Now that’s what you call a Grammy Night. Trevor Noah, who’s hosted for the past six years, set the tone for this Grammy era a few years ago. “Don’t even think of this as an award show,” he said. “It’s a concert where we give out awards.” That’s the attitude that has given us a string of Grammy shows heavy on live music and short on showbiz schmaltz. And that’s why the 2026 bash felt like an all-night music celebration, with one top-notch performance after another, from rookies, veterans, stars, legends, upstarts, from Lauryn Hill to Bieber in his underwear. Noah didn’t show up with many jokes, but he didn’t need them — he just got out of the way and let the music play.
But almost everyone showed up with something to say. The rage was in the air all night — and in the music. The ICE Out buttons were everywhere, from Joni Mitchell to Billie Eilish, and the winners felt free to speak their minds in solidarity with immigrants. It was a drastic but welcome change from the Golden Globes just a few weeks ago, where the stars looked too shell-shocked and defeated to speak.
Bad Bunny was the star of the night, winning Album of the Year for Debí Tirar Más Fotos, his love letter to his native Puerto Rico. It was a massive win — not just for him, but for the Grammys, the first Album of the Year in Spanish. (The Grammys needed a Bad Bunny win far more than he needed the Grammy.) But it made it matter on a personal and historic level. Early in the night, he won Best Musica Urbana Album and declared, “Before I say ‘thanks to God,’ I’m going to say ‘ICE Out.’” That got the night’s wildest ovation, but Benito wasn’t finished. “We are not savages, we’re not animals, we’re not aliens. We are humans, and we are Americans.”
He took the top prize at the end of the night, sobbing at his table when he heard his name. (Previous winner — and birthday boy — Harry Styles gave him the Grammy, a gracious touch.) It’s not the first time a Latin artist has won Album of the Year — Santana won in 1999, back when absolutely nobody noticed or cared who won any Grammys. (It’s only in the past decade or so that people have come to think of Grammys as awards that anybody “should” win.) But he dedicated it “to all the people who had to leave their homeland, their country, to follow their dreams.”
Kendrick Lamar was the night’s other massive winner, to nobody’s surprise. He won Best Rap Album for GNX early on — his tenth win, giving him more Grammys than any hip-hop artist ever. (And he did it on the tenth anniversary of the night he blew the roof off the 2016 show with “Alright,” still the top Grammy live moment ever.) “Hip-hop as usual,” he said. “Every time, I tell you this. Hip-hop is always going to be right here. We are going to be in these suits. We’re going to be looking good. We’re going to be having our folks with us. We are going to be having the culture with us.”
But it was a weirdly beautiful moment later in the show when he won Record of the Year (for the second straight year) and got handed his prize by none other than Cher. Nobody was less excited to be at the Grammys than Cher, and when Noah handed her a surprise lifetime-achievement award, she made an evidently unplanned speech and headed offstage. Noah had to gently remind her she was also there to give out an award. In an absolute instant-classic moment, she opened the envelope, saw the song title “Luther,” and announced, “The Grammy goes to Luther Vandross!”
It could have been awkward and embarrassing — a La La Land Oscar gaffe. Except the artists didn’t let that happen because they had too much respect for Vandross — and for Cher. (If you’ve ever seen Lamar at the Grammys, accepting awards from Tony Bennett or Diana Ross, you know that he’s impeccably respectful with his elders.) Sounwave said, “First and foremost, let’s give a shout-out to the late Luther Vandross.” Lamar took it further with a deeply moving tribute, calling Vandross “one of my favorite artists of all time.” He revealed that they got the clearance for the sample only on the condition that they didn’t curse on the record. “When we got that clearance, I promise you, we damn it all dropped a tear because we know how much him and Cheryl Lynn poured into that record.” He signed off with “Luther forever.” SZA added a few words of her own, urging the audience, “Please don’t fall into despair.”
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(Note: This bizarrely sweet and human moment only could have happened at the Grammys, because the Grammy honchos actually respect the artists, so they don’t hire an orchestra to shut up the winners. I wonder every year: Why can’t other award shows learn more from this one?)
Lady Gaga was riding the edge of glory all night, celebrating her Mayhem era. She raged on a powerfully anthemic “Abracadabra” that was billed as a “Rock Version,” though it’s hard to imagine any nonrock version of that song, since it’s so steeped in the blood and thunder of the Eighties goth clubs. Gaga transformed into some kind of demon Medusa queen. She also won Best Pop Vocal Anthem, urging the female musicians out there to “fight for your ideas, fight for your songs.”
Sabrina Carpenter is one of the great award-show performers of our time — she’s made that one of her trademark specialties. She didn’t disappoint with “Manchild,” in a very sexy airport where she made her big entrance on the baggage-claim belt, rocking her pink pilot outfit. She got bleeped for singing “Fuck my life,” but that didn’t stop Nikki Glaser — or anyone else — from singing along.
Billie Eilish easily took the Grammy for Most Valuable Audience Member, if they gave an award for that (and they should). She was everybody’s biggest fan all night, singing and dancing for the hits (oh, her love for “Manchild”) and cheering on the winners. A real clutch performance, especially with no Taylor Swift in the house. (Showgirl isn’t eligible until next year.)
Justin Bieber gave one of the night’s most dazzling live performances with a stripped-down “Yukon.” Really stripped down, as in, wearing just his underwear, solo with an electric guitar and a full-length mirror. It was a daring move that brought out all the pained soul in the song. It was touching to see the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ Chad Smith stand there clapping, after everyone else sat down. Maybe it brought back some memories — or maybe for a moment he wondered if it was Flea up there.
