Grammys 2025: Dawes, John Legend, more open with ‘I Love LA’
Tonight the 2025 Grammys kicked off on CBS, and we expected some big things from the beginning. Sometimes, the show has a huge performance to kick things off; we’ve also seen some lighthearted moments over the years depending on the host.
This time around, though, the awards-show did something a little bit different, performing what amounted to a star-studded tribute to the city of Los Angeles following the massive and tragic wildfires. This is one that featured Dawes (who lost much in the fires) alongside a number of surprise guests including St. Vincent, Brad Paisley, Sheryl Crow, and John Legend performing a cover of “I Love LA.” This was exactly what you would expect to open the show given the circumstances here.
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Of course, we do think that this was a performance that relied more on sentiment than anything else to bring its message home — it featured so many people who clearly do not have any history of performing with one another, so bringing everyone together in that capacity can at times be rough. Still, we like that this was an upbeat song in an attempt to spread some positivity and love for a community that needs it the most.
We will say that the performance here did overshadow to some extent the opening monologue from Trevor Noah that followed. We know that he’s a brilliant comedian, but the whole staging of him being surrounded by the crowd just felt awkward. We had too many close-ups on too many faces, and it was really distracting to try and figure out who was enjoying the show or not. (Also, Chappell Roan and her fan ended up commanding most of our attention without saying a word.)
What did you think about the opening for the 2025 Grammys at CBS?
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