Chappell Roan celebrated her breakout year with a night at the 2025 Grammy Awards.
The singer, 26, walked away with a total of one win during the Sunday, February 2, ceremony at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles. Roan received nominations in each of the major four Grammys categories — Album of the Year, Record of the Year, Song of the Year and Best New Artist — as well as in the Best Pop Vocal Album and Best Pop Solo Performance fields. This year marked the first time in Roan’s career that she was recognized by the Recording Academy.
She took home the coveted Best New Artist win, offering an emotional speech that had audience members in tears.
“I told myself if I ever won a Grammy and I got to stand up here in front of the most powerful people in music, I would demand that labels and the industry profiting millions of dollars off of artists would offer a livable wage and health care, especially to developing artists,” she told the crowd. “I got signed as a minor. And when I got dropped, I had zero job experience under my belt and like most people, I had a difficult time finding a job in the pandemic and could not afford health insurance.”
Roan beat out Sabrina Carpenter, Shaboozey, Benson Boone, Doechii, Khruangbin, Raye and Teddy Swims for the award.
“Record labels need to treat their artists as valuable employees with a livable wage and health insurance and protection,” she concluded. “Labels, we got you, but do you got us?”
For Album of the Year, Roan’s The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess competed against André 3000’s New Blue Sun, Beyoncé’s Cowboy Carter (which won), Carpenter’s Short n’ Sweet, Charli XCX’s Brat, Jacob Collier’s Djesse Vol. 4, Billie Eilish’s Hit Me Hard and Soft and Taylor Swift’s The Tortured Poets Department.
In the Record of the Year category, Roan’s hit “Good Luck, Babe!” went up against The Beatles’ “Now and Then,” Beyoncé’s “Texas Hold ‘Em,” Carpenter’s “Espresso,” Charli’s “360,” Eilish’s “Birds of a Feather,” Kendrick Lamar’s “Not Like Us” (who won) and Swift and Post Malone’s “Fortnight.”
“Good Luck, Babe!” also vied for Song of the Year against “Texas Hold ‘Em,” “Birds of a Feather,” “Not Like Us,” (which won) “Fortnight,” Shaboozey’s “A Bar Song (Tipsy),” Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars’ “Die With a Smile” and Carpenter’s “Please Please Please.”
In the pop division, The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess vied for Best Pop Vocal Album against Carpenter’s Short n’ Sweet (which won), Eilish’s Hit Me Hard and Soft, Swift’s The Tortured Poets Department and Ariana Grande’s Eternal Sunshine, while “Good Luck, Babe!” was up against Beyoncé’s “Bodyguard,” Carpenter’s “Espresso,” Charli’s “Apple” and Eilish’s “Birds of a Feather” for Best Pop Solo Performance. (Carpenter and “Espresso” also took home that award.)
In December 2024, Roan reacted to her Grammy nods on A Carpool Karaoke Christmas, calling the awards show a “double-edged sword” and comparing it to a “talent show for the popular kids.” Still, she appreciated the recognition.
“How amazing is it that a gay artist wrote a gay song that went No. 1 with a gay writer who did not grow up in the industry, did not have an in, has been busting her ass for a decade?” she said at the time. “It’s an honor to be nominated with some of the other artists.”
Roan then shared that she had not written an acceptance speech yet but teased that she would make the moment memorable if it happened.
“You know me. I’m going to say something controversial,” she quipped. “Why not?”
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