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While Dropkick Murphys led the field with three wins on Wednesday, Boston band Couch, who were nominated in five categories, took home two trophies, including live artist of the year and pop artist of the year. <\/p>\n
![\"ISHA!](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/M6LVU6MDV6PZ77YLM3HWWNWZOM.jpg\")
ISHA! performed at the Boston Music Awards at Big Night Live on Wednesday night.Ben Stas for The Boston Globe\/The Boston Globe<\/p>\n
Rising women hip-hop and R&B performers continue to dominate the new artist of the year category, with Lawrence artist ISHA! taking the 2025 title, shouting out \u201cthe Dominicans and the Haitians in the building\u201d while accepting the award (she also performed at the event). The 2024 crown went to Dorchester R&B act Yanna G, while Mattapan rapper Nay $peaks won new artist of the year in 2023.<\/p>\n
Rap also dominated the best album categories, with Boston rapper EXITFAME, who also performed at this year\u2019s awards, winning album\/EP of the year for \u201cLast Shall Be First.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cI grew up in Dorchester, Roxbury. And what makes you stay here is the pride of that,\u201d EXITFAME told the Globe backstage at Wednesday\u2019s event, noting how he wants \u201cto bring an eye on the city\u201d with his work.<\/p>\n
![\"Exitfame](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/W3NZMHWEBAGHYJBPH5FWJE5ZPA.jpg\")
Exitfame performed at the Boston Music Awards at Big Night Live on Wednesday night.Ben Stas for The Boston Globe\/The Boston Globe<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Salem rapper Token won the award for album\/EP of the year (1 million+ streams) for \u201cI\u2019m Not Supposed to Be Here.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI was always insecure about growing up outside of Boston and being an internet kid,\u201d Token said during his acceptance speech. \u201cBut where I\u2019m from means a lot to me, and this means a lot to me.\u201d<\/p>\n
In a statement from Paul Armstrong, owner and producer of the Boston Music Awards, he praised this year\u2019s nominees and winners for reflecting \u201cthe full spectrum of who makes music in Boston right now.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s been a difficult year in many ways, for a lot of people, and nights like this matter,\u201d said Armstrong. \u201cWhen things feel heavy, art is often what helps us see a way forward.\u201d<\/p>\n
He added, \u201cOur hope is that the Boston Music Awards offered a little light, a sense of connection, and a reminder of the strength that comes from a creative community that truly represents everyone.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Nate](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/WEGT6I5RV5233LOINRKZWRHO2Y.jpg\")
Nate Perry and Ragged Company performed at the Boston Music Awards at Big Night Live on Wednesday night.Ben Stas for The Boston Globe\/The Boston Globe<\/p>\n
The 2025 edition of the ceremony featured five new categories this year, including the inaugural Margaret Stewart Lindsay music nonprofit of the year award, which honors organizations supporting the creative community. The honor went to the Boston Music Project, a nonprofit that aims to support \u201cthe long-term social-emotional and musical success of Boston youth,\u201d according to its website<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cThe arts truly are the cornerstone of humanity, and especially right now,\u201d said Chris Schroeder, executive director of the Boston Music Project, while accepting the award on stage. \u201cThey play a vital role in helping us to express, amplify, and shape the future that we all want to see.\u201d<\/p>\n Also new for 2025 was the Afro\/Caribbean artist of the year<\/a> category, which took the place of the reggae\/ska category. The award went to hip-hop and Afrofusion musician Echezona.