What Went Down During This Year’s Grammy Weekend
- Chinyere Ibeh
- 5 hours ago
- 7 min read
Music’s biggest night began on the final day of January with Clive Davis’ pre-Grammys party, with the actual ceremony live-streaming on CBS the next day.
Taking place at the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles, this year’s Grammys ceremony saw Kendrick Lamar leading with nine nominations, followed by Lady Gaga’s seven nominations.
As the award ceremony featured some snubs, history-in-the-making wins, and internet-breaking viral moments, Forty-Ninth Block Media dissects every moment.
Clive Davis Hosted His Annual pre-Grammy Party at The Beverly Hilton, Featuring Both Fashion and Music Performances
Popularly known as the “Clive Party,” the pre-Grammys party takes after the iconic producer and music executive who is still quite the force in the industry at 93-years-old.
According to Rolling Stone, the party began with a cocktail hour in the ancillary room of the Beverly Hilton. Lobster salad and sliders were bestowed on the attendees, one being filmmaker and journalist Cameron Crowe. He talked with Rob Ledonne, a reporter for Rolling Stone, about the first time he encountered the prowess of Davis.
“It was when he first presented Bruce Springsteen in Los Angeles at the Troubadour,” Crowe recalled of the historic night in 1973. “I remember him making sure Bruce’s jacket looked good; it was like his dad took him to prom! And Bruce was amazing.”
Ledonne also spoke with Weird Al Yankovic when the musician slash comedian was waiting for the party to officially begin.
“I got my first invite to Clive Davis Gals in 2014,” he told the publication. “It was after I had my first number one album, and it was pretty wild. That was the golden ticket!”
Ledonne likens the party to a wedding as the main room was full of tables covered in white cloths and featured floral centerpieces. Bottles of wine and a bland chicken dinner would be featured on said tables.
“By 9 p.m., instead of a blushing bride, it was Recording Academy CEO Harvey Mason Jr. welcoming the crowd and introducing CBS anchor Gayle King, who herself threw to a surprise introduction, via video, from President Barack Obama to the hushed crowd,” Ledonne wrote.
Davis himself would eventually take a seat at a table situated on stage left, where he stayed for the whole night. He would go into what Ledonne described as his “famed shout-outs.” The executive would welcome various guests and list off their accomplishments, leading to applause and a bow from the guest.
The night then delved into many performances, dubbed a “musical whiplash” by Ledonne as the performances jumped from genre to genre. From an Ozzy Osbourne tribute by Machine Gun Kelly and Jelly Roll to Olivia Dean and Sombr’s debut Grammys weekend to Clipse and John Legend.
Not only did artists take the stage, but many A-Listers were in attendance at the event. The star-studded event served as precursor to the historic awards ceremony.
What’s Good with the Fashion on the Grammys Red Carpet?
As any award ceremony does, the red carpet leading into the night has fashion for fans and the media to fawn over. This year’s Grammys was no exception as crazy cutouts, plunging (and I mean PLUNGING) necklines, two-piece sets, and furs took over this year’s red carpet.
Who Won? Who Got Snubbed? Some Wins Went Into the History Books While Others Left Winless
The top three nominated artists of the night — Kendrick Lamar (9), Lady Gaga (7), and Bad Bunny (6) — all walked away with several trophies.
Lamar made history as he walked away with five awards at the end of the night, making him the most awarded hip-hop artist in Grammys history. He now has 27 Grammys, surpassing Jay-Z’s 25 Grammy wins.
The California rapper won Best Rap Album for “GNX,” Best Rap Song for “tv off,” Best Melodic Rap Performance and Record of the Year for “luther,” and Best Rap Performance for “Chains & Whips.”
Bad Bunny also made history in his own right as he won Album of the Year for “DeBí TiRAR MáS FOToS.” This marks the first time that a Spanish-language album won the award since the inception of the Grammys 68 years ago. The Puerto Rico-born artist also won the same award for the same album at this year’s Latin Grammys, marking the first time such a feat has happened.
Some artists walked away with a Grammy for the first time in their career. Kehlani won two awards that night, one for Best R&B Performance and another for Best R&B Song. Both awards were for her smash hit, “Folded,” which was the Oakland singer’s song to enter the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100.
The Cure, for the first time in their five-decade career, walked away with the Grammy for Best Alternative Music Performance. The band won the award for “Alone,” a song off of their Songs of a Lost World album. They beat out heavy hitters to win the award, notably Bon Iver, Hayley Williams, Turnstile and Wet Leg.
Unfortunately, the band wasn’t able to make the ceremony as they were attending the funeral of Perry Bamonte — their longtime guitarist and keyboardist.
“Simon, Jason, Roger, Reeves, and I would like to thank the Grammys for this wonderful award,” singer Robert Smith said in a written statement, which was read on stage. “We are very honored to receive it. We would also like to thank everyone who helped in the creation of our Songs of a Lost World single.”
Newcomers Olivia Dean and Lola Young found themselves with one award each — Dean with Best New Artist and Young with Best Pop Solo Performance for her smash hit, “Messy.” Young was able to beat out Chappell Roan’s “The Subway” and Sabrina Carpenter’s “Manchild.”
Dean beat out Leon Thomas, sombr, Alex Warren, KATSETE, Addison Rae, The Marías, and Lola Young for the Best New Artist trophy. The British singer went into the ceremony as a frontrunner due to her smash hits “Man I Need” and “So Easy (To Fall In Love).”
“I’m up here as a granddaughter of an immigrant,” the 26-year-old said while accepting the award. “I’m a product of bravery and I think those people ought to be celebrated.”
Leon Thomas also walked away with two awards, one for Best R&B Album (Mutt) and another for Best Traditional R&B Performance (“VIBES DON’T LIE”). The singer-songwriter made history by becoming the first solo male artist since D’angelo to win Best R&B Album for a sophomore album. D’Angelo took home the win in 2001 for his sophomore album Voodoo during the 43rd annual Grammys.
Doechii walked away with the second Grammy of her career, taking home the trophy for Best Music Video. The music video in question was for her song, “Anxiety,” which sampled the smash hit “Somebody I Used to Know” by Gotye and Kimbra.
The Florida rapper’s rendition was originally recorded in 2019, and later uploaded on YouTube. She re-recorded the song in 2025 once it gained traction on popular social media platform TikTok. It was released to streaming platforms via Top Dawg Entertainment and Capitol Records.
Doechii previously won Best Rap Album at last year’s Grammys for Alligator Bites Never Heal. The project serves as the rapper’s second mixtape, which featured singles “Nissan Ultima” and “Denial is a River.”
As history was made and others walked away with a trophy for the first time in their careers, there were some who walked away empty-handed. One notably being Sabrina Carpenter, who did not win any of the six awards she was nominated for. Last year, she fared a bit better as she walked away with two trophies out of the six nominations.
Collaborators ROSÉ and Bruno Mars were nominated three times for their song, “APT.” Unfortunately, the song didn’t win any of its nominations — Record of the Year, Song of the Year, and Best Pop Duo/Group Performance. The duo opened the ceremony with a performance of the song, which debuted at number one on Billboard’s Global 200 and Global Excl. U.S. charts.
Not Only Did Artists Make History, They Also Went Viral!
Typically, the Grammys have its funny and viral moments and this year was no different. For one, Durand Bernarr won his first Grammy and became a meme in the process.
The Cleveland native won the Best Progressive R&B Album for his Bloom album, causing the singer to run down the aisle to accept the award. His friend was close behind, following him onto the stage and handed him his speech. Bernarr’s parents would later join him on stage to make the moment even more wholesome.
“And to the Recording Academy, thank you for the Grammy,” Bernarr sang during his acceptance speech.
In another funny moment of the night, Trevor Noah jokingly referenced Nicki Minaj’s absence — simultaneously mocking the rapper’s now-cozy relationship with President Donald Trump and his conservative colleagues.
“Nicki Minaj is not here, not here,” Noah said to erupting cheers from the crowd. “She is still at the White House with Donald Trump discussing very important issues.”
He then imagined a conversation between Trump and Minaj while doing a Trump impression.
“Actually, Nicki, I have the biggest ass. I have it. Everybody is saying it, Nicki. I know they say it to you, but it’s me. Look at it, baby: WAP, WAP, WAP”
The “Super Bass” rapper would take to Twitter to air her grievances about the joke. The Twitter rant would include the rapper invoking religious and homophobic rhetoric. She alleged that Noah “refuses to come out the closet” while the industry knows his boyfriend.
She would later tweet out about a ritual, insinuating that the industry will do something nefarious and satanic.
“As they do their ritual tonight, God almighty will reveal himself to them. The ritual will backfire on them,” Minaj wrote in the tweet. “Every tongue that rises up against me in judgement shall be condemned & put to shame.”
In a more light-hearted moment, Cher would go viral for misreading the winner for “Record of the Year.” At first, she looked to the prompter to read the winner, claiming she was told to look at the prompter. She then later read that Luther Vandross had won, though she clearly meant Kendrick Lamar’s song “Luther.”
As social media users take in the snubs, first-time wins, political statements, funny moments, they can look forward to awards ceremony season roaring on. With the Oscars coming in March, many award ceremonies will happen in the meantime — notably the BAFTA Film Awards and the NAACP Image Awards.
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