{"id":268577,"date":"2026-02-01T11:06:14","date_gmt":"2026-02-01T11:06:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/268577\/"},"modified":"2026-02-01T11:06:14","modified_gmt":"2026-02-01T11:06:14","slug":"grammy-awards-2026-27-most-shocking-and-memorable-moments-ever","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/268577\/","title":{"rendered":"Grammy Awards 2026: 27 Most Shocking And Memorable Moments Ever"},"content":{"rendered":"

And when you get some of the most prolific musicians in the world in the same room, it\u2019s no surprise that the Grammys<\/a> have more than delivered over the years.<\/p>\n

In the lead-up to this year\u2019s ceremony, we\u2019re counting down 27 of the most shocking and memorable moments from the Grammys over the years…<\/p>\n

Adele refuses to accept her Album Of The Year award (2017)<\/p>\n

Adele<\/a> swept the board following the release of her album, 25, but when she won over Beyonc\u00e9<\/a>\u2019s opus Lemonade, even the Hello singer herself had to admit something was up.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can\u2019t possibly accept this award,\u201d she said, \u201cThe Lemonade album was so monumental… so well thought out and so beautiful and soul-bearing, and we all got to see another side to you that we don\u2019t always let us see.\u201d<\/p>\n

Addressing Beyonc\u00e9, Adele continued: \u201cAll us artists here, we fucking adore you. You are our light, and the way that you make me and my friends feel, the way you make my Black friends feel is empowering, and you make them stand up for themselves. I love you, and I always will.\u201d <\/p>\n

Beyonc\u00e9 proves why she is the Queen (2023) <\/p>\n

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Timothy Norris via Getty Images<\/p>\n

During the ceremony in 2023, Beyonc\u00e9 made history when she became the person in history with the most Grammy wins (overtaking, believe it or not, Hungarian classical musician Sir Georg Solti), when Renaissance was awarded Best Dance\/Electronic Album .<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m trying not to be too emotional and just receive this night,\u201d she told the crowd on the night<\/a>. \u201cI want to thank God for protecting me. I\u2019d like to thank my Uncle Johnny who is not here. But he\u2019s here in spirit.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d like to thank my parents, my father, my mother, for loving me and pushing me. I\u2019d like to thank my beautiful husband, my beautiful three children who are at home watching. I\u2019d like to thank the queer community for your love and for inventing this genre. God bless you.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jay-Z asks the Grammys one big question (2024)<\/p>\n

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VALERIE MACON via Getty Images<\/p>\n

When collecting the Global Impact Award in 2024, Jay-Z couldn\u2019t resist taking a pop<\/a> at the fact that his wife, Beyonc\u00e9, had somehow still never won Album Of The Year, despite stellar past offerings like Lemonade and Renaissance and \u2013 oh yeah! \u2013 the fact she\u2019s the most decorated Grammy recipient in history.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t want to embarrass this young lady, but she has more Grammys than anyone, and has never won Album Of The Year,\u201d he pointed out in his acceptance speech.<\/p>\n

\u201cEven by your own metrics, that doesn\u2019t work. Think about that. Most Grammys. Never won Album Of The Year. That doesn\u2019t work.\u201d <\/p>\n

Beyonc\u00e9 finally wins Album Of The Year (2025)<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s be honest, she probably deserved it several years earlier, but Beyonc\u00e9 finally picked up Album Of The Year in 2025 for her country-inspired album Cowboy Carter.<\/p>\n

Earlier in the ceremony, she also made history as the first Black woman to be awarded Best Country Album \u2013 and her stunned reaction to the news gifted the world a new meme in the process<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Lady Gaga egg-cedes eggs-pectations with her Grammys entrance (2011)<\/p>\n

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Jason Merritt\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Nobody was egg-specting (alright, enough of that now) Lady Gaga<\/a> to play it down when she arrived at the Grammys, where she would be opening the show with a debut performance of her then-new single Born This Way, but who could have anticipated this was how she\u2019d make her entrance?<\/p>\n

Playing up to the \u201cbirth\u201d theme of her track, she was carried down the red carpet in a giant egg, which she emerged from to perform the song on stage later in the show.<\/p>\n

\u2018Hey, Nicki, who\u2019s your pal?\u2019 (2012)<\/p>\n

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Picture Perfect\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n

Upping the game when it came to dramatic Grammys entrances, Nicki Minaj<\/a> hit the red carpet in a red Versace cloak, on the arm of an older man who was dressed as the Pope.<\/p>\n

She also opened the show that year<\/a> with a medley of Roman\u2019s Revenge, Roman Holiday and I Feel Pretty (yes, the one from West Side Story), in a performance laden with Catholic imagery which was supposed to show the exorcism of her alter-ego, Roman Zolanski. <\/p>\n

