Grammy Awards 2025: Beyoncé finally wins best album

Grammy Awards 2025: Beyoncé finally wins best  album
Beyonce now has 35 Grammy  Awards, more than any  other artist in  history.
Righting what was widely seen as  a historical injustice, Beyoncé won best album at the 67th  Annual Grammy Awards in Los  Angeles.
The star was  recognized for her eighth album, Cowboy Carter, which celebrates and  contextualizes the black roots of country music. She had previously been  excluded from the ceremony's  top award four  times.
When her name was  read, Beyoncé hugged her daughter Blue Ivy, then her husband Jay-Z, before  taking the stage in a gold paisley dress to accept the  trophy.
"I feel very  accomplished and very  honored," she said.  "It's been  a long time coming."
The singer dedicated  the award to Linda Martell, one of the pioneers  of black country music and the first black woman to perform solo  on the Grand Ole Opry  (Ms. Martell  appears on several Cowboy  Carter songs).
"I hope we keep  moving forward [and]  keep opening  doors," Beyoncé continued.  "God bless  you all, thank you so  much."
The star's win comes 25 years after her first Grammy nomination, as part of the RandB group  Destiny's Child.
She  became the  most awarded artist in  Grammy history, with a  whopping 35 trophies  — but the  top prize eluded her until Sunday  night. In the end, it took a genre  shift for the Texas-born musician  to take the cake.
Focusing on country and Americana, Cowboy Carter is the second  in a trilogy of albums that  interrogate American musical traditions and  reveal the often  overlooked contributions  of artists of color.
Notably, this makes Beyoncé the first black woman to win  the Album of the  Year award since 1999, when Lauryn  Hill's The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill took  home the  title.
Country Surprise
Earlier in the evening, Cowboy Carter also won the Grammy  Award for  Best Country Album — much to  Beyoncé's surprise.
A look of surprise crossed the  43-year-old's face  when her name was  read. Beyoncé looks  surprised as she wins best country album at  Grammy Awards
The star and her husband Jay-Z  (center) appeared shocked  by the  announcement
In a moment  loaded with symbolism,  the announcement came from Taylor Swift - another  successful artist  in the genre, who  had previously  beaten Beyonce for album of the year in  2010.
"Wow, I  didn't expect this,"  Beyoncé said in her acceptance speech, thanking "all the incredible country artists" who voted for the  award.
The recognition came five months after she was snubbed at the Country Music Awards - even after  becoming the first black woman to have a number one hit on the Hot Country Songs chart, with Texas Hold  'Em.
Taylor Swift  gave her  trophy to Beyonce
The song was also nominated for  Record of the  Year at the  Grammy Awards, but lost to Kendrick Lamar's  "Not Like  Us."
The rap hit, which was the  latest in Lamar's long-running  feud with Drake,  took home all five awards it was nominated for, including song of the year, best rap song and best music  video.
It was only the second hip-hop  album to win the  award (after Childish Gambino's This Is America in  2019), but Lamar  downplayed the  success, instead focusing on his hometown of Los Angeles, which was recently  devastated by  wildfires.
"We have to dedicate this to the city," he  said. "Compton, Long  Beach, Inglewood, Hollywood,  all the  way down under... It's my  corner of the  world that's supported me since  I was a  kid."
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The impact of the wildfires was the main theme of the ceremony, which  also doubled as a  fundraiser, raising more than $7 million (£5.7 million) for those affected .