<\/p>\n Additional genre-specific winners included Token (hip-hop); Yanna G (R&B); Lia Nicole (Latin); Megan From Work (rock); Hallelujah the Hills (alt\/indie); Ezra Furman (singer-songwriter); GA-20 (blues); Samantha Rae (country); Freezepop (dance\/electronic); DJ Real P (DJ); Jared Sims (jazz); TREE (metal); Haywire (punk\/hardcore); Kier Byrnes & The Kettle Burners (Americana); Tiny Habits (folk); and Miranda Rae (vocalist).<\/p>\n The Boston Globe was honored as well, earning the award for publication of the year, with Globe contributing writer and music editor Victoria Wasylak winning journalist of the year.<\/p>\n See the full list of winners below.<\/p>\n Dropkick Murphys <\/p>\n ISHA! <\/p>\n Album\/EP of the Year (1 million+ streams) <\/p>\n Token \u2013 \u201cI\u2019m Not Supposed to Be Here\u201d <\/p>\n EXITFAME \u2013 \u201cLast Shall Be First\u201d <\/p>\n Song of the Year (1 million+ streams) <\/p>\n Dropkick Murphys \u2013 \u201cWho\u2019ll Stand With Us?\u201d <\/p>\n Justin Clancy \u2013 \u201cHoly\u201d <\/p>\n Dropkick Murphys \u2013 \u201cWho\u2019ll Stand With Us?\u201d <\/p>\n Couch <\/p>\n Afro\/Caribbean Artist of the Year <\/p>\n Echezona <\/p>\n Alt\/Indie Artist of the Year <\/p>\n Hallelujah the Hills <\/p>\n Americana Artist of the Year <\/p>\n Kier Byrnes & The Kettle Burners <\/p>\n GA-20 <\/p>\n Country Artist of the Year <\/p>\n Samantha Rae <\/p>\n Dance\/Electronic Artist of the Year <\/p>\n Freezepop <\/p>\n DJ Real P <\/p>\n Tiny Habits <\/p>\n Hip Hop Artist of the Year <\/p>\n Token <\/p>\n Jared Sims <\/p>\n Lia Nicole <\/p>\n TREE<\/p>\n Couch <\/p>\n Punk\/Hardcore Artist of the Year <\/p>\n Haywire <\/p>\n Yanna G <\/p>\n Megan From Work <\/p>\n Singer-Songwriter Artist of the Year <\/p>\n Ezra Furman <\/p>\n Miranda Rae <\/p>\n Spoken Word Artist of the Year <\/p>\n Yessmaa <\/p>\n Music Festival of the Year <\/p>\n Boston Calling <\/p>\n SILK R&B Party <\/p>\n Music Venue of the Year (1000+ capacity) <\/p>\n MGM Music Hall at Fenway<\/p>\n Music Venue of the Year (250+ capacity) <\/p>\n The Sinclair <\/p>\n Music Venue of the Year (Under 250 capacity) <\/p>\n Deep Cuts <\/p>\n Box Office Team of the Year <\/p>\n Big Night Live <\/p>\n Production Manager of the Year <\/p>\n Marc Picard <\/p>\n Live Audio Engineer of the Year <\/p>\n Jesse Vengrove <\/p>\n Lighting Technician of the Year <\/p>\n Brittany Trymbulak <\/p>\n Bowery Boston <\/p>\n Justine Faucher <\/p>\n Graphic Designer of the Year <\/p>\n Liz Walshak <\/p>\n The Boston Globe <\/p>\n Victoria Wasylak <\/p>\n Faith Nguyen <\/p>\n Nicole da Silva<\/p>\n Artist Manager of the Year <\/p>\n Ikenna Ndugba<\/p>\n Session Musician of the Year <\/p>\n Matt Zappa <\/p>\n Recording Studio of the Year <\/p>\n The SoundLab Recording Studios<\/p>\n Studio Producer of the Year <\/p>\n Akachi <\/p>\n Studio Engineer of the Year <\/p>\n J. Rose <\/p>\n \u201cCWTFB Radio\u201d <\/p>\n DJ Pup Dawg <\/p>\n The Margaret Stewart Lindsay Music Non-Profit of the Year <\/p>\n Boston Music Project <\/p>\n Matt Juul can be reached at matthew.juul@globe.com<\/a>. Ryan Yau can be reached at ryan.yau@globe.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cThis means the world to us,\u201d Brennan said while accepting the award at Wednesday\u2019s ceremony, noting in his…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":356335,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[53],"tags":[88,216],"class_list":{"0":"post-356334","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-music","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-music"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/356334","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=356334"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/356334\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/356335"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=356334"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=356334"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=356334"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Megan](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/3IELRHBI56BPBWQQ2O32AMPBLM.jpg\")
Megan From Work performed at the Boston Music Awards at Big Night Live on Wednesday night.Ben Stas for The Boston Globe\/The Boston Globe<\/p>\n