Grammy Awards 2025: The Highs, Lows and Wildest Moments

Music's biggest night has finally arrived! It's time for the 2025 Grammy Awards, honoring the best music from 2025. And while the Recording Academy passes out upwards of 90 Grammys each year (and there was a tie in one category this year, so that's one extra), less than a dozen get passed out live on air. So what fills up the 3.5-hour-long telecast? Well, performances of course! The Grammys are basically just one massive concert with some of the biggest names in music performing their hits from 2024.

The evening, hosted by Trevor Noah, included impassioned winner speeches, entertaining jokes and jaw-dropping, red-carpet looks. Of course, there were also plenty of weird, wild and unexpected things that happened as well.

Here's a rundown of all the evening's biggest, most memorable moments:

The highs, lows and wildest moments that happened at the 2025 Grammy Awards

High: The Grammys open with an all-star tribute to Los Angeles

In the wake of the forest fires' devastation in Los Angeles in January, the Grammys opened the show with a tribute to the city of L.A., the people who live there and the first responders who worked to put the fires out. Dawes, an L.A.-based band that lost their homes and recording studio in the fire performed Randy Newman's "I Love L.A." along with a star-studded backup band including John Legend, St. Vincent, Brittany Howard, Sheryl Crow and Brad Paisley. If your brain is broken like mine, you may recognize the song from Kris Jenner's iconic 30th birthday video.

High: The awards show doubles as a fundraiser for Los Angeles

In addition to an outpouring of love from the musicians during Sunday's show, the whole event also functioned as a massive fundraiser for those who were impacted by the fires. Noah encouraged those present to donate to MusiCares Fire Relief via QR codes in the room and the at-home audience to donate at grammy.com/firerelief.  The Grammys also provided a chunk of their air-time to ads for local businesses that also feature A-list musicians.

High: Sabrina Carpenter performs a tap-dance sequence during an 'Espresso' number

The Grammy winner performed a medley of her hits including "Espresso" and "Please Please Please" that included a tap-dance break in the middle. While she didn't quite nail her baton stunt early on (WATCH OUT!), she nailed all that tapping with her backup dancers.

High: Doechii wins Best Rap Album

There was no better way to start the award-presenting portion of the evening than with Doechii taking home the Grammy for Best Rap Album, becoming only the third woman in history (following Lauryn Hill and presenter Cardi B) to win the category. In a rousing, heartfelt speech, she shouted out her mom, the vibrant arts community in Tampa, Fla., and Black girls everywhere.

Low: Both Chris Brown and Dave Chappelle take home Grammys

While not presented on the telecast, both Chris Brown and Dave Chappelle won Grammys this year. Brown won Best R&B Album, while Chappelle won Best Comedy Album. Both are controversial figures as Brown was charged with assault during his relationship with Rihanna and Chappelle has made jokes at the expense of the transgender community.

Whoa: Chappell Roan performs with cowboy clowns

While Chappell Roan had plenty of hits to choose from, the recently minted megastar kept with the Los Angeles-honoring trend of the evening by performing "Pink Pony Club" along with a troupe of cowboy clowns. The song is an ode to the West Hollywood gay bar The Abbey, which she visited after moving to the city. The queer musician also sent a positive message to the trans community earlier in the night on the red carpet.

High: Beyonce wins Best Country Album for 'Cowboy Carter'

After a year's worth of controversy regarding Beyoncé pivoting into country music and being left out of the CMA Award nominations, Queen B became the first Black woman in over 50 years to win a Grammy in a country category. She won Best Country Duo/Group Performance with Miley Cyrus for "II Most Wanted" before the telecast but then took home the Best Country Album trophy during the ceremony. She also gifted fans with this meme.

Whoa: Nikki Glaser and Heidi Klum rip off Benson Boone's clothes

In the opening minutes of his performance during the Best New Artist medley, Boone recruited the supermodel and the comedian to yank off his rip-away suit to reveal a baby blue, sequined jumpsuit.

