The 2025 Grammy Awards got underway with a muted introduction by comedian Trevor Noah, who eschewed a traditional awards show monologue in favor of words about the wildfires that ravaged Los Angeles last month.
โGood evening, and welcome to the 67th annual Grammy Awards,โ Noah began as he walked onstage at Crypto.com Arena to a round of applause.
โAs usual, weโre coming to you live from Los Angeles, but whatโs unusual are our circumstances this evening. Just a few weeks ago, we werenโt sure tonight that this show would even happen. I mean, you donโt need me to tell you this, but this city has just been through one of the largest natural disasters in American history,โ he continued, as images from the fires played on the screen.
โTens of thousands of people have lost their homes. Entire neighborhoods have been erased. Schools, local businesses and entire communities have burned to the ground. Thankfully, due to heroic efforts of firefighters, the fires have now been contained,โ he said a thunderous round of cheers.
Noah then continued to highlight how people have rallied around each other.
โAnd despite all the devastation, the spirit of the city has been emerged,โ he said. โNeighbors who have never spoken to each other are helping each other. Community centers are overflowing with donations. Families are welcoming strangers into their homes, so they, too, have a place to sleep.
โYou know, ย itโs often that in the darkest times, the best of humanity shines through and the people of Los Angeles right now are a perfect example of that.โ
Noah then shifted to say they plan to celebrate music and the city at the Grammys. He talked about how Billie Eilish and her brother, Finneas, became Grammy winners in the city, how Chappell Roan was inspired by Los Angeles to write her song โPink Pony Clubโ and how Stevie Wonder recorded his smash album, โSongs in the Key of Lifeโ in the city.
As the audience applauded, Noah then fired off a jokes about Snoop Dogg.
โL.A. was the city where Snoop mixed gin and juice and hip hop has never been the same,โ he said, alluding to his song โGin and Juice.โ
Noah then introduced an all-star performance of Randy Newmanโs classic song, โI Love L.A.,โ by talking about the band Dawes, featuring brothers Taylor and Griffin Goldsmith, who were born and raised in the city and lost so much in the fires. Noah said they managed to raise money for other families affected by the fires.
Noah then introduced the band, helped out by other Grammy-winning stars, including John Legend, Sheryl Crow, Brad Paisley, Brittany Howard and St. Vincent, as they covered โI Love L.A.โ
After the performance, Noah appeared on the floor and delivered a more typical monologue.
โWhat Fatherโs Day is to Nick Cannon, thatโs what the Grammys is to music,โ he said.
While hyping up the night’s festivities by talking about superstars like Taylor Swift, Beyonce and The Beatles, he also had some fun.
“Who knows, through the power of AI, one day we could even get another Rihanna album,” he quipped.
He also circled back to poke fun at Swift and her six nominations, noting that she could break her own record of four album of the year victories that she set last year.
“I’m just going to say Taylor, if you break Taylor’ record, you know the Swifties are going to come for you. You don’t want to mess with them. They’re like an army of Kendrick Lamars,” he said.
He also reiterated how they plan to raise money for multiple charities to help those affected by the wildfires.
