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The Grammys Righted Some Glaring Wrongs by Honoring Beyonce, Kendrick Lamar and the Weeknd
The 2025 Grammys not only were the best in many years, they also cleaned the slate from past controversies with Beyonce, Kendrick Lamar and the Weeknd.
Based on purely anecdotal evidence, the common post-show consensus is that the 2025 Grammys were the best in many years on nearly every level: The freshness of the performances, the fittingness of the winners, and to an unprecedented degree, the righting of some longstanding wrongs, notably the Recording Academy’s checkered history with Beyonce, Kendrick Lamar and the Weeknd. While nearly every presenter on the show referenced the “13,000 voters” who decided the winners — presumably to highlight the enormous number of opinions that are taken into account, and also as a way of publicly dispelling notions of smoke-filled rooms and self-interested machinations — there’s little question that we’re seeing a Recording Academy that has changed dramatically from the haughty, out-of-touch one of twenty-five years ago. It’s an hour-plus-long, country-leaning album with just a couple of bangers and lots of out-there moments, but the victory also suggests that the Academy’s updated membership — the end result of a long campaign by CEO Harvey Mason Jr. and the organization’s board to diversify and youth-ify its membership in hopes of increasing relevance and more accurately reflecting the musical and cultural zeitgeist — is truly taking hold.
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