FEBRUARY 2, 2026

By Craig Jenkins

It was all too tame for a show whose belle of the ball was the Woodstock-era folk legend Joni Mitchell. Photo: Kevin Winter/Getty Images

The Grammys are straining to be a different beast in this decade under Recording Academy president Harvey Mason Jr., who took over from his disgraced predecessor in 2021. Acclaim now gets spread around a wider and somewhat more careful group of nominees; categories are on the move and trying harder to recognize not just the evolving faces of Stateside pop, rock, rap, and R&B but musical hotbeds around the world. In the 2020s, last night’s ceremony aside, women are picking up more and more wins in categories like Best Melodic Rap Performance and Best Rock Song, where they used to go a few consecutive years without so much as a nod. The show is no longer as aggressively annoying.

What Mason, with his gentle speeches about finding a moment’s peace in music, can’t entirely control is the political context and tone for the Grammys. The way talent engages with or avoids current events outside the arena is a story writing itself one acceptance speech at a time. This year has already seen enough strife to spark a wave of protest songs from the likes of Billy Bragg and Bruce Springsteen, who both released odes to the bravery of Minneapolis, whose occupation by ICE and CBP is notching a body count. The rash of violence and abductions were the subject of a spate of ICE Out protests over the weekend in downtown Los Angeles, where the Grammys took place this year. And the question of whether we still live in a democracy has loomed over the winter. Meanwhile, the White House shitposts to get a rise out of pop stars online and the president announced, mid-show, the abrupt closure of the Kennedy Center for promised “renovations.” Would the Grammys, which kept The Daily Show’s Trevor Noah on retainer as host the whole decade, take a stand?

Let's break it down.

➼ Kendrick Lamar is officially the most decorated rapper in the award show’s history, earning five wins last night and surpassing Jay-Z’s record of 25 by two. 

➼ And he still stayed humble when Cher called him “Luther Grandross.” 

➼ Bad Bunny, who went on to win Album of the Year, was the first winner to use their speech to condemn ICE explicitly.

➼ “No one is illegal on stolen land,” Billie Eilish followed it up while wearing an “ICE OUT” pin. 

➼ Chappell Roan was the favorite for least dressed, but Justin Bieber and his back tattoo clinched it. 

➼ Steven Spielberg is an EEEEGOOOT now.

➼ “This is the most glitter and glamour I ever saw at the Grammys,” said Best Historical Album winner Joni Mitchell.

➼ Plus everything else you may have missed. 

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