Florida Acts Shine at the 2025 Grammys

"The show must go on."

On the red carpet, ahead of the 2025 Grammy Awards ceremony, the correspondents and musicians repeated that phrase over and over, as if almost giving themselves permission that it was okay to hold a flashy ceremony while the nearby communities of Pacific Palisades and Altadena are only starting the recovery process from the destructive wildfires. Meanwhile, the Recording Academy pushed hard for viewers to donate to its Fire Relief Fund while everyone sported baby-blue MusiCares pins.

I'm all for using a platform to raise awareness, but let's not pretend that the Grammys and the Recording Academy are altruistic entities. The Recording Academy routinely fails at its mission of advocating for music creators due to its entrenched relationship with a music industry that always looks out for itself rather than for the artists.

Anyway, from the moment the ceremony started until its bloated ending nearly four hours later, host Trevor Noah kept reminding everyone gathered at the Crypto.com Arena and watching from home that they could donate to the Fire Relief Fund, announcing at one point that the audience at home had donated $7 million.

Thankfully, plenty of performances and trophies were handed out. In fact, the evening was full of surprises, like Beyoncé finally winning "Album of the Year" for Cowboy Carter, Kendrick Lamar getting showered in awards, and Taylor Swift walking away without a single win.

Here are some of the highlights from the 2025 Grammy Awards.

A Love Letter to Los Angeles

From the moment the ceremony kicked off, it was evident that everyone would show their appreciation for the City of Angeles. Nowhere was this clearer than in the performances.

The first performance for the night was by Los Angeles-based band Dawes, whose members and brothers Griffin and Taylor Goldsmith lost their childhood home in Altadena to the fires. The band performed a cover of Randy Newman's "I Love L.A." with help from Sheryl Crow, Brittany Howard, John Legend, Brad Paisley, and St. Vincent. It was somewhat saccharine, but this is a Randy Newman song we are talking about.

Billie Eilish's performance of "Birds of a Feather" was a bit more subtle regarding its Los Angeles tribute, with a mountain backdrop helping whisk the audience away. Eilish also wore a Dodgers ball cap that could have been her way of paying homage to the city, but it also felt very on-brand for her, so who knows?

Finally, there was Bruno Mars and Lady Gaga, who, instead of singing their hit song "Die With a Smile," opted to pay tribute to the city by covering the Mamas & the Papas' "California Dreamin'." Unfortunately, that meant the performance was mainly Mars singing, with Gaga providing some backing vocals, which felt almost criminal. Kudos to Gaga for not having the ego that would have gotten in the way of her performing with Mars, but it was dissapointing that she didn't have more to do. Luckily, during the commercial break, Gaga premiered her new single and music video for the song "Abracadabra" with the help of Mastercard.

The Florida Acts That Won

Before the CBS broadcast, most awards were handed out in the pre-show, including to several notable Florida-bred acts. Vero Beach native Muni Long took home the trophy for "Best R&B Performance" for "Made for Me (Live on BET)." Meanwhile, Tony and Mimy Succar, the son and mother act based out of Miami, walked away with the win for "Best Tropical Latin Album" for Alma, Corazón y Salsa (Live at Gran Teatro Nacional). Mimy also shared the win for "Best Global Music Performance" alongside Sheila E. and Gloria Estefan for their collaboration "Bemba Colorá."

Still, the one Florida act everyone will remember is Tampa native Doechii, who won "Best Rap Album" thanks to her superb mixtape, Alligator Bites Never Heal. During her acceptance speech, she implored record executives to take a closer look at all the talent emerging from the Tampa Bay area. "There is so much culture in Tampa. Whenever people think about Florida, they only think about Miami, but Tampa has so much talent," Doechii said during her speech. The 26-year-old is the third woman, besides Cardi B and Lauryn Hill, to win "Best Rap Album" at the Grammys.

If that wasn't enough, Doechii then delivered one of the night's best performances, singing "Catfish" and "Denial Is a River." When she stood at the end of it all with her name blown up behind her, it almost felt like she was making a case for herself about why she's the next superstar in the making — and it's hard to disagree.

Beyoncé Finally Gets Her Flowers

Let's be clear: Lemonade and Renaissance were robbed at the Grammys. I don't say this as a member of Beyhive, but as someone who really takes stock on the impact music can have, and those two albums make a strong case as to why Beyoncé is the superstar she is. The fact that neither of those albums won "Album of the Year" when they were nominated is still perplexing to this day.

So when Cowboy Carter got nominated this year, it almost felt like déjà vu all over again because while Cowboy Carter is undoubtedly a great record, I wouldn't say it's Beyoncé's best. And if Lemonade and Renaissance couldn't pull off a win for her, what were the chances that Cowboy Carter would? Pretty high, apparently.

After winning "Best Country Album" earlier in the evening, Beyoncé was up against stiff competition in the "Album of the Year" category with Sabrina Carpenter's Short n' Sweet, Charli XCX's Brat, and Chappell Roan's The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess vying for the award, not to mention Grammy favorites Billie Eilish and Taylor Swift. So when they read out Beyoncé's name, you could tell even she was shocked by the results.

Unfortunately, this felt like the Recording Academy voters righting a previous wrong instead of actually awarding the "Album of the Year," which, in my opinion, probably belonged to Brat. However, it's hard to argue that Beyoncé doesn't deserve the award, even if it was a pity vote.