Comedian Trevor Noah, who hosted the ceremony, admitted that  just a few weeks  ago we  weren't sure  the show would  happen.
"Thankfully, thanks to the heroic efforts of firefighters, the fires  were brought under control and despite all the  destruction, the spirit of the city  came out," he added, to  loud applause.
The fire crews were invited to the awards  ceremony to  be recognized for their efforts; and they walked the red carpet  to take selfies with  music's biggest  stars.
The show opened with a special performance by local band Dawes, whose homes were destroyed in the  fire, who performed Randy  Newman's classic I Love  LA.
Los Angeles native Billie  Eilish was the second artist on  stage and  performed her award-nominated song Birds Of A Feather against a backdrop inspired by  California's natural  beauty. "I love you LA,"  he said as the music  ended.
Later, Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars  performed a  moving version of California Dreamin', originally  written by The Mamas and  the Papas, dedicated to the first responders who helped  put out the  fires.
Noah also joked that winners whose speeches  lasted longer than  a minute and a half would be forced to donate $1,000 for every extra second they  spoke.
Elsewhere, British pop star Charli XCX  won three  awards for her  Russian club  hit Brat - including best dance/pop  album.
And the Beatles  won the  award for best rock performance,  just 55 years after they  broke up. Her award  went to Now And Then, a song assembled from a demo by the late John Lennon, which was  powered by machine learning, a form of  artificial intelligence.
Lady Gaga  Enters Politics
Getty Images Lady Gaga and Bruno MarsGetty Images
Lady Gaga  Used Her Acceptance Speech to  Address Transgender Rights
Chappell Roan won  Best New Artist and used her speech to call for  fair wages and conditions in the music  industry.
"I told  myself that if I ever won a Grammy and  stood here in front of the most powerful people in music, I would  ask myself if the labels and the  industry, which make millions of dollars off  the backs of artists, offer  good wages and health care, especially  for emerging artists," she  said.
"Labels, we  have you, but do you  have us?"
Meanwhile, Lady Gaga was one of  several artists to  speak out for the LGBTQ+  community after President Trump issued executive orders  banning diversity,  equality and inclusion in government, as well as  an executive order recognizing both genders, male and  female. "I just want to say tonight that trans people are not invisible," she said, accepting the award for best pop duo/group performance with Bruno Mars, for their duet Die With A  Smile. "Trans people deserve love, the queer community deserves to  stand up. Music is love.  THANK YOU."
Rapper Doechii became the third female artist in  Grammy history to win best rap  album.
The main award at the main ceremony  is best rap album, which went to Florida-born rapper  Doechii for her mixtape Alligator Bites Never  Heal.
She noted  that it was only the third time a woman had won the category since it  began in 1989, with a  tribute to her predecessors Lauryn Hill and Cardi  B.
"There are so many black women  looking up to me right now, and I want to  say you can do  this," she  added. "Anything is  possible." Don't let anyone project stereotypes  onto you [or] tell you that you  can't be here, or that  you're too brown, or that you're not smart enough, or that  you're too  dramatic, or  that you're too  strong.
"You are exactly who you need to be to be where you are and I am a  testament to that." Thank God."
And, in a  banner year for female artists, newcomer Sabrina Carpenter  took home two awards: Best  Pop Solo Performance for her caffeinated summer anthem, Espresso, and  Best Pop Album for Short  n' Sweet.
However, a  deep field  of female pop  stars meant that Taylor Swift and Billie Eilish went home empty-handed, despite 13 nominations between  them. Charli XCX, Teddy Swims, Chappell Roan, Benson Boone and  Shakira also performed, while Alicia Keys  received a lifetime achievement  award.
The show also  included a lengthy tribute to Quincy Jones, who died last year at the age of  91 after producing some of the most iconic  songs in pop history for artists including Frank Sinatra, Dizzie Gillespie, Michael Jackson and Chaka  Khan.
The segment was  hosted by Will Smith,  who was making his first appearance  on a televised awards  show since  beating Chris Rock  on stage at the  2022 Oscars.
The musician said he  owes his career to Jones, who  played him  on the 1990s sitcom Fresh Prince of Bel Air, and called him  "one of the most groundbreaking and influential figures  in the history of  the arts."
He then introduced Wicked star Cynthia Erivo and pianist Herbie Hancock, who performed  Jones' arrangement of Fly Me To The  Moon. The tribute continued with Stevie  Wonder's rendition of We Are The  World and Janelle  Monae's rendition of Michael Jackson's  "Don't Stop" "Til You Get  Enough," in a replica of the star's tuxedo and silver crystal  stockings. The show also opened its In Memorium section with a tribute to One Direction star Liam Payne, who died at  the age of 31  after falling from a hotel balcony in Buenos Aires, Argentina, last  October.

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