Chappell Roan took home the highly anticipated best new artist award at the 2025 Grammys, and she used her win to highlight the treatment of developing artists in the music industry.
Victoria Monet, the 2024 winner of the category, returned to the Grammy stage to announce Roan as this year’s winner. The “Hot to Go! singer-songwriter thanked her fellow nominees “whose music got me through this past year,” she said. Roan brought a notebook to the stage to deliver remarks she said told herself she always would say if she were ever to find herself in this position.
“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 in healthcare, especially to developing artists,” Roan said, met with cheers from the crowd.
Roan went on to explain that she was signed as a minor and when she was previously dropped from her label, she had no job experience or health care, saying she had a hard time trying to find a job in the pandemic. “It was so devastating to feel so committed to my art and feel so betrayed by the system and so dehumanized to not have help,” she said.
“Labels, we got you, but do you got us?” Roan questioned, finishing her acceptance speech. It was met with applause from the crowd. Fellow nominee Sabrina Carpenter looked teary eyed when the camera panned to her following Roan’s speech.
The tight race for best new artist was full of performers of some of the year’s biggest hits including Benson Boone, Carpenter, Doechii, Khruangbin, RAYE, Roan, Shaboozey and Teddy Swims. The artists, minus Carpenter, Roan and Khruangbin, performed a melody before the award was given out. Carpenter and Roan, both up for the biggest award of the night, album of the year, performed separately in the ceremony. The pre-award performances showcased the musical diversity in this year’s class of nominees.
Roan brought the Grammys crowd to the “Pink Pony Club” with her performance. On theme with the night, Roan said of her love of Los Angeles, “‘Pink Pony Club’ is my love letter to L.A. I love this city. L.A. gave me the courage to be myself because ultimately it is where I feel the most free.”
The 2025 Grammy Awards, hosted by Trevor Noah, aired live on Sunday from the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles. Find the full list of winners here and check out all the red carpet arrivals here.
Read Roan’s speech in full, below.
Hello, thank you to my fellow nominees whose music got me through this past year. Brat was the best night of my life this year. My hat’s going to fall. It’s going to be OK. [Laughs]. Thank you all who listened to get me here today and Dan [Dan Nigro] and Island Records, Amusement Records, my friends and my family, and above all my Papa Chappell, who I named myself after.
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 in the industry profiting millions of dollars off of artists would offer a livable wage and healthcare, especially to developing artists. Because I got signed so young… 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.
It was so devastating to feel so committed to my art and feel so betrayed by the system and so dehumanized to not have help. And if my label would’ve prioritized artist health, I could have been provided care by a company I was giving everything to. So, record labels need to treat their artists as valuable employees with a livable wage and health insurance and protection.
Labels, we got you, but do you got us?
English (US) ·