Kendrick Lamar won his second Primetime Emmy on Night 2 of the Creative Arts Emmys, which were presented on Sunday (Sept. 7) at the Peacock Theater at L.A. Live in Los Angeles. He won outstanding music direction for The Apple Music Super Bowl LIX Halftime Show Starring Kendrick Lamar, alongside co-nominee Tony Russell.
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The rapper won his first Primetime Emmy three years ago for outstanding variety special (live) for The Pepsi Super Bowl LVI Halftime Show Starring Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Mary J. Blige, Eminem, Kendrick Lamar, 50 Cent. Adam Blackstone won as music director of that show.
The 2025 Grammys won two awards – outstanding choreography for variety or reality programming for choreographer Robbie Blue, specifically for Doechii’s musical performance on the show, and outstanding lighting design/lighting direction for a special.
Barack Obama won his third Primetime Emmy for outstanding narrator for Our Oceans, a Netflix documentary series. He previously won in the category for Working: What We Do All Day and Our Great National Parks, also for Netflix. Obama has now won more Primetime Emmys than he has Grammys (two).
The Saturday Night Live episode hosted by Lady Gaga won two Emmys – outstanding production design for a variety or reality series and outstanding lighting design/lighting direction for a series. Music by John Williams won outstanding sound editing for a nonfiction or reality program. Beatles ’64 won outstanding sound mixing for a nonfiction program. The latter award went to Josh Berger, re-recording mixer, and Giles Martin, re-recording music mixer. Martin is the son of legendary Beatles producer George Martin.
Duncan Thum and David Bertok won their first Primetime Emmys — outstanding music composition for a documentary series or special (original dramatic score) for their work on Netflix’s Chef’s Table.
Conan O’Brien won his sixth Primetime Emmy for outstanding hosted nonfiction series or special for Conan O’Brien Must Go. In addition, Conan O’Brien: The Kennedy Center Mark Twain Prize for American Humor won outstanding variety special (pre-recorded), but O’Brien didn’t personally win in that category.
The late Paul Reubens, aka Pee Wee Herman, won his first Primetime Emmy as an executive producer of Pee Wee as Himself, which won outstanding documentary or nonfiction special.
SNL50: Beyond Saturday Night won outstanding documentary series.
The Studio was the top winner across the two nights of the Creative Arts Emmys, with nine wins. It was followed by The Penguin (eight); SNL50: The Anniversary Special (seven); Severance (six); Andor, Arcane, Love, Death + Robots and The Traitors (four each); The Boys, Bridgerton, Pee-Wee As Himself and Saturday Night Live (three each); and The 67th Annual Grammy Awards, 100 Foot Wave, Adolescence, The Daily Show: Desi Lydic Foxsplains, Love On The Spectrum, The Pitt and Welcome to Wrexham (two each).
Here’s the complete list of nominees in the two music categories that were presented on Sunday, with winners marked:
Outstanding Music Direction
WINNER: The Apple Music Super Bowl LIX Halftime Show Starring Kendrick Lamar • FOX • Roc Nation, DPS, Jesse Collins Entertainment and pgLang; Kendrick Lamar, Tony Russell, Music Directors
The Kennedy Center Honors • CBS • Done + Dusted in association with Rok Productions; Rickey Minor, Music Director
The Oscars • ABC • Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences; Michael Bearden, Music Director
SNL50: The Anniversary Special • NBC • SNL Studios in association with Universal Television and Broadway Video; Lenny Pickett, Leon Pendarvis, Eli Brueggemann, Music Directors
SNL50: The Homecoming Concert • Peacock • SNL Studios in association with Universal Television and Broadway Video; James Poyser, Music Director, Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson, Music Director
Outstanding Music Composition for a Documentary Series or Special (Original Dramatic Score)
The Americas • “Andes” • NBC • BBC Studios Natural History Unit in association with Universal Television Alternative Studio; Hans Zimmer, Anže Rozman, Kara Talve, Composers
WINNER: Chef’s Table • “José Andrés” • Netflix • Boardwalk Pictures and David Gelb Planetarium for Netflix; Duncan Thum, David Bertok, Composers
Leonardo Da Vinci • PBS • Florentine Films & WETA; Caroline Shaw, Composer
Planet Earth: Asia • “Beneath the Waves” • BBC America • A BBC Studios Natural History Unit production co-produced with BBC America and ZDF for BBC; Jacob Shea, Laurentia Editha, Composers
Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story • HBO | Max • DC Studios presents in association with HBO Documentary Films and CNN Films in association with Words+Pictures, a Passion Pictures and Misfits Entertainment production in association with Jenco Films; Ilan Eshkeri, Composer