Kendrick Lamar and SZA have won Record of the Year at the 2025 Grammys. Their duet “Luther,” which samples Luther Vandross and Cheryl Lynn’s “If This World Were Mine,” triumphed over songs by Bad Bunny (“DTMF”), Billie Eilish (“Wildflower”), Chappell Roan (“The Subway”), Doechii (“Anxiety”), Lady Gaga (“Abracadabra”), Rosé and Bruno Mars (“Apt.”), and Sabrina Carpenter (“Manchild”).
Lamar and SZA accepted the award together, joined onstage by a group that included GNX producers Sounwave and Jack Antonoff, Kamasi Washington. Cher was alongside them after making a slip in presenting the category, announcing the winner as “Luther Grandoss” before correcting herself.
“This is what music is about,” Lamar said in his speech. “Luther Vandross. This is special. I gotta take my time cause it’s one of my favorite artists of all time, and they granted us the privilege to do our version of it. When we got that clearance, I promise you we all damn near dropped a tear, because we know how much young miss Cheryl Lynn poured into that record. And being able to put our vocals on it, it proves that we were somewhat worthy to be just as great as them individuals. They granted us that. They said ‘No cursing though. Can’t curse on it.’ That was our only thing, right? And we said ‘You know what, we’re gonna do just that. No cursing. We’re gonna make sure that this song represents love.’
SZA added, “I just wanna say thank you to Kendrick for lifting me up. I just am a small part of this record, but what I really wanted to say is please don’t fall into despair. I know that right now is a scary time. I know the algorithms tell us that it’s so scary, and all is lost. There’s been world wars, there’s been plagues, and we have gone on. We can go on. We need each other, we need to trust each other and trust ourselves, trust your heart. We’re not governed by the government, we’re governed by god, and I thank you so much.”
Lamar is now one of the few artists to hold back-to-back Record of the Year Grammys. He took home the trophy in 2025 for his Drake diss “Not Like Us.” At tonight’s ceremony, Lamar also picked up consecutive wins in the Best Rap Song and Best Rap Performance categories, as well as Best Rap Album for GNX, bringing his career total wins to 27.
SZA was nominated in five categories this evening, including Best Pop Duo/Group Performance, where “30 for 30”—her other 2025 duet with Lamar—lost out to Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande’s rendition of “Defying Gravity.”
See the full winners list and follow along with all of Pitchfork’s coverage of the 2026 Grammys.