Whoa: Doechii performs in her underwear

Then a few minutes later in her bid to dominate the evening in every capactiy, Doechii returned to the stage for a killer number that included a bunch of dancers in Matilda cosplay. Halfway through, Doechii did her own rip-away revealing a pair of tighty whities.

High: Chappell Roan demands a livable wage and healthcare from record labels

After winning Best New Artist, Roan used her platform to demand that the massive record studios that sign young musicians pay them a livable wage and provide them with access to healthcare. She cited her own experience as a young artist dropped from her label without resources as the reason why she felt so strongly about the cause. Also, she was wearing a giant princess hat that fell off.

High: Lady Gaga drops new music video

Technically, this was a Mastercard ad, but Lady Gaga did drop the music video to her new single "Abracadabra" during the Grammys. The instant bop sounds like something from her ARTPOP era and was released later in the telecast on Spotify and streaming platforms. The song is part of her upcoming album Disease and will be eligible for the 2026 Grammys.

Related: Grammy Awards Red Carpet 2025: See the Fab Fashions Worn by Your Favorite Music Stars

Whoa: Will Smith shows up

Will Smith's most memorable awards show moment came when he slapped Chris Rock at the Oscars. Since then, he's been largely outside of the public eye, but he returned to the Grammys to introduce a tribute to Quincy Jones.

Low: "We Are the World"

Perhaps a controversial opinion, but this song is bad, and those L.A. sweatshirts were ugly. Love Stevie Wonder, though.

Low: Will Smith is back with a lengthy monologue

Jones did not deserve to get dragged into a very lengthy (and unsatisfying) table about the snack table at the set of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air with references to Michael Jordan. After a taught, fun, high-energy show, things started to drag here.

High: Lady Gaga uses the stage to support trans people

When Gaga and Bruno Mars won Best Pop Duo/Group Performance for "Die with a Smile," Gaga took the opportunity to support her trans fans, as she has her entire career. The queer icon and outspoken champion of LGBTQ+ rights directly addressed the anti-trans legislation being pushed through by the Donald Trump administration and encouraged transgender viewers saying, "Trans people are not invisible. Trans people deserve love. The queer community deserves to be lifted up. Music is love. Thank you." Mother monster stays winning.

Whoa: Liam Payne in the In Memoriam tribute

Obviously, I knew that One Direction member Liam Payne died in 2024, but boy was I not prepared for him to appear at the start of the In Memoriam tribute. SOBBING SOBBING SOBBING.

Whoa: Miley Cyrus threatens to give Beyonce Record of the Year even though she lost

When presenting ROTY, Miley Cyrus shouted out her "II Most Wanted" collaborator and said that she might just announce Beyoncé as the winner even if she didn't win. Beyoncé did in fact not win. Kendrick Lamar took home the trophy instead.

High: Alicia Keys shouts out DEI

After winning the Global Impact Award, Alicia Keys praised diversity and celebrated DEI practices in the face of the political rollback of DEI practices by the current administration. “DEI is not a threat. It’s a gift,” she said. Keys also shouted out Solange Knowles as we all should be doing.

HIGH HIGH HIGH: Charli XCX performs

The Grammys really did save the best for last, slotting in the "360" singer to perform a medley of her Brat hits rave-style in the parking garage of the arena before taking the stage alongside Julia Fox, Gabbriette, Alex Consani, The Dare and Quenlin Blackwell.

WHOA and HIGH and WHOA and HIGH: Beyonce finally wins Album of the Year

After years of snubs in the top category, Beyoncé, who was already the winningest and most-nominated artist of all time, FINALLY earned AOTY for Cowboy Carter. The occasion was certainly momentous with Gaga and Billie Eilish openly crying as Queen B took to the stage to give a short-and-sweet speech. She shouted out Linda Martell, a legendary Black country artist who appears on Cowboy Carter and of course thanked daughter Blue Ivy.

Related: The Full List of 2025 Grammy Award Winners and Nominees (Updating Live)