2026 Grammys: And the Winner is…Luther Vandross?
By • February 2, 2026 0 40
The 68th Annual Grammy Awards were an entertaining 3-hour+ ride that included lots of musicians speaking out against ICE, Bruno Mars debuting his new song “I Just Might” and Cher accidentally presenting the Record of the Year award to Luther Vandross, who died in 2005.
Cher, who is 79 years old, committed the gaffe when she announced Kendrick Lamar and SZA’s song, which was named “Luther,” as “Luther Vandross.” Luckily, Lamar and SZA realized that their song indeed won and went onstage to accept their award. Before presenting the award, Cher gave a short speech about her career and instead of moving on to the Record of the Year presentation, she turned around like she was leaving the stage.
Trevor Noah, who hosted the ceremony, quipped about live TV’s unpredictability.
Despite the end of ceremony chaos, the rest of the show went off without a hitch. Highlights included Bruno Mars, accompanied by his band The Hooligans, who performed an Earth, Wind and Fire-esque version of his ‘70s-tinged new song “I Just Might.”
Multiple musicians also spoke out about the ongoing ICE operations in states like Minnesota. Billie Eilish, who won for Song of the Year for her song “Wildflower,” said “It’s really hard to know what to say and what to do right now, and I feel really hopeful in this room, and I feel like we just need to keep fighting and speaking up and protesting, and our voices really do matter, and the people matter.” She also went on to say “F*** ICE. That’s all I’m going to say. Sorry. Thank you so much.” Her remarks drew lots of cheers from the crowd.
Another bright spot in the night was the first time the Grammys had all the Best New Artist nominees perform back-to-back. It was a wild ride through big names like Addison Rae, Alex Warren, Lola Young, sombr and Olivia Dean. Dean ultimately won the coveted trophy, which marks women continuously taking home the honor since 2017.
Instead of flashing photos and not cutting to the artist performing, the In Memoriam portion was heartfelt and quite frankly, incredible. The Fugees reunited to pay homage to Roberta Flack, who died on February 24, 2025, and Post Malone rocked out along with Guns n’ Roses guitarist Slash and bassist Duff McKagan, Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Chad Smith and producer Andrew Watt. The group paid homage to Ozzy Osbourne, who died on July 22, 2025, singing his hit “War Pigs” as Osbourne’s widow Sharon and his son and daughter Jack and Kelly looked on, tears welling up in their eyes.
Next year, the Grammys will move from CBS (after being on the network for over 50 years) to ABC.
More winners from the night can be found here.
