67th Grammy Awards. They were far from Short ’n Sweet, but you can catch up on all the drama in music writer Robert Moran’s wrap here.

Well, that’s it for another year. The 67th Grammy Awards have come to a close. Taking place just weeks after wildfires burnt through Los Angeles, the lingering impact loomed large over the evening.

Despite the sombre mood, the awards ceremony doubled as a changing of the guard, as pop’s new bright lights, Sabrina Carpenter, Charli XCX and Chappell Roan, stole the show.

Was it the most memorable Grammys of all time? No. Did it get the tone right for a city in recovery? Probably. So, what did we learn tonight? Here are five key takeaways from the Grammys.

Taylor Swift had a quiet night: Zero from six as pop’s new girls take over

Don’t say it too loudly, but could Taylor Swift’s stranglehold on pop music be waning? Swift was up for six awards but ended up going home empty-handed as the Grammys celebrated a changing of the guard. Instead, the night belonged to Sabrina Carpenter and Chappell Roan.

Chappell Roan, Charli XCX and Sabrina Carpenter dominated the 67th Grammy Awards. Credit: Compiled by Monique Westermann.

Roan was named best new artist and Carpenter took out best pop vocal performance and best pop solo performance. Admittedly, Swift seemed to take it all in her stride, spending the night dancing away and cheering on others. Whether she channels this loss into a new bruising album remains to be seen. As for the big bad Brat? Charli XCX took home two trophies, but it was her wonderfully chaotic closing performance that fans will remember.

The naked truth: Did Kanye get kicked out?

Say what you want about the artist formerly known as Kanye West, he knows how to hijack an awards ceremony. Ye rocked up on the Grammys red carpet alongside his Australian partner, Bianca Censori, who was dressed in a sheer stocking. Naturally, everyone lost their minds despite the fact Censori has made a habit of wearing very little.

Things got even weirder when unsubstantiated rumours started to spread that Ye and Censori had been escorted from the ceremony, possibly by the police!

Kanye West and Bianca Censori at the 67th annual Grammy Awards.Credit: AP

As with most stories involving Ye, the truth is unclear, but ultimately, the stunt seems to have paid off: once again, everyone is talking about Ye.

Trevor Noah: Fifth time not a charm

It’s not an easy job to host an awards ceremony in a city that is still dealing with the aftermath of a natural disaster. However, in his fifth time hosting, Trevor Noah failed to get the balance right, with laughs benched in favour of earnest musings about the power of Los Angeles.

Noah spent much of the night rattling the tin and reminding viewers to scan a QR code on their screen to donate to charities. Admirable as it may be, viewers still deserve a bit of light entertainment, and Noah failed to deliver.

Beyoncé finally wins album of the year: Cowboy Carter

They said it couldn’t be done! Many believed that, having been constantly overlooked for album of the year, despite notching up 99 nominations, Beyoncé might never win the big one.

Beyoncé accepts the award for best country album for Cowboy Carter.Credit: Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP

However, not for the first time, Beyoncé reminded us all that you should bet against her at your peril. The win also proves that country music has taken over the zeitgeist. Giddy up!

Hometown Hero: Tame Impala’s Kevin Parker lands first Grammy

It may not have been the most successful Grammys for Australian artists, but at least we can sleep easy knowing Tame Impala’s Kevin Parker has finally landed a long-deserved Grammy. Parker was recognised for his work with Justice on Neverender, which won the award for best dance/electronic recording, but sadly Troye Sivan missed out.

Beyoncé has finally done it. She has taken home the Grammy for album of the year, the one award that has eluded her for decades.

Despite already being the most-awarded Grammy artist in history (she claimed this title in 2023 with her album Renaissance), she had never been able to secure the coveted best album award. In fact, Beyoncé has been nominated, and missed out, four times previously.

In 2010, her album I Am... Sasha Fierce was passed over for Taylor Swift’s Fearless. Five years later, she received a nod for her self-titled album, Beyoncé. However, this was pipped by Beck’s Morning Phase.

Taylor Swift (left) presenting the award for best country album to Beyoncé for Cowboy Carter.Credit: AP

Confusion (and anger) around her misfortune in the category began to rise in 2017 when Adele’s 25 beat Beyoncé’s critically acclaimed Lemonade, an album that many consider her best and most vulnerable studio album to date. While accepting the trophy, Adele said she couldn’t “possibly accept this award”, adding that Lemonade was a “monumental” album.

The final disappointment came in 2023 when Harry Styles’ Harry’s House beat Renaissance. Since then, Beyoncé’s husband, Jay-Z, has been very vocal about his disappointment in the Recording Academy for overlooking her groundbreaking work time after time.

Jay-Z during the Grammy Awards.Credit: AP

“She has more Grammys than anyone and never won album of the year. So even by your own metrics, that doesn’t work,” he said while accepting the Dr. Dre Global Impact Award at last year’s Grammys ceremony.

But this wrong has finally been corrected. Not only does she now have more Grammys than anyone (she has 35 after her latest win), Beyoncé is also the first Black woman to win album of the year since Lauryn Hill won with The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill in 1999.

Members of the “Beyhive” (and Jay-Z) can finally rejoice. The queen has done it.

In an emotional touch, a group of the city’s firefighters are brought out to present the night’s top prize, album of the year. And it goes to Cowboy Carter. Beyoncé has finally smashed her album of the year ceiling. This is huge.

She accepted the award flanked by her daughter Blue Ivy – and with Taylor Swift doing champagne salutes with Jay-Z down in the crowd.

“I just feel very full and very honoured. It’s been many, many years,” Beyonce laughed onstage.

She dedicated the win to “Miss Martell” – Linda Martell, the black female country pioneer who featured on Cowboy Carter – and added: “I hope we can keep pushing forward, opening doors.”

