Whereas most Best New Artist winners at the Grammys are a little too caught up in the moment after receiving what’s arguably music’s closest thing to a guaranteed golden ticket for future success, Chappell Roan – 2025’s winner – used the occasion to broadcast a message bigger than her own brilliance.
“I told myself that if I ever won a Grammy and got to stand up here before the most powerful people in music, I would demand that labels in the industry profiting millions of dollars off of artists would offer a liveable wage and health care, especially developing artists,” she said, eliciting an instant stand-up and applause from the likes of Taylor Swift.
