The 2025 GRAMMYs, officially known as the 67th GRAMMY Awards, will air live on CBS and Paramount+ on Sunday, Feb. 2. Watch highlights from the 2025 GRAMMYs on live.GRAMMY.com.
The 2025 GRAMMYs telecast will be reimagined to raise funds to support wildfire relief efforts and aid music professionals impacted by the wildfires in Los Angeles. Donate to the Recording Academy's and MusiCares' Los Angeles Fire Relief Effort To Support Music Professionals.
Editor’s Note: This interview was conducted before the onset of the wildfires in Los Angeles. The artist has since addressed the situation.
If Hawaii is the heart of the Pacific, Hawaiian music is its bloodstream.
Hilo, Hawaii, native Kalani Pe’a is an advocate for his homeland and heritage, and uses his art to do just that. The GRAMMY-winning artist views music not just as a joy or a career path, but as a responsibility. That responsibility, and the importance of music as a tool for healing, was front and center following the devastating wildfires that swept the island of Maui in August 2023.
"To see, feel and hear the stories unfold about the wildfires in L.A. triggers many of us residents here on Maui," Pe'a tells GRAMMY.com, reflecting on the shared tragedy of losing homes, loved ones, and important cultural touchstones. "We can only do so much as musicians and Hawaiian cultural practitioners of our community, but we all had kuleana (responsibility) to assist each other, work together as a whole, as a lāhui (Hawaiian Nation), as civic and civil leaders and as first responders."
Immediately after the Maui fires, Pe'a, his husband, and team created a benefit concert for affected families and friends, raising $150,000. Working with local non-profit ʻĀina Momona, Pe'a and his team disbursed funds to families in need and hosted a live streamed event, Wiwoʻole Benefit Concert. "Wiwoʻole means courageous or bravery as Maui came together as a strong community to support each other during these trials and tribulations," Pe'a notes.
"We want to express our love and empathy to my friends and families who lost everything in the L.A. wildfires and demonstrate the significance of being wiwoʻole during this time," the GRAMMY-winning artist continues. "We hope this year's GRAMMY Awards ceremonies and festivities pivot to ensure that we focus on giving back and supporting our California residents, while we also adapt to change, and be effective and compassionate."
Pe’a has won three golden gramophones for Best Regional Roots Music Album — one for each of his three past albums, E Walea (2017), No ‘Ane’i (2019), and Kau Ka Pe’a (2022). At the 2025 GRAMMY Awards, he is once again nominated in the Category for his fourth and latest work, Kuini.
The meaning of Kuini, which translates to queen, runs deep for Pe’a. In his words, the album honors the many women, matriarchs, and goddesses who have shaped his Hawaiian identity. The title track was written for his childhood friend Kumuhula Leialoha Kaʻula, and also honors the people of Niʻihau for lei-making traditions, embodying Kuini’s rooted storytelling.
"This album is a compilation of original music and some favorite covers of mine to honor the people who are definitely queens in my life," Pe’a shares with GRAMMY.com, happily adding, "I am a queen as well!"
Read more: 2025 GRAMMYs: See The OFFICIAL Full Nominations List
At an early age, engaging with music helped Pe’a through a speech impediment, and inspired by his musical parents, Pe’a went on to perform in various choirs and competitions as a child. A few decades later, now as the first Hawaiian artist to win a GRAMMY Award for Best Regional Roots Music Album, it’s evident that Pe’a’s musical storytelling intersects with his status as a proud Hawaiian language practitioner of over 35 years.
While Pe’a sings in the traditional Hawaiian language on Kuini and his other albums, he identifies as a contemporary soul artist, emphasizing his role as a modern composer and advocate. He often sings to audiences who do not know Hawaiian fluently, and at such shows, he takes the time to share context about his music and the islands before performing. Pe’a views Hawaii as a "little dot" on the world map, but inspired by close mentors, his poignant music has helped propel Hawaiian music to more global audiences.
Calling in from his home in Maui, Kalani Pe’a shared with GRAMMY.com a specially curated list honoring Hawaiian musical legends and loved ones. Read on to learn about 10 of the artist’s favorite songs and albums from the islands.
Loyal Garner passed away 23 years ago. My favorite Hawaii female vocalist, I love her. She has an album called The Best of Loyal and I sing her song "Ha’a Hula," which talks about perpetuation of hula and the art of hula; I did the cover on my third GRAMMY-winning album in my version while honoring Loyal Garner.
I wish I met her in person, but I know she's here spiritually with me because I love to wear sparkly bedazzled shoes and outfits, and so does she! So yeah, I love you, Loyal Garner, with all my heart; I love to honor you.
I love Uncle Willie K. Pull up his version of "O Holy Night" — this is the reason why I sing "O Holy Night," we're tenors. As a vocalist, Uncle Willie Kay was my mentor and advisor.
He passed away suddenly years ago from cancer, and I honor his legacy by singing his song, "Katchi Katchi Music Makawao." It's an upbeat song to talk about my favorite town, Makawao, on the island of Maui. Makawao looks like a little Hallmark city. I love that song from his album, The Uncle In Me.
He's really uncle status; an amazing Hawaii entertainer. He's had huge concerts on Maui where he was definitely close with Steven Tyler, Alice Cooper. A lot of artists that live here in Maui, they played at his concerts, and I was there to witness this in person…
Uncle Willie K, to me, sets out that caliber with the one and only Elton John. Uncle Willie K can play any instrument and sing anything. He's one of my most favorite Hawaiian male vocalists ever.