Olivia Dean won Best New Artist, giving one of the night’s powerhouse speeches. “I guess I want to say I’m up here as the granddaughter of an immigrant,” she announced. “Yeah, I’m a product of bravery, and I think those people deserve to be celebrated.”
The Best New Artist medley was an unruly mess, which is what made it fun. The Marías definitely won themselves a lot of new fans tonight, with their intimate rock simmer. Katseye were incredible, blowing up “Gnarly” into a massive eye-popping show-biz extravaganza. Leon Thomas was all soul swagger, while Addison Rae turned her all-too-brief spotlight moment into an Old Hollywood musical of “Fame Is a Gun. Sombr came in dangling from the ceiling in a silver space suit, then boogied through the crowd, ending up in a dance-off with Queen Latifah.
Lola Young sang a gorgeously pained “Messy” bringing all the torch-song soul in her aching voice. But her win came late, for Best Pop Solo Performance. Presenter Charli XCX beamed when she opened the envelope, saying, “I very much relate to this song — ‘Messy’!” Lola was sheer delight at the podium, so shocked that she accidentally slipped past the censors with the most awesome unedited F-bomb in Grammy history. (Hope it’s the first of many Grammys for Lola, with an F-bomb for each one.)
Rosé kicked off the show with a bang, doing “Apt” in true rock-star style, kicking and dancing while Bruno Mars struck his guitar-hero poses. The song’s always had a strong early-Eighties New Wave vibe, so it makes sense they banged it out as skinny-tie pop-punk. Bruno also snagged a rare second showcase, doing his 1970s Philly soul homage “I Just Might.” Tyler, the Creator did an ambitious stage spectacle heavy on the special effects. He began as his Saint Chroma character from Chromakopia, got a spiritual pep talk from Regina King, then finally blew up a gas station to “Sugar on My Tongue.” Clipse had one of the night’s knockdown musical peaks with “So Far Ahead,” a crowning moment for Pusha T and Malice in their amazing comeback with Let God Sort Em Out, after a 16-year hiatus. (Before the show they also won Best Rap Performance, for “Chains & Whips.”)
The In Memoriam segment lasted a solid half-hour, full of highs and lows. It got off to a clumsy start with an awkwardly staged performance from Reba McEntire. The roll call of departed musicians was hidden behind her, on tiny corners of the screen. It might have looked OK in the room, but not on TV — it was weird to see, say, the late Rick Davies’ face, with the name of his band blocked by the backup musicians. (“Supertramp,” that’s the band — loads of hits.) Brian Wilson and Sly Stone were briefly mentioned, though not quite honored, along with Bob Weir. There was a well-meaning Ozzy Osbourne tribute with a hard-rock supergroup (Slash, Duff McKagan, Chad Smith, Andrew Watt) doing “War Pigs” while Post Malone proved it’s a damn tough song to sing. But it was still cool to hear “War Pigs,” a definitely timely choice politically.
Yet all the glitches were forgotten as soon as Ms. Lauryn Hill appeared. Absolutely nobody’s Grammy Night bingo card would’ve included “a full-on Lauryn Hill set,” but it was a delightful surprise — her first Grammy performance since she was the night’s big winner in 1999. She led an all-star soul crew through a profoundly moving tribute to D’Angelo, a celebration of community with a pass-the-mic hip-hop spirit. Kindred spirits like Raphael Saadiq, Bilal, Leon Thomas, Jon Batiste, and more honored D’Angelo’s songs while the man’s keyboard stood unplayed at the side of the stage — a poignant detail in an amazing tribute. It flowed into a Roberta Flack medley, with Chaka Khan and John Legend dueting on “Where Is the Love,” while Lalah Hathaway honored her father Donny’s legacy.
The whole Lauryn Hill interlude was easily the live performance of the night — one of the great Grammy live moments of recent year, musically, emotionally, every way. All you could ask is that they’d thrown in a few Sly Stone songs, too. She brought out Wyclef Jean for “Killing Me Softly,” reviving their Fugees version. (The last time Hill played the Grammys, she was rapping about her beef with Clef, so it was a full-circle moment for fans — we might lose some but we just won one.) Sadly, Pras Michael is in prison, so he wasn’t on hand to add “one time” or “two times,” though most viewers probably did it at home.
Jelly Roll gave a preacherly come-to-Jesus speech, thumping a suspiciously tiny-looking Bible in his hand, after winning for Best Contemporary Country Album. He was trying hard to make “Jesus is for everybody” the new “Wu-Tang is for the children.” But it was nowhere near as cool as Hill giving the same speech in 1999, when she actually brought a big-ass Bible up to the podium and read a Psalm.
Addison Rae had a great moment on the E! Red Carpet preshow, where she got asked, “What’s something about you that you wish people knew a little bit more about?” “Honestly, nothing,” she said. “I wish they knew less!” That explains so much. (The other peak red-carpet moments: Sombr getting emotional about Taylor Swift baking him sourdough, and Paris Hilton announcing, “I’m always here to make the world a sparkly, more safe place.”)
As always, most of the actual awards got handed out before the show — congrats to first-time winners the Cure. (What can it mean that Robert Smith and the Dalai Lama just won their first Grammys the same day?) Queen Latifah and Doechii had peak presenter chemistry, showering each other with praise, as did Nikki Glaser and Teyana Taylor. (The camera caught SZA doing a triple or even quadruple take at Taylor’s outfit. Nobody’s judging.) Since Noah mentioned a few times that this is his final year hosting, this might have been Nikki’s way of dipping her beak for a taste of the Grammy stage. See you next year, Nikki.
From Rolling Stone US
