This year’s grammyAwards are over and there were some unforgettable performances, some pointed speeches, some well-deserved wins – and a few head-shaking moments, because that’s par for the course at any awards ceremony.
Here are the best, worst, and WTF moments from the 2026 Grammy Awards.
Top: Justin Bieber takes off his clothes for “Yukon”.
Justin Bieber took a radically different approach than the best new artist nominees who performed minutes earlier, foregoing choreography, backing musicians and even most of his clothing for his performance of “Yukon.” Taking a cue from Ed Sheeran, he created an electric guitar loop live on stage, put the entire arena in tense silence, and sang every note of the song live. It can be hard to cheer for Justin Bieber at times, but this was a truly sensational moment. “What a captivating performance,” Trevor Noah said at the end, while Red Hot Chili drummer Chad Smith gave a standing ovation behind him. “You could feel it in the room. It was incredible.” And it bodes well for his performance at Coachella in April.
Top: Sabrina Carpenter takes off
Working at SCA really looks like fun. For her Manchild performance, Sabrina Carpenter came sliding in on a luggage carousel, just in time to pull a dove out of a magician’s top hat and get censored for saying “Fuck my life.” The scene featured, among others, a surgeon, a magician, a priest, an astronaut, an explorer, and a guy in a Hawaiian shirt; They danced and raised questions about airport security protocol, but everyone was having so much fun (especially Nikki Glaser, who happily said along with Carpenter’s f-words) that no one cared. Also, the scene ended with Carpenter holding the wizard’s dove, which is difficult, which automatically made this scene the best.
Top: Bad Bunny says “ICE Out”
When Bad Bunny came on stage to accept his award for Best Música Urbana Album, he quickly got to the point: “Before I thank God,” he explained in English, “I say: ICE Out.” After prolonged applause, he continued: “We are not savages. We are not animals. We are not aliens. We are human and we are Americans.” It was a powerful response on a night in which there had been little concrete political demands (although Trevor Noah provided plenty of entertainment with his Trump jokes). Bad Bunny’s “ICE Out” statement (followed by his call for protests filled with love) was timely and bold, especially given his incredibly high-profile (and already highly politicized) Super Bowl halftime show next weekend.
Top: Lady Gaga’s disco-punk banger
Only an artist like Lady Gaga can make a performance seem larger than life and intimate at the same time. A year after the artist debuted “Abracadabra” as a music video during the 2025 Grammy Awards, she returned Sunday night with a small rock ensemble that included producer Andrew Watt on guitar and Gaga herself on Roland synthesizer. The arrangement was reminiscent of both the upbeat disco-pop of Nile Rodgers’ guitar in “Let’s Dance” and the beat-heavy Nine Inch Nails. The fact that she wore a headdress that looked like a giant willow eyeball (a nod to The Residents?) gave the performance an eerie strangeness that somehow tied everything together.
WTF: Grammys ignore music’s hottest genre
Neither Grammy voters nor the show’s producers seemed to acknowledge country music’s dominance this year. Not a single country artist was nominated in the four main categories, and the three-hour CBS show was missing a country performance of its own. While Reba McEntire, Brandy Clark and Lukas Nelson performed a beautiful version of Reba’s “Trailblazer” to soundtrack the in-memoriam portion, in a year that saw some of the best all-around songs coming out of Nashville – including Zach Top’s Grammy winner “Ain’t in It for My Health,” Margo Price’s “Hard Headed Woman” and Tyler Childers’ “Snipe Hunter” – it was incomprehensible that the genre wasn’t given its own spot became. Furthermore, all this talk about this being Reba’s first performance at the Grammys is less a cause for celebration and more a question: Why did it take so long?
Top: Tyler, the Creator’s dizzying spectacle
Tyler, the Creator has a knack for creating unforgettable visuals, from his performance at the 2020 Grammys, where he fielded an army of platinum blonde Tyler clones, to the haunting cover of his 2024 album Chromakopia (which that night became the first album ever to win Best Album Cover). But his performance tonight took it to a new level. He opened with black-and-white versions of “Thought I Was Dead” and “Like Him,” dressed as his Saint Chroma character from “Chromakopia.” Then the set shifted to a gas station setting (with a cameo from Regina King) as black and white gave way to color. The move was cool enough – but then a red leather-clad Tyler promptly ran over Saint Chroma with a sports car. Tyler kicked things off with “Sugar on My Tongue,” a track from the other standout album Tyler released in the last 18 months. Things stayed wild from there (the gas pump was labeled “War Juice”), and the climax was when Tyler blew up the gas station with himself in it. Tyler stumbled out and fell to the ground, his red leather suit smoking. The performance of the evening.
