Anti-ICE protests, Bieber’s brilliance, and the Dalai Lama’s first win: The 10 biggest moments of the 2026 Grammy Awards | Grammy

Anti-ICE sentiment dominated the ceremony

There are arguments to be made about how effective or ineffective celebrities are at making political statements at awards ceremonies – some might say it’s as powerless as celebrities endorsing US presidential candidates. And in the case of last night’s Grammy Awards, we hardly need musicians repeating that what ICE is doing is morally reprehensible. However, the sheer force and diversity of these statements was the driving force, making it clear that this issue must remain paramount in any context.

“No one is illegal on stolen land, and it’s so hard to know what to say and what to do now,” Billie Eilish said, repeating a phrase popular in anti-ICE protests when she won song of the year for Wildflower. “I feel really hopeful in this room, and I feel like we just need to keep fighting and talking and protesting, and our voices really matter, and people matter. All I want to say is ‘Fuck Ice,’ sorry.”

After winning his first two R&B awards for Folded, Kehlani also called for an industry-wide stance: “Together, we’re stronger in numbers to speak out against all the injustice that’s going on in the world right now… I hope everyone is inspired to join together as a community of artists, so I’ll just leave this behind and say: Fuck ICE.” “I’m here as the granddaughter of an immigrant – I’m a product of courage and I think these people deserve to be celebrated,” said Best New Artist winner Olivia Dean, with all the sophistication and hidden power of her music.

Bad Bunny’s speech was simply extraordinary, charged with clarity and humanity: “Get out. We’re not savages, we’re not animals, we’re not aliens. We’re human and we’re Americans,” adding, “Hate gets stronger with more hate. The only thing stronger than hate is love. Please, we need to be different. If we fight we have to do it with love. We don’t hate them… This is the way to do it, with ‘love.'” Don’t forget it, please. For someone who had to rule out performing concerts in the US last year for fear that his fans would be seized by ICE agents, offering love to these agents is a stark example of Benito Ocasio’s rise when he’s down.

While there were a few anti-ICE statements on the Golden Globes red carpet from Mark Ruffalo, Wanda Sykes and others, along with some lapel pins, this was a more comprehensive protest. Hopefully the Oscars will bring similar energy.

Olivia Dean has been named Britain’s biggest new pop star

The Best New Artist category has won over some major British legends over the years – among them The Beatles, Tom Jones, Sade, Amy Winehouse, Adele and Dua Lipa – and based on the strength of the songwriting and performances on her stunning second album The Art of Loving, it feels as if Dean is on the same career path. She was a worthy winner in a strong field here, beating out the likes of Addison Rae, Sombre and Leon Thomas, thanks to her evocation of human emotion in all its whimsy and wonder. The Art of Loving is almost a concept album, with every possible kind of love emotion presented by Dean: from the playful negro flirtation at the beginning of the relationship to the blasphemous accusatory hurt at the end. This skill, and the lightness with which she dresses, has brought her to the pinnacle of pop music. Released in September, The Art of Loving was not eligible this year, so expect her to return to the stage to collect more flowers next February.

Could Kendrick Lamar soon become the greatest Grammy winner of all time?

The Recording Academy loves artists who combine intellectual music with lyricism and commercial heft, so has anyone done it better than Kendrick Lamar in the past decade? He won five more awards last night — all four rap categories (including his guest spot on Clipse’s Chains and Whips) as well as the biggest award of all, Record of the Year for the Vandross-sampled SZA Luther duet. This brings Lamar’s tally to 27, at just 38 years old. Lamar certainly deserved every win here, as his album GNX showcases every side of his personality from the punk provocateur to the ruminative romantic.

The Dalai Lama won his first Grammy Award

I’ll never forget one of the most poignant moments at Glastonbury, when Patti Smith put the Dalai Lama on stage and had the crowd sing Happy Birthday to him while he cut a cake with a huge knife: certainly the moment when anyone who microdoses on mushrooms would worry that they’d actually taken megadoses. But after appearing at the world’s greatest music festival, the 90-year-old has now smashed the world’s greatest music awards, winning his first Grammy for Meditations: Reflections of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, in the Best Audiobook category. If he puts his words to a few Goa trance chords, you never know, those new age categories or dance/electronic categories could be his to win in 2027. The win already puts him in the top 10 oldest winners of all time, although there’s a long way to go before he overtakes 97-year-old bluesman Pinetop Perkins.

Justin Bieber blew minds

On the performance front, Sabrina Carpenter as Manchild was with her usual gorgeous high camp, holding a dove while dressed as an airline pilot about to receive a letter from HR regarding proper dress standards; Bruno Mars and Rosé did a great guitar smash via APT; Lady Gaga mixed synths and wore a blown-up wicker hat. There were heartfelt tributes to Ozzy Osbourne, D’Angelo and Roberta Flack (although it was just a spoken tribute to Brian Wilson, which seemed to belittle him a bit, even if it came from Bruce Springsteen). But that night’s performance was by Justin Bieber, performing “Yukon,” one of his greatest songs and one of the few songs on his Swag album. He was wearing only a pair of shorts and socks and a full-length mirror next to him, as if he had just rolled out of bed at 11 a.m.—an anti-glamorous look, but one that was accomplished brilliantly. He built the song’s melody directly on guitar, looping it along with the drum pads and then letting it all play in the background, allowing him to focus on the vocal delivery: on recording they were tight, but here they were loose and energetic while retaining the funk.

