Footage of Gojira accepting the 2025 Grammy Award For Best Metal Performance has been shared online.
The French extreme metal quartet claimed the prize at the Los Angeles ceremony on Sunday (February 2), winning with a rendition of revolutionary song Ah! Ça Ira that they performed at the 2024 Olympic Games opening ceremony.
This year marks the fourth time Gojira were Grammy-nominated – they were put forward for Best Rock Album and Best Metal Performance in 2017, then Best Metal Performance again in 2022 – and their first win. They beat Metallica, Spiritbox, Judas Priest and Knocked Loose feat. Poppy to take home the trophy.
When Gojira took the stage to accept their Grammy last night, they were joined by opera singer Marina Viotti, who performed Ah! Ça Ira with the band, and Victor Le Masne, musical director of the 2024 Olympics.
In the published video (available below), singer/guitarist Joe Duplantier graciously dedicates the win to forward-thinking artists throughout the musical world.
“We are extremely excited to receive this award,” he says. “We had the privilege to perform at the Olympic [opening] ceremony with Marina and Victor. So this is a great day for us, obviously.”
He continues: “We want to dedicate this award to all the bands who are pushing the boundaries. Support your local artists, support your local bands, because that’s where it’s at and they’re inspiring us to continue. Thank you very much for this!”
In an interview with Metal Hammer in December, Duplantier revealed that the idea of Gojira gracing the Olympics was originally Le Masne’s. He told journalist Dave Everley that accepting the opportunity was a “no-brainer”, but added that singing a song as violent as Ah! Ça Ira clashed with Gojira’s more positive outlook.
In the end, the band decided to emphasise the lyrics ‘Let us rejoice, good times will come’ and ‘Without fear of fire or flame’. “That became the centrepiece of the song: two little lines that are not full of blood and beheading,” he states.
Le Masne told Hammer why Gojira were the perfect choice for the French Revolution-themed portion of the opening ceremony. “And I thought: ‘Metal,’” he said. “Metal, for me, is a revolutionary music. And Gojira were an obvious choice – I wanted to have a French act, and in 2024 they are one of the most brilliant acts in the genre.”
Gojira released their latest album, Fortitude, in 2021 and are expected to put out its followup this year. In September, Duplantier said their next album will “take a clear step forward and upward” from its predecessor.
The band will tour Europe in the summer and stop at Derbyshire’s Bloodstock Open Air in August, headlining the festival alongside Machine Head and Trivium.
