the grammys offered a glimpse of a kinder, gayer alternate reality.
For once, the Recording Academy sort of understood the assignment.
Queering the Burbs is a regularly-published distillation of pop culture, politics and queerness written by Joe Erbentraut. If you like what you see, please consider subscribing (many posts are free!), liking or sharing this piece. Order Joe’s new zine, Issue #01, here.
It wasn’t that long ago that the Grammy Awards—which held its 68th edition last night in LA—were basically a laughing stock for any music fan that I knew. Time and time again, year after year, we witnessed the Recording Academy make questionable decisions when it came to doling out its biggest awards.
When it comes to the ceremony’s top prize—album of the year—tame, boomer-friendly albums were recognized over more challenging, innovative work, which is why Harry Styles beat out Beyoncé (and Bad Bunny) in 2023, why Adele won over Beyoncé in 2017, and why Beck defeated Beyoncé in 2015.
OK, so there is a common theme there—it sure felt like the Recording Academy had it out for Beyoncé, despite recognizing her with dozens of wins and nominations in other categories, making her the most decorated artist in Grammy history. But that all changed last night, as Beyoncé finally brought home the album of the year award for her album Cowboy Carter. The album was also awarded the country album of the year award, making Beyoncé the first Black artist to ever do so. The moment even resulted in the night’s most instantly iconic, endlessly meme-worthy image.
Beyoncé’s long-overdue AOTY recognition wasn’t the only moment worth celebrating last night. Chappell Roan was named best new artist in a stacked category, and used her moment to shame record labels for not providing healthcare and a living wage to their artists. Doechii became only the third woman ever to win the Grammys’ top rap album honor and delivered one of the most memorable performances I’ve ever seen on the ceremony’s stage. Alicia Keys, Lady Gaga, and Shakira used their winning moments to speak out in defense of trans people, immigrants, and diversity.
Let me continue: Cynthia Erivo and Janelle Monae beamed from the stage as they brought a Quincy Jones tribute to a new level. Charli XCX brought a small army of club kids and party girls—including Julia Fox—to dance on stage while hundreds of pairs of panties poured down onto them from above. St. Vincent thanked her wife and child (who most people didn’t know she had) in her acceptance speech for best rock song. Legends Diana Ross and Stevie Wonder both pleaded with the audience to be kind to one another in these dark times. And we even got a new Gaga music video, a Dove ad featuring a reworked Khia song, and an unhinged M3GAN 2.0 preview (set to Roan’s “Femininomenon”) during the commercials.
The vibe—aside from host Trevor Noah’s endless pleas for viewers to donate funds to support California wildfire victims which, while noble, became so repetitive that they risked hijacking the entire ceremony for a telethon—was jubilant and defiant. My friend Britt put it this way on Bluesky: “These Grammys were from the Kamala wins timeline.”
Over the course of the night, I was thinking the same thing. While the Grammys are typically pretty easy to dunk on, in light of everything heinous that has occurred over the first two weeks of the Trump-Musk administration, this year’s affair was filled from end to end with queer joy, Black excellence, an air of reverence toward our beloved elders, an uplifting of talented newcomers, an upholding of the contributions that immigrants and trans people make to our nation and world, a celebration of sex and sexiness—all with women and femmes to the front.
I felt this all throughout the night, and was in tears for a lot of it. When Chappell Roan performed her “Pink Pony Club” queer anthem, I was surprised to see the entire crowd of attendees—who are not particularly prone to singalongs—joining Roan when she turned the mic to them. Her performance ended with flags raised in pink, white, and blue—the colors of the trans rights flag. Though the CBS broadcast made it difficult to see this tribute as they zoomed in on Roan instead, I thought of all the trans and nonbinary kids who are frightened right now catching sight of that. I hope they knew in that moment that they aren’t alone.
I was also moved by the appearance of the LA firefighters, as dozens of them stood on stage to present the trophy for album of the year. The firefighters in attendance included women and men from many backgrounds, like a giant middle finger raised in the face of those within the Trump administration who have been speaking out with no basis in fact against “diversity hires” in response to the fatal Washington, DC plane crash and the MAGA heads who almost immediately blamed the wildfires on the fact that the LAFD has women in leadership roles.
The toxicity of this rhetoric is fueling the rapid rise of fascism in this country in a very real way, with very real impacts on all of us, but the Grammys offered a heavy dose of a different worldview that values kindness, community, artistry, and (yes) diversity. It displayed a vision worth fighting for and a fire to fuel resistance—something that our Democratic leadership needs to be doing much more of ASAP.
As we enter week three of this terrifying new era, though, I am not just looking at celebrities for cues on what comes next, on what can be done. I’m also looking around the community where I live. I’m looking at the dozens of folks who took part in the “Immigrants Make America Great” demonstration in Geneva this weekend. I’m looking at my neighbors who put together a last minute counter-protest against an anti-trans protester who returned to downtown Batavia to picket outside of local small businesses yesterday. I’m contacting my federal elected officials as my local ones to ensure they are protecting our most vulnerable residents at this time. And I’m supporting the many local organizers who are creating opportunities for queer and trans folks to continue to build community right now.
As On Tyranny author Timothy Snyder describes in his latest essay, we cannot make it out of this present reality alone and dismayed. We need to work together to resist any impression that what this administration is working to do is at all inevitable. As the Grammys showed us, there is another way. We just have to fight for it.
ONE THING TO DO
The brilliant Chicago writer and sociologist Eve Ewing shared a powerful suggestion of action in an Instagram Story today. In light of the Trump administration’s call for our nation’s schools to take some incredibly troubling steps to “end indoctrination” of their students, Ewing is suggesting you reach out to your local school or district to urge them to continue to protect their trans, nonbinary, and gender-nonconforming students. While the sample letter provided is geared toward parents with a child in school, it can easily be tweaked if you’re a community member without school-attending kids too.
SONG OF THE RIGHT-NOW
West Virginia-born singer-songwriter Sierra Ferrell is another artist who won big at the Grammys last night, taking home four trophies for awards including best Americana album and best American roots performance. Her music blends many different traditions and styles, and the end result is something that feels genuinely timeless yet magical—like the sort of thing you’d hear riding a covered wagon through an alternate dimension. This song, “American Dreaming,” won the Grammy for Americana performance.
Oh, I'm American dreamin', oh-whoa-oh
I'm American dreamin', oh-whoa-oh
I'm American dreamin', oh-whoa
But I never seem to get no rest
Doechii truly was the highlight of the night. Damn. I love this era of artists speaking out and taking control.