On the Grammys (Kind of) Getting It Right

The oft-criticized institution had a surprisingly good night

Watching the Grammys over the years has been a fraught exercise. I usually end up on the radio or writing a column the next day about how out of touch the institution has become. Typically divorced from any true objectivity in their voting process, the Grammys usually stand as a distorted reflection of where the music industry is in a given year.

Like with most music award shows, I’m struck by how it can be possible that these people on the television and I both share the same profession. Just like the way that it can seem as if there are two versions of our country, the one that is presented to the world and the one that we know to be true, the Grammys exhibit a similar duality. There are two music industries: the one with the flamboyant outfits, the outrageous wealth, the spectacle, the trophies and the fame. And there’s the everyday reality of being a rank-and-file musician: the hard work, the gruelling travel, the anxiety, the small margins, the glass ceilings.

With her speech after winning Best New Artist, Chappell Roan bravely exposed that disparity to the entire world:

Sinéad O’Connor is smiling somewhere. There were also echoes of Fiona Apple’s infamous “the world is bullshit” speech at the 1997 MTV VMAs:

When Chappell was up on that stage shaking with her notebook in hand, about to throw the gauntlet at the most powerful people in the music industry about their failure to provide health insurance to the very musicians who enrich them, she resembled the artists that I have known in my life. Uncompromising folks who give everything to make their art possible. Young people with progressive views, outsiders who are compelled to create because it brings their lives meaning. Unfortunately, looking at the rest of the audience and most of the nominees, there were few other reflections of the world that we actually live in.

Host Trevor Noah was pushing a QR code for LA Fire Relief as much of the night was spent celebrating a rebuilding Los Angeles, the de facto home of the industry. Certainly, this is a great cause. I have friends who have lost their homes. But the obvious answer of “Why don’t Lucian Grange and all these billionaires just give away a fraction of their vast fortune?” was the elephant in the room, making Noah look tacitly ridiculous for begging the audience to open their wallets.

Aside from Chappell’s inspiring speech and Lady Gaga’s supportive comments to the trans community, this was a strikingly apolitical ceremony. Gaza was invisible. Where music was once home to the mavericks who think differently and feel a responsibility to utilize their platforms, the Grammys showcased a cautious music industry trying to stay under the radar during Trump’s already tumultuous second term.

You could also plainly see how the difficulty of breaking through internet algorithms has kept television from going the way of the Radio Star. Nowhere else can give you more direct access to real people than TV and that brought the superstars back to the Grammys. Beyoncé was promoting her tour, Gaga was in the house to spread the news of her upcoming album Mayhem. Fresh off of the release of Hurry Up Tomorrow, The Weeknd made his surprising return after a four year boycott.

Other than Doechii’s virtuosic, theatrical performance and deserving win for Best Rap Album and The Weeknd bringing Playboi Carti along during their performance of “Timeless,” hip-hop was largely kept at arm’s length. I searched the crowd for rappers and struggled to find to them. The Grammys still have a respectability problem where they haven’t found a way to accept trap music for the violent and triumphant genre that it is. Yet any time I felt a charge run through the crowd, it had something to do with rap.

The room came alive when Kendrick Lamar won the Grammy for Record of the Year for “Not Like Us.” We have not seen a hit like this in quite some time. It has an inevitable quality to it. Look at the video above and see what it does even to the media trained superstars. Beyoncé had to stop herself from rapping along. Taylor Swift was mean mugging and doing the Stanky Leg. When Kendrick rapped, “I make music that electrify ‘em” at the beginning of “Euphoria,” this is what he meant. Seeing the entire crowd of his peers singing along to “A MINOOORRRRRRR” must have been something like being alive and watching his own funeral for the man who inspired the track.

Charli xcx’s rave-in-miniature was a sight to behold. It felt like electronic music, long sidelined and under-appreciated, was finally allowed to be itself on the world’s biggest stage. I felt proud like one of my friends was up there performing. It was a night where the awards actually went to the right people, ending with a satisfying Album of the Year victory for Cowboy Carter by Beyoncé that had Gaga and Billie Eilish in tears (possibly for different reasons) and Taylor clinking wine glasses with Jay-Z and saying “Long time coming.” Musicians know greatness when they see it. For years, it felt as if the Grammys wilfully ignored it. There’s still work to do, of course, but this year felt like a few tentative steps in the right direction.

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Happy to be playing some shows in the coming weeks! Excited to share some of the music I’ve been working on and to kick it with friends old and new.

Get your tickets below:

February 27 - Toronto - DJ Set @ Wavelength Winter Festival 2025 (with The OBGMs, pHoenix Pagliacci, Bonnie Trash, Gurpreet and Truss)

March 13 - Halifax - The Seahorse Tavern (with Cuerpos and DJ Mommy)

March 14 - Ottawa - National Arts Centre

March 15 - Montréal - Casa Del Popolo

March 28 - Victoria - Garden City Grooves Festival

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You can find me updating my playlists or hanging on Bluesky, Twitter and Instagram. You can listen to my music on Spotify, Apple Music and Bandcamp and you can get Cadence Weapon merchandise here. Read my monthly column in Hazlitt. Pick up your copy of Bedroom Rapper here and please rate it on Goodreads.