The iconic Lim family of Kohala, Hawaii — I love their song "Pua 'Ōlena." "Pua 'Ōlena" is a flower, and it's a love song. It talks about a person and comparing their beauty to the flower.
It's a beautiful song, one of my favorite oldie but goodies songs from their album Launaʻole, which is also called Launaʻole: Unequalled.
Kimié Miner is my husband's childhood friend. She's very famous here in Hawaii. She's a GRAMMY-nominated producer… and this song, "Bamboo," I love it.
It talks about strengthening yourself like a bamboo, and it's a love song. It's [about] identifying love [and] loving yourself first. [Bamboo is] a really, really a source of holding water and through life, we need that water, that wealth of water to survive. So that's the hidden message in this song.
"Bamboo" really is a self-loving song; you need to love yourself before you love others. So, my friend, you need to listen to "Bamboo" for my girlfriend, Kimié Miner! She's an amazing female vocalist of Hawaii.
I have another iconic singer, Amy Hānaial'i, [on my list], who's a six-time GRAMMY nominee and a dear friend of mine. She's performed on a few of my GRAMMY-winning albums. She is an amazing singer songwriter from Hawaii.
I love her version of "Ave Maria" from her Christmas album. Oh, oh, it is so beautiful, and I play it constantly during Christmas.**
Her album Noelani — stunning — is GRAMMY-nominated. Natalie [Ai Kamauu] is six-time Hawaii Female Vocalist of the Year at the Nā Hōkū Hanohano Awards, and two-time GRAMMY- nominee, and I love her song "No Waimea Ke Aloha."
She currently lives in Waimea on the big island where I was born and raised in Hilo, Hawaii.
I live here in Maui, which is the land of my ancestors. My great great great grandparents come from Maui and she sings about one of my favorite towns, Waimea. It’s like a love song [that] talks about the misty rain of Waimea, the cold, crisp weather. And then when you go down 20 minutes, you're at the beach, and then you look at the beach, you look at the mountain, and there's snow. I mean, come on when you're swimming in warm water, and you can see the snow on the mountain! Isn't that beautiful? It’s everything! So Natalie is everything.
I love Dennis Kamakahi. He passed away years ago; he was an artist that was definitely recognizable and respected. He painted his nails black, he wore brooches. He was very, very unique and different, but his style was unique and his songwriting was very modern. There was a modern approach, like how I sing my Hawaiian music with some of the faster songs, other than the ballads.
"E Nā Kini" [is a song] that he co-composed with another composer. "E Nā Kini" is a song I redid on my first GRAMMY-winning album to honor Dennis Kamakahi. So these are some of the cover songs I did; most of my albums have our original songs composed by me or others.
In "E Nā Kini," he talks about unifying our people and bringing peace and unity to the people of Hawaii. He came up with the music, but the lyrics were written by someone else, many, many years ago, by Ernest Kala of Moloka’i.
As a national anthem, it was to bring peace and unity for the people of Hawaii when we faced this pandemic called Hansen's Disease, also known as leprosy. Our people were sequestered from their families and were forced to live on this island called Kolomakoi, so that we could beat this pandemic. And so this leprosy really, really affected a lot of our people in our community.
And so Dennis Kamaka, he was that modern Hawaiian songwriter. I really loved him.
Then we have Ho’okena of Ho’okena 3.0 — they're dear friends of mine. They're Hawaiian music legends, dear mentors of mine, and I love their version of "Keōkea Pāka," [which] talks about a park.
A lot of our songs talk about places and people we love, and we don't know why they compose or sing about these places, until you really interview them. Like, I can talk about a flower or a park or this type of rainfall that hits me, or this gust of wind that makes me feel so tickled inside. But we don't know what it's all about, until you really truly get the answer from the composer/singer, right? There's hidden messaging and poetry behind these songs.
So "Keōkea Pāka" talks about this park. I don't know what people do in this park, I have no idea. All I know is that it's a fun song to dance to.
We have "Ho'onanea" from Lena Machado, one of my favorite songwriters. She passed many, many years ago, but I sing this song on my album, one of the four covers out of the seven originals.
This is a song called "Ho'onanea" and I do it in falsetto. Falsetto is very known in our culture, going from one range to a higher mixed range — head voice range — where love is identified and demonstrated and applied in that type of arrangement.
Like, [for example,] if I'm talking about [a love song about] two birds chirping. You can hear [the love] in the song, right? [Sings in falsetto, translates]: "Let's chirp like the birds, let's make love like the birds soaring in the wind." Isn't that just so beautiful to hear? oh my goodness, the way that falsetto carries is like the way the birds chirp and soar in the wind. So this is the beauty about this songwriter Lena Machado.
Now, she wrote that song, but we don't know who it is for. She wrote it in the 1930s and re-recorded it in the '70s, but she said it was for a different lover. So we don't know if it's the same lover, different lover, but to each its own, it's a love song and I love it so much.
The last song is from my dear friend. We tour a lot in Japan. Japan treats me like Michael Jackson. I love singing in Japan! They love Hawaiian music and hula.
Weldon Kekauoha is a dear friend of mine and the way he sings this song, he's a God-fearing man and I just love his energy, our work, our synergy, and our friendship. And this song, "Thank You Lord" from his album Ka Lehua 'Ula just hits the spot. It's like the perfect last song for any concert or anything.
When you're feeling down and you just need to meditate and pray, this song "Thank You Lord" is my go-to song every time, and he's a dear friend of mine. I look up to him and he's definitely an amazing singer/songwriter.