What was your favourite a part of the 2026 Grammys, when you watched? Was it seeing the succession of artists who spoke as much as handle the deportation raids which can be roiling the nation, with both blunt-force language about federal brokers or considerate appreciation of immigrants? Possibly it was seeing Dangerous Bunny getting the climactic win, for album of the 12 months, and utilizing that platform to say “ICE out” and to make a shifting declaration on behalf of anybody who has been “different”-ed on this nation: “We’re not savage, we’re not animals, we’re not aliens, we’re people, and we’re People.”
Or… was your favourite half when Cher forgot to provide out an award, after which, when she did, gave it to Luther Vandross?
We’re amongst buddies right here; we will be trustworthy. The stress between the present’s somber and foolish moments felt slightly tough to navigate, however that’s a mirrored image of how lots of us are torn between the lure of celebratory entertainment-as-usual and a righteous anger, or unhappiness, over the chaos being wreaked by the federal authorities in native communities. So, when you’re like me, possibly you wished to face and cheer when artists like Billie Eilish, Olivia Dean, Kehlani, SZA and Shaboozey had been daring sufficient to make statements in opposition to the present oppression, or in assist of the worth of immigrants. And maybe, additionally, like me, you wished to cheer when a Sabrina Carpenter or a Tyler, the Creator turned in an enormous, satisfying, old school manufacturing quantity.
We could all want extra time on this fractured state we’ve been thrust into earlier than we decide whether or not we’re Crew Billie “Fuck ICE” Eilish or Crew Bruno “What Good Is Magnificence if Your Booty Can’t Discover the Beat?” Mars, or a little bit of each. These are unusual occasions we’re in, and the bifurcation made for an odd Grammys, with some totally opposite-feeling highlights.
If that is destined to be remembered as a “political” present, from all of the headlines that had been generated by the night time’s anti-ICE statements, the Grammys very a lot backed into that, and never essentially willingly. It’s unlikely CBS was desirous to have the present seen that manner, even when this was the final 12 months the Grammys can be on the community earlier than shifting on to ABC in 2027. There was some wishful considering going round on the market that the present may show its relevance by reserving Bruce Springsteen to sing his new track, “Streets of Minneapolis.” In case you’ve adopted CBS and its possession and practices in any respect these days, you knew the chances of seeing Bruce opening the night time with a protest track had been about as doubtless as Bari Weiss tossing her Free Press recuits of her newsroom in favor of poaching the whole MS NOW masthead.
However the artists had been decided to make it occur anyway, or at the least some had been, first with the buttons on the pink carpet — as omnipresent as pink ribbons, as soon as upon one other troubled time — after which with statements, within the 220-minute pre-telecast “premiere ceremony” and the equally lengthy prime-time broadcast. CBS in all probability didn’t have that a lot to lose by this occurring, except for a Reality Social or two from Donald J. Trump (he obliged shortly, there) and a pair days’ price of wokeness accusations on X. They might privately blame it on the incorrigible expertise, making the case that they solely meant to throw a home social gathering and couldn’t be liable for the youngsters trashing the place.
However for the music neighborhood at giant, the stakes felt a lot greater. Like: Might music even maintain the pretense of relevance, going ahead, if everybody in its elite class held their tongues, proper now, for 3 and a half hours? In case you’re a music fan, you ought to not be telling your heroes precisely what they need to be saying, nevertheless it’s proper to count on that their consciences would compel them to say one thing. Sunday night time, sufficient did.
In the beginning of the prime-time telecast, it was present business-as-usual. Mars opened with the primary of two giddy performances, providing a sneak preview of how he could even additional dominate the 2027 Grammys telecast, singing “APT” with Rosé as if it had been a rock ‘n’ roll track. (Girl Gaga later did one thing related along with her “rock model” of “Abracadabra.”)
Then Trevor Noah did his sixth and last monologue as Grammys host, and it’s been 5 years now since everybody realized that he does these gigs in his apolitical mode, brushing on topical points at the least as calmly as a Jimmy Fallon. It was all about celebrating who was within the room, with no edge to any of the recognitions; he’s the anti-Nikki Glazer, in that manner. The closest he got here to getting slightly tough was in making a joke about one other Nicki, the at present demonized Nicki Minaj, and her ass measurement in relation to Trump’s… adopted later to a hypothetical reference to Trump’s friendship with Jeffrey Epstein that had the president staying up late on his socials, threatening to sue. Even with that response, Noah’s “blows” appeared glancing at most — the president ought to have been counting his blessings, in contrast with what a Kimmel would’ve been doing on this spot. And but, now that we’ve had years to turn into accustomed to Noah doing the inoffensive reverse of his “Every day Present” persona when he involves the Grammys, you may see that there’s one thing candy about his ultra-avuncular cheerleading for the artists which may be missed, relying on who ABC lands as his successor subsequent 12 months.