Top: Lauryn Hill honors two soul legends
As Trevor Noah noted earlier in the evening, this was Lauryn Hill’s first appearance at the Grammys since 1999, when she won album of the year for The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill. But all those years faded away the moment she began the D’Angelo tribute with the song “Nothing Even Matters,” which they recorded together nearly three decades ago. She sounded exquisite. She stayed for the Roberta Flack tribute, which she began with a delicate “The First Time Ever Saw Your Face.” And she ended it by bringing Wyclef Jean on stage for “Killing Me Softly.” They began with the traditional arrangement before moving into an upbeat rendition of the Fugees’ remake. This sent the entire arena into a frenzy. (Poor Pras. Her Fugees bandmate was sentenced to 14 years in prison a few months ago and then had to watch this happen without him.
Bad: Country winners disappoint
What is it, the CMAs? The Grammys have historically done a good job of recognizing country music that doesn’t fit the mold of country radio and Music Row: Sturgill Simpson, Beyoncé, Kacey Musgraves and Tanya Tucker have all won in the Best Country Album category in the past decade. When this category was split into two categories for the first time this year (Traditional vs. Contemporary), there was a lot of excitement about what that could mean for the genre’s representation. More nominees should mean a wider range of country artists being recognized, right? As it turns out, that wasn’t really the case. In the end, two men from Nashville, Jelly Roll and Zach Top, who are signed to major record labels, took home the Grammys. As much as we love the latter’s album Ain’t in It for My Health, in a year where everyone from Tyler Childers to Kelsea Ballerini to Margo Price and Eric Church released exemplary albums, it was hard not to wish voters had been a little more adventurous.
Top: Lola Young’s surprising triumph
Few moments from this show were as exhilarating as the look of shock and joy on Lola Young’s face when she won her first Grammy for Best Pop Solo Performance thanks to her viral hit “Messy.” She jumped up from her chair, spun around the room, and finally made it onto the stage amidst tears and laughter. It was clear that she had not prepared a speech and was not expecting such a big moment. It was all the more moving that Young spoke so openly about her battle with alcohol addiction, which shapes a large part of the song’s emotional message. At the end of last year she took some time off to look after her health, and her beautiful rendition of ‘Messy’ earlier in the evening was her first performance since then. It was worth it: When she performed a stripped-down version of the song on a grand piano, showcasing her voice and vulnerability, the Grammy audience gave her a standing ovation—which ultimately made the trophy feel even more deserved.
Top: Clipse experience their Grammy moment
Pusha T and Malice have come a long way in the music industry: once they were a band that created classics of their generation and were still passed from label to label, today they are the stars of the city. Their continued victory lap after returning from a 16-year hiatus with 2025’s “Let God Sort Em Out” brought them to the Grammy stage tonight, where they made it all the way to a nomination for Album of the Year. While they didn’t win in that category, they took home the pre-show award for Best Rap Performance for “Chains & Whips” and delivered a must-see live performance with their childhood friend (and fellow award winner) Pharrell Williams. “So Far Ahead,” the song they performed, is both a thoughtful look back at their journey as brothers and a first-class series of snapshots, hidden diss shots and subtle punchlines. These guys were ahead of their time for a long time, but now the awards shows have finally caught up, not a moment too soon.
WTF: Ladies and gentlemen… Cher?
No one seemed more surprised to see Cher on the Grammys stage than Cher herself. Her appearance was unplanned, nor was host Trevor Noah’s bizarre reference to Kanye West’s “I’m Gonna Let You Finish” as he presented her with the lifetime achievement award just as she was set to announce the nominees for the Record of the Year award. “I’m not very good at this role,” she said before a rambling acceptance speech that ended with a “live it, be it” message about people’s dreams. Then she left. “I think I should go now.” Then Trevor Noah called them back to present the Record of the Year award. A stagehand appeared to push her back. After the nominees were announced, she didn’t realize she had to open the envelope to see the winner, only recognizing the winner as “Luther Vandross… No, Kendrick Lamar,” whose song “Luther” contains samples of Vandross. That was typical Cher.
