Trevor Noah Celebrates L.A. Spirit Following Wildfires in Grammy’s Monologue
Trevor Noah is back to emcee duties for the 2025 Grammys.
The former Daily Show host took the Grammys stage for the fifth time on Sunday night. (He also exec produced the show.)
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At the top of the show, Noah was quick to note how, despite the show airing live from Los Angeles, music’s biggest night is coming under “unusual” circumstances.
“A few weeks ago we weren’t sure that this show would even happen. I mean, you don’t need me to tell you this, but the city has just been through one of the largest natural disasters in American history. Tens 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 the heroic efforts of firefighters, the fires have now been contained,” he said.
“And despite all the devastation, the spirit of the city has emerged. Neighbors who had never spoken before 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,” Noah continued.
Despite the devastation, Noah noted, “It’s often said the darkest of times show the best in humanity” and rather than celebrate the best in music, Sunday’s show also “celebrates the city that brought so much music.”
He then cited examples including Billie Eilish and Finneas turning their “small bedroom in Highland Park into a Grammy Award-winning studio,” the clubs of L.A. inspiring Chappell Roan to create her anthems, where Stevie Wonder wrote and recorded “arguably the greatest album of all time” and L.A. being the city where Snoop Doog “first mixed gin and juice,” resulting in hip hop never “being the same” since.
Noah then introduced a performance of “I Love L.A. from Dawes, featuring John Legend, Brad Paisley, Sheryl Crow, Brittany Howard and St. Vincent. Mandy Moore’s husband is Taylor Goldsmith, who is part of the band Dawes with his brother Griffin Goldsmith — both of their homes were impacted by the wildfires.
After the performance, Noah continued with his monologue where he compared the awards show night means for the music industry as being similar to what “the Super Bowl is to the NFL,” “what Valentine’s Day is to romance” and “what Father’s Day is to Nick Cannon.”
“We’re gonna be honoring the best in music as voted on by the 13,000 members of the recording academy and 20 million illegal immigrants. And tonight, no matter what happens, history will be made,” he said, referring to the recent deportations of undocumented immigrants following Donald Trump’s presidency.
He also congratulated first-time nominees including Roan and Sabrina Carpenter while acknowledging Grammys staples including Taylor Swift and Beyonce, the latter whom he teased would be attending the show.
“I hope she’ll be [here]. If she doesn’t show up, we’ll just edit this out. It’s not live,” he joked.
As for Swift possibly breaking her own record by winning album of the year, Noah told the singer-songwriter, “I’m just gonna say, Taylor, if you break Taylor’s record, you know the Swifties are gonna come after you!”
Before starting the show, Noah said he was going to “enjoy it tonight because this may be my last time I get to host anything in this country.”
Heading into this year’s awards, Beyoncé leads the nominees with 11, including album of the year and best country album for Cowboy Carter. Her song “Texas Hold ‘Em” also scored nods for song of the year, record of the year and best country song.
Eilish, Charli XCX, Post Malone and Kendrick Lamar follow with seven nominations each. Swift, Carpenter and Roan earned six nods apiece.
Throughout the preshow and televised ceremony, the Grammys are raising awareness and funds for L.A. wildfire relief. After 24 days of burning, the Eaton and Palisades fires are now 100 percent contained. At least 29 people were killed in the two fires with thousands of residents losing their homes.
During the premiere ceremony, Harvey Mason jr., CEO of The Recording Academy, took to the stage to share a few inspiring words, “This year, we’re also going to honor music‘s great power to inspire, to heal and to unite. Because of the recent fires that devastated Los Angeles, we’re also going to recognize the resilience of our community and celebrate our first responders and do our very best to lift up this city that we love.”
The 67th annual Grammys aired live on Sunday from the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles. The Hollywood Reporter rounded up of all of the red carpet looks ahead of the ceremony.
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