It felt just like the cheerful facet of the present actually took flight with Carpenter’s baggage-claim-set efficiency of “Manchild,” a track that’s been carried out on tv sufficient occasions now that we in all probability didn’t must have her do it once more — until she is all the time going to discover a strategy to current it as over-the-top as this, during which case, positive, deliver it on just a few extra occasions. The frilly stage set appeared to increase midway to LAX, with precise carousels delivering males in bulk, as an alternative of suitcases, like a Cecil B. DeMille cast-of-thousands model of the Village Folks. It was charmingly choreographed and pleasant, and if Carpenter didn’t go on to win any Grammys this 12 months, she received on the Grammys.
Are we nonetheless solely 20 minutes right into a three-hour-40 minute present? There’s a lot to unpack, apart from Carpenter’s baggage. As with Sabrina, Gaga was compelled to deliver out her largest current single and nominated track, even when her fan base may want a deeper lower at this level. And right here as properly, it was simply superb getting the most important hit once more, as Gaga wore what seemed to be a designer wicker lampshade on her head, forcing a digicam crew to search out artistic methods of capturing views of her face inside it. (In line with these inside the home at Crypto, it was robotic cameras making all these sudden actions.) It was an efficient tour tease that may solely increase resale costs even greater for the subsequent sold-out U.S. leg of her Mayhem Ball, even when concertgoers received’t get Andrew Watt in his sideman-rocker mode there.
Justin Bieber’s return to public singing after about three and a half years of preserving himself below wraps was a lot anticipated, and he delivered a cool efficiency — maybe cooler than producers may need favored, by way of delivering one thing buzzy to speak about across the water cooler the subsequent day. But it surely did a pleasant job of reflecting the lo-fi vibe of components of his “Swag” tasks, even when, not like Gaga, Bieber didn’t deliver any of his celeb producers alongside for the trip however got here driving in strictly solo, with out even a shirt for accompaniment. He did “Yukon” Ed Sheeran-style, making a loop together with his electrical guitar to sing over, and all of us reckoned with the concept of Bieber as one thing we wouldn’t have imagined just a few years in the past, a quasi-indie-rock minimalist. If solely we might be certain if he actually wished to be there; he didn’t crack any extra of a smile whereas singing then he did whereas enduring Noah’s compliments through the monologue, the place he regarded just like the least keen awards present visitor since Ben Affleck on this similar event three years in the past. It’s all proper: he owes us no signal of his tooth when he’s this beneficiant together with his abs.
After which there was Tyler, the Creator, eternally maximalist and playful below these circumstances, right here blowing up a home actual good and ending by enjoying lifeless, applicable for a medley that features “Thought I Was Lifeless.” He acquired his personal memo.
The record of efficiency segments for the 2026 Grammys appears to be like impossibly brief, on paper, for a telecast that stretched previous its deliberate three-and-a-half-hour finish level. However that’s as a result of a lot of the out there time for performing was given over to 2 epic performing slots that every appeared to go on without end… which, on this case, is meant as a praise. The primary was an epic section dedicated to permitting all eight nominees for finest new artist to play a couple of minutes of one in every of their signature songs. The opposite was an In Memoriam that went on even longer and extra elaborately than the BNA highlight.
The Grammys: They see lifeless folks. And so they additionally see younger folks. It should’ve taken slightly nerve, letting these two spots take up such enormous chunks of the present. But it surely paid off. Rewarding recent expertise and celebrating the dearly departed — these are twin poles that the present was proper to emphasise, to an excessive stage. (Going so lengthy with the BNA nominees stood in stark distinction to the 2024 present, after which my evaluate complained that “the present has forgotten tips on how to highlight new artists.” What a cheerful distinction a few years could make.)
