Grammys 2025 Q&A: First-time winners share inspirations, emotions behind awarded compositions

Sean Ono Lennon (left) holds a Grammy trophy on the red carpet at the 67th Annual Grammy Awards on Sunday. The musician, who is the son of John Lennon and Yoko Ono, won his first Grammy in the category of Best Boxed Or Special Limited Edition Package for “Mind Games.” (Courtesy of Recording Academy)

By Reid Sperisen
Feb. 3, 2025 8:22 p.m.
This post was updated Feb. 4 at 9:17 p.m.
Not every award may be presented on television, but winning a Grammy remains a once-in-a-lifetime experience.
While this year’s 67th Annual Grammy Awards took on a message of philanthropy and fire relief, the recognition of the best in music remained one of the event’s primary focuses. During an extended preshow ceremony at the Crypto.com Arena on Sunday, the Recording Academy presented trophies in more than 80 categories to artists, songwriters and producers across a variety of genres. From Latin jazz to children’s music to video game scoring, almost every imaginable sect of music was featured.
The Daily Bruin’s Reid Sperisen spoke with several artists about their nominated bodies of work minutes before they took home their first Grammy Awards.
These interviews have been edited for length and clarity.
Best Boxed Or Special Limited Edition Package
Daily Bruin: With your father, John Lennon, having seven Grammy career wins, and your mother, Yoko Ono, having two career wins, how does it feel for you to be following in their footsteps with your first Grammy nomination tonight?
Sean Ono Lennon: I never dreamed that I would be nominated for a Grammy, so it just feels surreal. Honestly, it’s a great honor for me to have an opportunity to be a good son and try to do honor to my dad’s music. It’s a really special feeling for me, very happy to be here.
[Related: Grammys 2025: 67th ceremony awards Beyoncé and Kendrick Lamar, encourages fire recovery in LA]

Best Contemporary Christian Music Performance/Song
DB: As a songwriter, you trusted your work and composition to the legendary vocalist CeCe Winans. What does that process look like when creating a track and then placing it in the hands of a vocalist to share with listeners?
Kellie Gamble: It’s funny, with this song (“That’s My King”), we had no idea that it would wind up in her hands. When we wrote this song, we were just writing it for our church. Then her producer, Kyle Lee, found it after it was released, and it was just by happenstance – really, the Lord – that it ended up in her hand. So we had no forethought of that on the front end, but it’s been amazing to see how her team has taken it and made it what it is now. It’s really, really, really special.

Best Latin Jazz Album
DB: How did “Cubop Lives!” come to be, and how did you go about developing the sonic and thematic elements of the LP?
Zaccai Curtis: I put together a band years ago, and we tried to capture the sound from the 1940s – Dizzy Gillespie, Chano Pozo, Mario Bauzá and many others of that era, like Machito and Tito Puente. I would play their music and try to develop a more modern sound or interpretation of that music, which is some of my favorite music to play and listen to. So over the years of developing these arrangements and the music with some incredible musicians, I decided to go into the studio, and so we laid out the entire record in two days or a day and a half, because we’ve been rehearsing and playing it for many years before that.
Best Children’s Music Album
DB: When it comes to “Brillo, Brillo!” and your past nominations in the Children’s Music Album category, how do you go about striking a balance where this music is really tailored to audiences under the age of 12 while still receiving the respect and accolades from the Recording Academy?
Robert Eibach (of Lucky Diaz & the Family Jam Band): We approach it in a way that it can be enjoyable for the whole family, where parents can enjoy it and children can enjoy it. But lyrically, the content is more geared towards under 12. But the music, it’s fun. Our music is very Beatles inspired. It’s like The B-52’s for kids. I think it’s approaching it from the aspect where anybody could listen to it. And then you can interject the lyrics that are appropriate for the age.
[Related: Grammys 2025 Q&A: UCLA lecturer Amy Kuney outlines Chappell Roan collaboration, songwriting identity]

Best Score Soundtrack for Video Games and Other Interactive Media
DB: With your extensive career in scoring music for video games, what does this first nomination in your career for a Grammy Award mean to you?
Winifred Phillips: It means so much to me. First, it’s very exciting that we have a category for video game music now. It’s wonderful that the Academy is recognizing video game music as a separate art form, because it really is quite different from music for film and television. It’s wonderful to be here and recognized with my peers in the game community. Writing the music of “Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord” was just such a thrill and an honor. It’s a game with such history, and it’s one of the best RPGs of the year. So, being able to create the music for that game just meant a lot to me. I’m over the moon tonight.