After performances from Sabrina Carpenter and Chappell Roan earlier in the evening, the six additional Best New Artist nominees took the stage for a fiery medley of their biggest songs. Shaboozey, Benson Boone, Teddy Swims, Raye, Doechii, and Khruangbin performed back to back at the 2025 Grammys for a highlight set Sunday.
Khruangbin opened the Best New Artist set with a short snippet of “May Ninth,” before Boone began performing his song “Beautiful Things” in the crowd.
There in the audience, he approached Heidi Klum and Nikki Glaser who ripped off his tuxedo to reveal a light blue jumpsuit as he hit the track’s high notes. While performing his breakthrough single, which peaked at Number Two on the Billboard Hot 100 and became the biggest song of the year through the first half of 2024, Boone snuck in his signature black flip from atop a piano.
Doechii then dazzled in her first Grammy Awards performance with a set that mashed up “Catfish” from Alligator Bites Never Heal, which won Best Rap Album earlier in the night. (Rolling Stone named the project the best hip-hop album of 2024.)
Dressed in a gray suit with shorts and surrounded by matching dancers, Doechii rapped her lyrics while doing the splits in the air. She also stripped down to a white swimsuit for a jazzy, high-energy rendition of “Denial Is a River.”
After the rap star, Swims slowed things down with his stunning vocals as he performed “Lose Control,” which spent 38 weeks in the Top 10 throughout 2024. The song, which draws heavily on vintage soul, proved transformative for Swims, who achieved viral fame and won a major-label contract with a fiery cover of Shania Twain’s “You’re Still the One.”
Shaboozey brought country vibes to the Grammys, launching into a two-song mashup, which included “Good News” backed by choir-like vocals. He then transitioned into “A Bar Song (Tipsy),” which spent a record-tying 19 weeks atop the Hot 100 and earned three nominations at the 2025 Grammys. Jennifer Lopez and Ty Dolla Sign were spotted in the crowd singing along to the country track.
Closing out the performance was Raye, who was also nominated for Songwriter of the Year, Non-Classical this year. She brought along the entire orchestra for a soulful rendition of “Oscar-Winning Tears” that ended with a stunning vocal. It’s a full-circle pair of nominations (and performance) for the singer who cut her teeth writing songs for other artists as a teenager, scoring placements with Beyoncé, Little Mix, Snakehips, and more.
Victoria Monét won the award for Best New Artist last year.
From Rolling Stone US