The perfect new artist section started with a form of chilly open with the Marias doing their lonely-dreamscape factor. It then made probably the most abrupt potential segue to Addison Rae, doing her sex-bomb factor within the bowels of the sector, in what appeared to curiously be the one pre-taped second of the night time (paying homage to the pandemic-era Grammys, when that occurred extra typically). Katseye introduced issues again into the precise auditorium, and lit up a really devoted fandom, with a “Gnarly” that lived as much as its sensational identify. Leon Thomas’ “Mutt” supplied the primary high quality neo-soul of the night; there can be much more of that to come back within the In Memoriam, nevertheless it’s good to understand it doesn’t require a demise within the household to ship these extra conventional R&B pleasures. Alex Warren went Soarin’ Over California with an aloft efficiency of “Holy” — nearer his God to thee, and all that. Lola Younger, who would later rating one of many night time’s largest shock wins, stayed earthbound with a brief solo piano efficiency that went proper from 0-to-60 on the emo/belting scale.
Olivia Dean didn’t get almost sufficient time to display the entire straightforward attraction that’s making her probably the most important celebrity breakout of this 12 months’s crop, however even an abridged “Man I Want” supplied proof sufficient of her chops and charisma. (If there’s a cause it didn’t really feel like a criminal offense that she didn’t have an extended efficiency slot of her personal, it’s as a result of she’ll clearly be again on the 2027 Grammys, when her album will probably be in competition and she or he could have some frontrunner songs as properly.) Lastly, within the BNA marathon, there was Sombr, an actual rock star together with his wobbly-teardrop mic stand and a cocky-yet-vulnerable-yet-cocky perspective.
Might the most effective new decedent section outdo the most effective new artist section, in size and high quality? It might. With out trying it up, it appears potential that the Grammys devoted this a lot time to memorials earlier than in a single night time, however not all linked collectively in a single section that felt “Lawrence of Arabia”-sized. There was a hell of lots of music crammed in, even with the legacy of the late Brian Wilson and Sly Stone being restricted to spoken tributes. The trifurcated In Memoriam started with Reba McEntire, Brandy Clark and Lukas Nelson singing “Trailblazer,” a track about misplaced nation music heroes that was prolonged right here to function accompaniment for the normal slide present of the just lately fallen. Then Put up Malone led an all-star band in tribute to Ozzy Osbourne with “Conflict Pigs,” providing presumably the primary and final look on the Grammys stage of a Crimson Solo Cup, as a result of Put up Malone. It might’ve benefited from extra of a belter, however his coronary heart was in the appropriate plastic beverage container.
Lastly, because the stairway to heaven appeared prefer it could be about able to roll up, Ms. Lauryn Hill hosted a double-fisted salute to D’Angelo and Roberta Flack that by itself lasted longer than most conventional full In Memoriams. It was elegant, even when it shortly turned obvious that many of the stars being trotted out on stage would solely get a few bars earlier than we moved on to the subsequent neo-soul all-star. Right here’s Leon Bridges! No, right here’s Lalah Hathaway! No, right here’s Chaka Khan! (And Fortunate Daye and Raphael Saadiq and Anthony Hamilton and John Legend and… you get the concept.) With the extent of expertise on this bit alone, the revue ought to have been booked for its personal three-and-a-half-hour time slot.
With a cavalcade-of-stars second like that bringing down the home, it was nearly tough for politics — or the real-life stuff that will get perceived as politics — to take precedence in how the 2026 Grammys had been seen, by the media and by many viewers. But it surely felt proper that most of the night time’s winners and presenters felt compelled to at the least share their ambiguous emotions about partying or making a joyful noise on this time of nationwide disaster. And, at most, to bust out the comprehensible F-bombs. Among the artists could really feel an acute consciousness that, when among the potential viewers at residence really feel like their communities are below siege, it is a second the place indulging in pure escapism can really feel like complicity. Not less than these Grammys will probably be remembered for opening the door a crack to let the actual world in, whether or not or not everybody concerned felt pushed to take part in that very same mission.
However lastly… Cher. Ought to we discuss Cher? Dangerous Bunny talked so much about love in his speech, and though he was referring to a hope of overcoming the tendency to fulfill hate with hate, it was additionally straightforward to consider love when Cher was on stage. As in, she is the form of mega-celebrity who someway solely breeds extra heartfelt adoration as she goes. Even when she makes a number of sequential flubs, as she did Sunday night time, the viewers is seeking to chuckle along with her, not at her. (And “Luther” is rooted in Luther Vandross, so this was not a complete Adele Dazeem second.) Talking of affection: “I like reside tv,” mentioned Noah, merely, after the smile-inducing Cher moments, and this was no 12 months to do something however agree with that.