Chick Corea extended his record

American jazz pianist Chick Corea, celebrated for his work with Miles Davis, Herbie Hancock and dozens of others over the years, is the most decorated jazz musician at the Grammy Awards and extended his record even posthumously in 2021, now with 29 awards (third only to Georg Solti and Beyoncé on the overall list). The latest is for Best Jazz Performance, a live performance for Windows recorded in 2020 but released last year, taken from his latest tour: a trio with bassist Christian McBride and drummer Brian Blade. Windows is a 1966 composition, originally played with Duke Ellington’s son, Mercer; More than half a century later, Correa still has the same curiosity and bird-like instinct: a remarkable and deserving winner, far from a sentimental posthumous nod. It was a good night for Sideman McBride: in addition to this nimble trio, he demonstrated his ability to play much greater, as Christian McBride’s big band won Best Jazz Big Ensemble Album for Without Further Ado, Volume One – taking the number of winners to 11 overall.

Chris Stapleton was contractually mandated to win the best performance at the state level

In my predictions before the Grammy Awards, I thought Stapleton couldn’t possibly end up winning this category once againwith a one-off song for the F1 movie that didn’t even bother the country charts let alone the Hot 100. Plus, its wild lyrics seem at odds with his reputation for emotional complexity: “No one accuses me of being rational / I’m not everyone’s cup of tea,” he sings, though he seemed to be making himself Earl Gray at the time. But here we are: That’s wins in four of the past five years for Stapleton, and 12 Grammy Awards overall.

The Cure won their first Grammy Award – and their second

The Cure’s Wish (192) and Bloodflowers (2000) were both nominated for Best Alternative Instrumental Album, but the band had never won a Grammy until this year, when it won two awards: Songs of a Lost World in the aforementioned category, as well as Best Alternative Instrumental Performance for Alone. These are well-deserved victories, for an album and song that had the feeling of a somber farewell: saying goodbye to love, life, and an entire chapter of human history. The band missed the concert to pay another farewell, attending the funeral of its multi-instrumentalist Perry Bamonte, who recently died at the age of 65.

While there weren’t any British nominees in the four main categories, Record, Song or Album of the Year, other Brits fared very well at the bottom of the categories: Most excitingly, Lola Young beat out Justin Bieber, Sabrina Carpenter, Lady Gaga and Chapelle Rowan to win Best Pop Solo Performance with Missy. Pop a long time ago The focus was on the related problems but Young reinvigorated the trope with a song that really itches with the frantic feeling of one’s life slipping out of control. FKA twigs won Best Dance/Electronic Album, Cynthia Erivo won Best Pop Duo/Group Performance with Ariana Grande for Wicked’s Defying Gravity, and Yungblud won Best Rock Performance for his live performance of Ozzy Osbourne’s Changes. While giving a heartfelt tribute to Ozzy alongside a tearful Sharon Osbourne, he added: “Rock is coming back, watch out pop, we’ll get you!” Rae also received a special award for social change for “Ice Cream Man,” her song about being sexually harassed by a record producer.

The vampires defeated the demons

The Recording Academy and the Oscar-winning Academy sometimes go hand-in-hand when it comes to Best Score awards, especially when it comes to Ludwig Göransson, who notched the double for both Black Panther and Oppenheimer, and could do the same with Sinners after his win last night. But it was surprising to see Sinners wins Best Compilation Soundtrack for Visual Media: KPop Demon Hunters, which spawned two of the biggest pop groups last year in Huntr/x and Saja Boys, seems like a sure bet. But in a music industry that fears artificial intelligence and is determined to focus on human-made music, it’s perhaps not surprising that the Academy rejected an animated show — even if the human vocal performances were brilliantly delivered — and Huntr/x also lost to Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande in best pop duo/group performance.

Is the new Cirkut Pop the ultimate product?

Canadian musician Henry Walter, aka Cirkut, won Producer of the Year, welcoming him into the (famously men-only) club alongside such great architects of modern pop as Greg Kurstin, Max Martin and Jack Antonoff. A student of Martin’s alongside Dr. Luke, working on hits like Katy Perry’s “Part of Me” and Rihanna’s “You Da One,” he was on the ground floor of the Weeknd’s career and co-crafted his Daft Punk collaborations. He continued to co-produce huge hits like Miley Cyrus’s Wrecking Ball, but began to distance himself from his mentors. At first his sound was somewhat generic and kept out of the way of singers (like Ava Max) but tracks like Sam Smith and Kim Petras’s Unholy teetered with a frivolous aesthetic of neo-electro, and perhaps that’s what got him a callback from Lady Gaga: he produced the entirety of the excellent Mayhem, which also won best pop album last night. Having also co-produced three tracks on Charli xcx’s Brat, he’s skilled at bringing newer pop artists into the mainstream. The danger is that he will end up smoothing out their rough edges, but this win will give him a greater opportunity to forge an innovative production style of his own.