Sure! How about this reworded version: "The Grammys Finally Got It Right"

 This year's awards felt like they were coming from an alternate universe—both in good ways and bad.

Beyoncé accepts the Best Country Album award from Taylor Swift at the Grammys.

Feb 03, 202510:04 AM

The 2025 Grammys coincided with Groundhog Day, offering an easy setup for a joke about the show being stuck in a loop, repeating the same mistakes year after year. But this time, there was a twist, and the evening ended more like the conclusion of the 1993 film Groundhog Day, where the protagonist finally escapes his endless cycle and wakes up to a new day, breaking the pattern.

Does that seem like an exaggeration of Beyoncé’s long-awaited win for Cowboy Carter as Album of the Year? Maybe. After all, Beyoncé is already the most nominated and awarded artist in Grammy history. And while Cowboy Carter has its highs, it’s arguably her least consistent album in the last decade, with some critics saying it’s overhyped. The situation is often compared to Martin Scorsese winning an Oscar for The Departed in 2007, after decades of iconic work.

Even so, Beyoncé’s win symbolized something significant. Her past Grammy snubs, especially when her albums were passed over in favor of less groundbreaking works from white artists, had become a symbol of the Recording Academy’s resistance to acknowledging major shifts in music, especially Black music and hip-hop. For years, the Grammys favored familiar, comfort-zone choices, with a voting body skewed toward older white men. This is why, despite deserving nominees, other artists were probably relieved not to win, like Taylor Swift and Billie Eilish, who walked away empty-handed despite multiple nominations. Swift, known for her competitive nature, was seen celebrating Beyoncé’s win with a little extra force, raising her champagne glass like a sword.

Beyoncé wasn’t alone in her victory—Kendrick Lamar also made history, winning both Record of the Year and Song of the Year for Not Like Us. This is the first time a rap song has won in either of these categories (apart from Childish Gambino’s This Is America in 2019). Normally, hip-hop is confined to its own genre categories, so Lamar’s win felt groundbreaking. His night, which included five Grammy wins, stood in stark contrast to Drake’s much quieter evening. When the crowd sang along to the song’s cutting barbs, one line in particular seemed to strike a chord: “it’s probably A minoooor.” As a Canadian, it felt like salt in an open wound, especially with Trump’s tariffs looming over the country that night.

The 2025 Grammys marked a turning point, but its timing was bittersweet. While the evening celebrated progress, it felt a little out of place given the political climate. The show’s focus on the wildfires in Los Angeles, without acknowledging their link to climate change, felt like a missed opportunity to make a broader statement, especially as the U.S. withdrew from the Paris Agreement. While artists like Chappell Roan and Lady Gaga made bold statements about social issues, few explicitly linked their causes to the harm being done by the current administration. In a time when political action feels more urgent, the Grammys seemed hesitant to confront these issues head-on.

Still, the event’s progress wasn’t entirely lost. Beyoncé’s win was monumental, but the show also showcased a new wave of talent, like Doechii, who delivered a standout performance, and Sabrina Carpenter, whose mix of camp and charm stood out. Despite some stumbles, such as a tearaway outfit moment that didn’t quite land, these performances proved that the Grammys are evolving.

In all, the 2025 Grammys broke the cycle in more ways than one. It wasn’t perfect, but it moved toward a more inclusive future, even if the world outside the ceremony seemed to be moving backward.