2026 Grammys
A recap of Music’s Biggest Night®
The Grammys® have been doing something peculiar the last few years as it pertains to its format. Now, we get a very small set of awards being presented on screen (9 whopping awards out of 95), with the night being jam-packed with performances. I don’t mind the change entirely, as I think the Grammy® stage is a good “make-up” if you haven’t seen one of your favorite artists perform or are interested in seeing newcomers perform. However, there are still some things that need to be ironed out. But maybe not, as this year was the final year The Grammys were being hosted by CBS. Yes, 68 years on CBS coming to an end. The Grammys, starting in 2027, will be on ABC/Hulu/Disney+.
It makes you wonder if these changes are reflective of the new deal made and how long they knew this was coming, as the Grammy format has been changed for quite some time. If this format isn’t because of the deal, then why aren’t we getting a healthy balance between artist performances and award presentations? As someone who has watched the Grammys throughout their life, I find it odd that we don’t highlight a variety of categories anymore, especially categories populated heavily with Black artists.
The erasure of Black music at the Grammys is not lost on those who can do simple math. 1+1 does in fact equal 2 here. This year’s broadcast categories:
Album of the Year - winner: Debí Tirar Más Fotos - Bad Bunny
Record of the Year - winner: Luther - Kendrick Lamar & SZA
Song of the Year - winner: Wildflower - Billie Ellish
Best New Artist - winner: Olivia Dean
Best Rap Album - winner: GNX - Kendrick Lamar
Best Música Urbana Album - winner: Debí Tirar Más Fotos - Bad Bunny
Best Contemporary Country Album - winner: Beautifully Broken - Jelly Roll
Best Pop Vocal Album - winner: Mayhem - Lady Gaga
Best Pop Solo Performance - winner: Messy - Lola Young
Not one R&B category. Most of the Black artists were reserved for the Grammy pre-show, which I actually took time to watch this year. I was very pleased with the winners and their speeches, with Kehlani giving a “F*CK ICE!” at the end of one of hers. I found it hard to believe Kehlani wasn’t asked to perform her Grammy-winning song “Folded”. The preshow awarded Durand Bernarr and Shaboozey their first Grammy awards, as well as The Clipse. And no one got to see it.
I am not entirely sure what’s happening here. Well, I guess we can say the most “anticipated” categories were chosen to be broadcast, and they follow the “POP” culture of it all. R&B used to be revered as one of the main categories, too, so the erasure of predominantly Black music from broadcast is concerning. What’s even more concerning is that Leon Thomas, Olivia Dean, Tyler, the Creator, and Clipse (with Pharrell) are the only Black performers (outside of a tribute to D’Angelo). Who is this award show really for if it doesn’t celebrate the very people who created what we call music in the first place?
FUBU
Happy Black History Month. Here is everything BLACK that occurred at The Grammys this year in case you missed it.
Winners (because that’s what we are):
Kehlani 2x - Best R&B Song and Best R&B Performance for Folded (preshow)
Durand Benarr - Best Progressive R&B Album (preshow)
Boo Mitchell, Eric Gales 2x - Best Compilation Soundtrack and Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media (Sinners) (preshow)
Samara Joy - Best Jazz Vocal Album (preshow)
FKA Twigs - Best Dance/Electronic Music Album (preshow)
Clipse - Best Rap Performance - Chains & Whips (preshow)
Kendrick 5x - Best Rap Performance (Chains & Whips), Best Rap Song (tv off), Best Rap Album (GNX), Best Melodic Rap Performance (Luther), Record of the Year (Luther)
SZA 2x - Best Melodic Rap Performance (Luther), Record of the Year (Luther)
Leon Thomas 2x - Best Traditional R&B Performance, Best R&B Album (Mutt) (preshow)
Tyla - Best African Music Performance (Push 2 Start) (preshow)
Tyler the Creator - Best Album Cover (Chromakopia) - (preshow)
Shaboozey - Best Country Duo/Group Performance (preshow)
Pharrell Williams - Global Impact Award
Olivia Dean - Best New Artist
Best Moments and Performances
“And the Grammy goes to… LUTHER VANDROSS!”
Lola Young wins for Messy
Trevor jokes on Kendrick
Justin Bieber with the best solo of the night, performing “Yukon”.
Clipse and Pharrell perform “So Far Ahead”.
Trevor Noah makes more jokes.
After many failed attempts, Trevor Noah finally gets Bad Bunny to sing a line from one of his songs.
Bad Bunny gets emotional winning Album of the Year.
Rapper TIP announces his retirement.
Tyler the Creator’s Performance.
The most anticipated performance of the night. A tribute to D’Angelo and Roberta Flack with a snippet from Total Praise by the late Richard Smallwood.
