The 68th Grammys came and went, but not without paying tribute to the power and resistance of music. The Recording Academy picked some weird winners, legacies were rewritten, some great and bizarre performances happened, acceptance speeches were used for anti-ICE positions, and Cher was Cher. There were first-time winners everywhere, including the Cure and TURNSTILE, but it was Bad Bunny who stood victorious at the show’s end. Here are the 10 best and worst moments from the 2026 Grammy Awards. See the full list of winners here.
Best: Artists say “Fuck ICE”
Whether it was during the ceremony’s pre-show or the live CBS broadcast, Grammy winners weren’t mincing words about ICE and the current administration’s quest to detain, abuse, and displace innocent people last night. Olivia Dean accepted her Best New Artist award by saying she is “a granddaughter of an immigrant. I am a product of bravery, and those people need to be celebrated.” Kehlani said “fuck ICE!” while celebrating her Best R&B Performance win. Shaboozey spoke up for his Nigerian parents’ immigration, while Gloria Estefan had words of encouragement for the Latino community. In her Song of the Year speech, Billie Eilish told millions watching the program that “no one is illegal on stolen land,” while folks like Justin Vernon, Jack Antonoff, and Justin Bieber hit the red carpet wearing “ICE OUT” pins. But Bad Bunny spoke loudest of all, when he capped off his Best Música Urbana Album win by telling the world, “We’re not savage. We’re not animals. We’re not aliens. We are humans, and we are Americans.”
Worst: “Wildflower” wins Song of the Year
Two years ago, I raved about Billie Eilish’s third album, HIT ME HARD AND SOFT. It was my favorite pop record of 2024, and I could sense that “BIRDS OF A FEATHER” had all the makings of a smash hit. I was right, because the track got nominated for Record of the Year and Song of the Year at the 67th Grammys and peaked at #2 on the Hot 100. But because of some eligibility period trickery with singles, Eilish’s song “Wildflower” scored a nomination for Song of the Year at this year’s ceremony. Remember: HIT ME HARD AND SOFT came out two years ago! While I hooted and hollered about “BIRDS OF A FEATHER” being a slam-dunk hit, I was less high on “WILDFLOWER.” In fact, I wrote in my review that it was an “inconsequential folk-pop song that leaves just as fast as it arrives.” Sure, there’s a nice climax in there, but it’s one of Eilish’s least-compelling singles. I know it was just a deep cut, but “L’AMOUR DE MA VIE” would have been a far more interesting choice for a post-album single than “WILDFLOWER.” I love Billie Eilish and I’m always happy to see her nominated for industry things, but her winning over Lady Gaga (“Abracadabra”), Bad Bunny (“DTMF”), Kendrick Lamar & SZA (“luther”), and Sabrina Carpenter (“Manchild”)? I can’t wrap my head around that. This decision transcends “playing it safe.” The Recording Academy wasn’t even in the game at all.
Best: Tyler, The Creator blows himself up
Man, I always love when a celebrity kills themselves on live television, so it was a lot of fun to see Tyler, The Creator, ram into a version of himself with a car during his CHROMAKOPIA medley, then blow up a gas station set with himself inside. Say what you will about his performance—the songs themselves didn’t feel as interesting as the staging of them, for one thing—but that man committed to the bit. After stumbling out of the exploding fake gas station with smoke rising off his newly scorched clothes, the Odd Future rapper half-tripped down the stairs off the stage and fell face-down onto the carpet in the exact pose of a classic dead body chalk outline. I was really hoping to see him stay there the whole night, forcing winners to awkwardly step over his motionless pseudo-corpse in order to accept the awards, but, well, we can’t get everything we wish for.
Worst: Pharrell’s legacy doesn’t involve Chad Hugo
You know who likes the Neptunes? Tyler, The Creator. You know who hates the Neptunes? Pharrell. The voice of the “Lumpenproletariat” party (I don’t know what that means, either), who doesn’t like politics because they divide people, got a Dr. Dre Global Impact Award last night, which isn’t nearly as cool as the Shoe of the Year award he received from the Footwear News Achievement Awards last autumn. Pharrell’s last decade or so has been busy, thanks to that inescapable Despicable Me 2 song, producing Hidden Figures, and his tenure as Louis Vuitton’s men’s creative director. But as Pharrell’s legacy narrows to everything post-“Blurred Lines,” his old bandmate Chad Hugo is getting pushed far out of it. Hugo didn’t get a single mention during Pharrell’s introduction, likely because Hugo is currently suing Pharrell for $1 million in unpaid royalties. But let’s not act like the Neptunes is just Pharrell Williams, even if the duo isn’t on speaking terms right now. I seem to remember both Hugo and Pharrell accepting that Producer of the Year Grammy 21 years ago.
Best: Lauryn Hill actually shows up
Lauryn Hill is pretty good at canceling plans. She nixed her 2024 tour with the Fugees because of low ticket sales and “media sensationalism.” Hill has been largely out of the public eye for 20 years, ever since New Ark sued her for writing and production credit on The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill (the two parties settled for $5 million out of court). She’s performed occasionally over the years. But, like Morrissey, she’s best known for embodying that Kawhi Leonard, “POV: when they ask if you’re gonna show up” meme. Hill did swing through the Grammys as planned, and it was her first appearance at the show in 27 years, when she won Album of the Year for Miseducation. She was in attendance to pay tribute to D’Angelo and Roberta Flack, both of whom passed away in 2025. Her performance of “Nothing Even Matters” was great, but bringing out her Fugees bandmate Wyclef Jean for “Killing Me Softly” was even better.
Best and Worst: Everything going on with Cher
If there’s a god, please hear me: let Cher host the Grammys next year. Is it a good idea? Definitely not. But is it the best possible idea? Yes. Courtesy of the icon herself, the Grammys finally got their own “Adele Dazeem” moment: Cher, now 79 (?!), presented Record of the Year to “Luther Vandross,” who is dead, and who has been dead since 2005—but not before walking off the stage entirely after accepting her Lifetime Achievement Award, as she forgot she was supposed to present an award at all (and then, after being called back to the stage, forgot she needed to open the envelope to find out the winner). The mix-up made some sense, considering the “record” in question was Kendrick Lamar and SZA’s “luther,” which samples Vandross’ “If This World Was Mine,” but still. As Trevor Noah said after Cher’s bizarre showing concluded, “I love live television.”
Worst: Justin Bieber pulls a Cher and forgets to turn off his looping pedal
Really, this one was just funny. No part of me could’ve predicted literally anything about Bieber’s performance of “Yukon,” which felt more “performance art” than “Grammys performance.” Armed with a guitar, a looping pedal, and not much else, it’s the most stripped down I’ve ever seen the popstar—literally, considering he was only wearing a pair of white boxers. I’ve gotta say, too, that Bieber’s songs are perhaps best enjoyed when couched in enough production for the lyrics to take a backseat, because in this particular setting, a lot of standout terrible lyrics registered to me for the first time: “I pull up like Jimmy Neutron,” for one thing; basically the entire song, for another. Best of all, though, Bieber simply walked offstage once the song was over, seemingly forgetting that the instrumentation was coming from his own looping pedal he set up onstage—requiring him to awkwardly shuffle back on, turn off the pedal, then take the walk of shame back off. Absolute cinema.
Best: Darren Criss can’t pronounce “Eusexua,” confirms he’s straight
I’m still not over Blaine Anderson cheating on Kurt Hummel with some Facebook rando, and Darren Criss and I are on even worse terms now that he’s let his straightness truly overcome him. It’s infected his mind to the point that he has no idea how to pronounce FKA twigs’ last album, Eusexua. While handing out the award for Best Dance/Electronic Album, Criss looked at the name inside his envelope and immediately got nervous. Did he say “zoo-uh,” or “ex-ua”? Man, I don’t know. Don’t they brief these people on pronunciations before they get on stage? I mean, it was during the pre-show. Criss was apologetic though, which was sweet and goofy. Clearly he wasn’t as obsessed with “Striptease” last year as the rest of us. We get it, dude: you married a woman.
Worst: Alex Warren goes full megachurch preacher during “Ordinary”
The fact that we here at Paste Magazine are not the biggest fans of TikToker-turned-Christian-popstar Alex Warren is well-known at this point, seeing as we put “Ordinary” on our list of the worst songs of 2025 and You’ll Be Alright, Kid on its worst albums counterpart. So, truly, it should come as no surprise that watching Alex Warren singing his terrible single—off-beat, no less—on a rising platform like the leader of the world’s most boring megachurch makes an easy “worst” pick for us. I watched the Grammys with some friends last night at a watch party, and when “Ordinary” started playing, groans erupted from every side of the room, and one person even yelled out, “Wait, this song isn’t AI? I’ve been thinking this was an AI song for, like, a year!” Unfortunately for all of us, it was somehow written and performed by a human being. The only thing any of us agreed upon the entire night was hating that fucking performance.
Best: Bad Bunny wins Album of the Year
The Recording Academy is not an institution that I would consider good, nor would I consider them consistent, compassionate, timely, or even relevant—especially in the Album of the Year category. Their track record speaks for itself: Steely Dan gettingthe award instead of Radiohead; finally paying Beyoncé her due, but for her worst album in 20 years; snubbing Kendrick repeatedly; their pre-2000 habit of giving the top prize of the night to film soundtracks. Yes, Bad Bunny winning last night means Kendrick is now 0-for-5 in the category. But Bad Bunny winning is a net-positive for the people. It’s about time a Spanish-language album won the crown jewel of “music’s biggest night.” Now, I wasn’t expecting the Recording Academy to do right by anyone, especially not while America’s conservative voting bloc and supporters carry out remorseless, barbaric anti-immigration enforcement nationwide. I expected the Recording Academy to straddle the middle line—to sit on the fence and just hand out trophies to boring winners. And they certainly did make boring choices (see earlier in this list), but Bad Bunny winning AOTY is not a boring choice. It was the correct one, because Debí Tirar Más Fotos is a great album and Bad Bunny is one of our world’s coolest and kindest superstars. “I want to dedicate this award to all the people who had to leave their homeland to follow their dreams,” he said at the end of the ceremony. Let’s hold onto that.
