On Sunday, Feb. 1, the 68th Grammy Awards took place in Los Angeles. Of the 95 total awards, a large majority were awarded earlier in the day, saving the biggest awards for the night. Trevor Noah hosted the Grammys, his sixth time doing so. But the beloved host has decided this will be his final time hosting the Grammys and with his stepping down, the question of who will take his place as host has begun to rise.
During his opening monologue, Noah commented on the absence of artist Nicki Minaj, who recently spoke at a Turning Point USA rally in honor of President Donald Trump. Noah joked that Minaj was “still at the White House with Donald Trump, discussing very important issues.” Noah continued in his monologue, poking fun at Doeichii’s latest hit song “Anxiety,” calling it “our new national anthem.” He applauded Olivia Dean, nominee for Best New Artist, for speaking up against Ticketmaster and ticket resellers for raising concert ticket prices. He explained, “If fans can’t afford tickets, we can’t have live music. And without concerts, how will we find out which CEOs are having affairs on the Jumbotron?”
After concluding his opening remarks, Noah turned the show over to Sabrina Carpenter who gave a live performance of “Man Child”. Other live performances include Rosé and Bruno Mars, Clipse, Pharrell Williams and all eight Best New Artist nominees: Leon Thomas, Addison Rae, Alex Warren, KATSEYE, Lola Young, Olivia Dean, Sombr and The Marías.
Later in the night, Best New Artist was awarded to Olivia Dean, a jazz and R&B artist whose most notable song is “Man I Need.” Dean accepted her award with tears in her eyes. After thanking her team, she went on to say, “I guess I wanna say that I’m up here as the granddaughter of an immigrant. I’m a product of bravery, and those people need to be celebrated.” The artist ended her speech by saying, “we are nothing without each other.”
The soon-to-be Superbowl Halftime Performer Bad Bunny accepted the Grammy for Album of the Year, DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS. This made history as the first Spanish Language Album of the Year winner. Bad Bunny, overtaken with emotion when they announced his win, delivered an emotional acceptance speech. He dedicated his win to “all the people that had to leave their homeland, their country, to follow their dreams.” Earlier in the night, Bad Bunny also won the Grammy for Best Música Urbana for DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS. In his speech, he began, “Before I say thanks to God, I’m going to say ICE out,” pausing as the audience broke out into a wave of applause. He continued, saying, “We’re not savages, we’re not animals, we’re not aliens. We are humans, and we are Americans.” Bad Bunny also won the category for Best Global Music Performance. Overall, he won three of the six categories he was nominated for.
Other notable wins include Best Song, which had powerhouses of nominations. “WILDFLOWER” from singer Billie Eilish and her co-writer and brother Finneas O’Connell ended up taking the crown. She, too, used some of her time to speak on ICE: “No one is illegal on stolen land. And it’s just really hard to know what to say and what to do right now. I feel really hopeful in this room and I feel like Photo courtesy of The Recording Academy we just need to keep fighting and speaking up and protesting and our voices really do matter and the people matter.” This win is Eilish’s overall 10th win.
Kendrick Lamar also made history, dethroning Jay-Z, with 25 wins, as the rapper with most Grammy wins. This year, Lamar’s, GNX won Best Rap Album. Lamar is known for his Grammy success, especially in the 2025 Grammys, where his album “Not Like Us” won both Record and Album of the year. Before winning Best Rap Album, he also won Best Rap song for “tv off” and Best Melodic Rap Performance with “luther.” Late in the night, Lamar, with the inclusion of SZA, went on to win Record of the Year with “luther” making it his 27th Grammy win.
The 2026 Grammy Awards made history, expanding its horizons to honoring other music genres. “Golden” from the movie K-Pop Demon Hunters made history as the first K-Pop song to win a Grammy with its win in Best Song Written for Visual Media. This year’s Grammys was truly like no other.