Beyonce accepts the award for album of the year with daughter Blue Ivy.Credit: Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP

Robbed for Lemonade, passed over with Renaissance, and it’s the country album that finally did it. You’ve gotta say, it feels like a make-up prize – especially after Jay-Z’s blistering speech last year, where he railed the Grammys for continually overlooking his wife in the top prizes, but you can’t say it’s not deserved.

Beyoncé finally gets album of the year, and a Grammys that seemed to tiptoe into the future – in terms of major wins for black artists, for an oft overlooked genre like hiphop, and for pop’s brightest young new stars – gets its happy ending.

It isn’t a party until Charli XCX, aka the UK’s pop-rave queen, takes the stage (though we have to give credit to Shakira’s performance for at least getting the party started).

Honestly, I don’t know where her performance began exactly – I’m assuming underneath the arena? If so, that’s very on-brand for her. She rocked up in a big, black SUV before leading a large group of party-goers up to the main Grammys space while singing club hit Von Dutch.

Charli XCX brings the party to the 67th annual Grammy Awards.Credit: Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP

She then transformed the stage into an all-out rave during Guess, a naughty track she co-created with Billie Eilish. People were making out, undressing, writhing on the ground. To sum up, it was sex on stage (featuring Julia Fox). Looking at some of the shocked faces in the audience was priceless.

During her opening video montage aired before the performance, Charli said she wanted to cause a bit of a stir. I think it’s safe to say she fulfilled the assignment.

Whose songwriting prowess spoke to us the most this past year? Kendrick Lamar for his diss track Not Like Us.

This win is quite the achievement given Lamar was up against the likes of Shaboozey’s A Bar Song (Tipsy), which was the longest-running No. 1 single of 2024, and Chappell Roan’s breakout track Good Luck, Babe!, which cuts through internalised homophobia like a knife through butter.

It’s also quite a shock choice for the typically conservative Recording Academy given the context behind the song, which is all about taking Drake down (and calling him a paedophile).

“There’s nothing more powerful than rap music. We are the culture,” Lamar said after accepting the award – his fifth Grammy of the night (out of seven nominations). “To the young artists … I just hope you respect the art form, it’ll get you where you need to go.”

Kendrick Lamar poses in the press room with the award for record of the year, best rap performance, best rap song, best music video and song of the year.Credit: Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP

And we must take a moment for the presenter of this award: the absolutely iconic Diana Ross. Yes, the Diana Ross, who floated onto the stage like an angel in her bejewelled white get-up. The crowd buzzed for her.

For those scratching their heads over what the difference is between song of the year and record of the year, the former celebrates achievements in the art of songwriting (think poetry in the form of music). Meanwhile, the latter celebrates the year’s best single.

Queen Latifah presents Alicia Keys with the Dr Dre Global Impact Award. She uses her speech to discuss the plight of women in the recording industry.

“I always had to fight for a certain level of respect as a songwriter and composer, and especially a producer. It’s strange that we don’t think of women as producers like Quincy or Dre or Swizzy,” Keys says, noting her husband Swizz Beats.

Alicia Keys accepts the Dr. Dre Global Impact Award.Credit: Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP

“It’s a beautiful feeling to be acknowledged for a thing I always thought people didn’t really recognise about me.”

It’s quite touching and the crowd get on their feet, even though her most famous song echoes the wrong city (Nooo Yaaaawk!).

The most truthful hips in music have stormed onto the Grammys stage.

Fresh from winning her fourth Grammy for Las Mujeres Ya No Lloran, which took home the trophy for best Latin pop album, Shakira performed a medley of her hits.

While fans hoped they might see Shakira and Beyoncé perform their 2006 record, Beautiful Liar, there was no such luck. Though Shakira did check in with Beyoncé as she made her way through the crowd.

The birthday girl (Shakira turns 48 today!) proved why she remains an industry icon, earning a standing ovation from the crowd.

Well, this is uncomfortable for everyone – not least for Drake, the world’s biggest rapper currently watching this somewhere in Melbourne. Record of the year, one of the night’s biggest prizes, is a shock result: it goes to Kendrick Lamar for Not Like Us.

It’s a stunning result, especially considering the song is, infamously, the diss track where Lamar insinuated that Drake is a paedophile. It’s currently at the centre of a lawsuit from Drake, too.

Beyond that, it’s also only the second rap song to ever claim the prize, after Childish Gambino’s This is America in 2019.

Kendrick Lamar (left) accepts the record of the year award for Not Like Us.Credit: Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP

But really, who can deny it? Record of the year is the category celebrating performer and production, and Kendrick’s intensity over that Mustard beat made this a worldwide smash.

“We gonna dedicate this one to the city,” Kendrick says accepting the win, before roll-calling every suburb in south central LA. A real win for the home team, just a week before Kendrick’s set to perform at the Super Bowl.

Drake, this will all end soon (maybe).

It shouldn’t be too much of a surprise that Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars scooped best pop duo/group performance tonight – their masterful ballad Die With a Smile is like catnip for Grammys voters.

Beating out collabs including Us (Gracie Abrams and Taylor Swift) and Levii’s Jeans (Post Malone and Beyoncé), the pair took the opportunity to sing each other’s praises.

“Gaga, I’m so honoured to be part of this song with you. I’m so honoured to be a small part in your giant musical legacy. I believe God gave us this song to sing together,” Mars said of his collaborator.

Gaga similarly complimented Mars, saying she “doesn’t know music without Bruno”. She then took the opportunity to defend trans rights.

“I want to say tonight that trans people are not invisible. Trans people deserve love, they deserve to be lifted up. Music is love,” she said while seemingly holding back tears.

Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars.Credit: Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP