At the 67th Grammy Awards in Los Angeles on 2 February 2025, Beyoncé finally received the prize that had eluded her for two decades: Album of the Year, for Cowboy Carter. The win, her first in the category despite a record 32 career Grammys, came after the Recording Academy had snubbed her in the top categories four times before.
The ceremony was also a coronation for Kendrick Lamar, who swept the major rap awards for the diss-track sensation Not Like Us, winning record and song of the year among his five trophies. His performance, in a Los Angeles arena with the Compton-born rapper surrounded by dancers in a minimalist stage set, was the show’s defining moment.
The night was framed by the Los Angeles wildfires, which had devastated the city weeks earlier, and the telecast doubled as a fund-raiser for fire relief, with hosts and presenters wearing symbolic pins. Beyoncé’s long-overdue victory, and Lamar’s sweep, gave the ceremony a sense of correction: the biggest stars, and the biggest snubs, were finally being put right in a single night.