Stevie G: 'No doubt Beyoncé should have received Grammy before now'

The 2025 Grammys took place earlier this month in the midst of a fairly turbulent time for music and culture in the United States and elsewhere. Being in LA, only weeks after forest fires spread devastation in the area, there were a lot of references to the fires and obviously there was some fundraising too. The physical images of some of the iconic areas going up in flames are still fresh, but arguably there was also a different kind of vulnerability on display.

The awards took place with the backdrop of a music community not only recently ravaged by forest fires, but one where many are concerned by the latest changes in a newly emboldened Trump era, which is targeting minority groups who have traditionally sought solace in the music and the arts.

Lady Gaga and Chappell Roan were two of the high-profile stars to show solidarity with the Trans and LGBTQIA+ community in what has been a turbulent few weeks. 

Music stars are generally a fairly self-centred bunch, and have been fairly quiet on global events such as the conflict in Palestine, but it’s great to see young stars use their voice to show solidarity and support for many who are living in fear right now.

It’s hard to separate music and politics and another big talking point was that Beyoncé finally won album of the year, for the very first time. That it was awarded for Cowboy Carter, hardly her best, is a bit bizarre; but there was no doubt that Beyoncé should have been receiving this award at some stage previously, maybe for superior records such as Renaissance or Lemonade. Her being only the fourth black woman to win this award ever says a lot about the Grammys, especially seeing as the first one wasn’t until the ’90s! That’s a lot of great black women who were ignored beforehand.

Natalie Cole, Whitney Houston and Lauryn Hill all soon won the award in that decade, but black women have been again ignored since for the very prestigious award, which is nothing short of embarrassing if you look at the winners lists.

Obviously, since it was hardly Beyoncé’s best album, there is a sense that the industry is trying to even out past discretions slightly. 

But again, it damages the credibility of these so-called awards. The Grammys, and the music industry, would regularly use the amount of Grammys Beyoncé received as a counter argument to allegations of possible discrimination, but many of these awards were in token sub-categories that have a far smaller profile than the big awards. Most of the earlier awards weren’t televised live and even then, it took years for black artists to get awarded. Wins for Macklemore over Kendrick Lamar are fresh in the mind, but in 2025, the Grammys were certainly in the thrall of Kendrick.

The most awarded artist of the evening, Lamar won five awards, and further plunged the knife into the memory of a huge beef with Drake, which will get further coverage at the globally broadcasted Super Bowl next Sunday.

I’ll speak more about Kendrick next week, but for Drake, tuning into a Grammys ceremony where mainstream stars such as Taylor Swift and Beyoncé were dancing and singing to a diss track taking him apart, must have hurt badly. Another important issue regarding the Beyoncé award, was the fact that it was her so-called country album. 

The country music community has traditionally ignored its black roots, but Beyoncé, Shaboozey, and others are now part of the mainstream shift for pop music back to a genre that was fairly unfashionable outside MAGA America, until recently. Things always go in cycles, and mainstream America has always loved country, and Kacey Musgraves, Zach Bryan, Morgan Wallen, and others are all huge right now. Country isn’t really my thing (though I’m happy for Beyoncé), so what else happened?

Doechii again built on her swift musical ascent into the mainstream, while other personal favourites, such as Tems, Charli XCX and Sza, got awarded too. The women are most definitely dominating pop music right now, and the aforementioned joined Chappell Roan, Sabrina Carpenter, Rapsody, and others in a great evening at the awards. Awards ceremonies are obviously nonsense, but in recent years the Grammys have at least made some strides to erase some of their past prejudices, and it’s hard to begrudge most of these winners great moments on stage.