Eminem and Elton John put on a show of solidarity after an unlikely duet (2001)<\/p>\n

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Kirk McKoy\/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images<\/p>\n

And while we\u2019re on the subject of surprising performances, Eminem<\/a> made headlines in 2001 when he welcomed Elton John<\/a> to the stage with him to perform Dido\u2019s parts on his hit Stan.<\/p>\n

The two held hands at the end of the performance in what appeared to be the rapper\u2019s attempts to put a stop to accusations of homophobia that had frequently been levelled against him.<\/p>\n

Maybe just stop using homophobic language in your songs, Marshall<\/a>, and then we\u2019ll talk.<\/p>\n

Amy Winehouse just can\u2019t believe it as Rehab is named Record Of The Year (2008)<\/p>\n

In 2008, Amy Winehouse<\/a>\u2019s personal life had eclipsed her music to the point she wasn\u2019t even allowed to attend the Grammys that year, and was forced to perform over satellite.<\/p>\n

When Rehab was given the distinction of winning Record Of The Year over acts like Beyonc\u00e9, Rihanna and Justin Timberlake, Amy\u2019s endearing look of disbelief pushed people to take the late star into their hearts even more than they already had.<\/p>\n

Justin Timberlake apologises post-Super Bowl and it\u2019s all very uncomfortable (2004)<\/p>\n

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Frederick M. Brown\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

The 2004 Super Bowl took place just seven days before that year\u2019s Grammys, meaning Justin Timberlake<\/a> had already been splashed all over the news for exposing Janet Jackson<\/a>\u2019s breast during their Half-Time Show performance.<\/p>\n

But if you thought it had been a bad week for him, spare a thought for Janet. <\/p>\n

Justin performed his then-new single Se\u00f1orita during the show, all the while Janet\u2019s scheduled performance with Luther Vandross was axed completely.<\/p>\n

And while the former N*SYNC singer apologised to anyone \u201coffended\u201d during his acceptance speech for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance (yes he won in a year when Janet had been blacklisted), he made no mention of the woman he\u2019d been sharing the stage with.<\/p>\n

It was another 17 years before Justin publicly apologised to Janet for not having done more to defend her at the time<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Pharrell Williams\u2019 hat steals the show on the red carpet (2014)<\/p>\n

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ROBYN BECK\/AFP via Getty Images<\/p>\n

Remember that week when Pharrell Williams<\/a>\u2019 hat was photoshopped onto everything? Simpler times, eh?<\/p>\n

Jennifer Lopez breaks the internet more than a decade before Kim Kardashian (2000)<\/p>\n

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Kirby Lee\/WireImage\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

And while we\u2019re on the subject of sartorial choices at the Grammys \u2013 behold! That dress<\/a>.<\/p>\n

This was an outfit so famous that Google literally invented their \u201cImages\u201d tab<\/a> because so many people wanted to see what Jennifer Lopez<\/a> was wearing on the red carpet.<\/p>\n

Waiting For Tonight may have lost out to Cher\u2019s Believe in the Best Dance Recording category, but who could deny that Jenny From The Block was the true winner that night?<\/p>\n

And while we\u2019re on the subject of scene-stealing moments on the Grammys red carpet (2025)<\/p>\n

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Kanye \u201cYe\u201d West<\/a> had been keeping something of a low profile ahead of the 2025 Grammys following a string of high-profile controversies, but he and his wife Bianca Censori<\/a> wound up becoming the most talked-about guests at the ceremony that year when they walked the red carpet.<\/p>\n

Initially, Bianca arrived in an oversized black fur coat, which she dropped in front of photographers to reveal a completely sheer mini-dress with nothing underneath.<\/p>\n

Ye and Bianca were in all the headlines afterwards, but it wasn\u2019t long until the rapper\u2019s behaviour was once again facing widespread condemnation, and in the weeks and months that followed he\u2019d professed himself a Nazi, begun selling a swastika t-shirt on his web store and released a new single titled \u201cHeil Hitler\u201d<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Around a year later, Ye issued a public apology for all of this<\/a>, claiming that at the time he was in a manic episode as a result of his bipolar disorder and had \u201clost touch with reality\u201d.<\/p>\n

C\u00e9line Dion takes one massive step back into the spotlight (2024)<\/p>\n

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Following her diagnosis with stiff-person syndrome years earlier, C\u00e9line Dion had opted to take a step back from the spotlight, but at the 2024 Grammys, she surprised everyone<\/a> when she returned to the stage to present Album Of The Year to Taylor Swift<\/a>.<\/p>\n

C\u00e9line walking out on stage received rapturous applause from the audience, and opened the door for her comeback performance at the Olympics later that year<\/a>, as well as the revealing documentary I Am: C\u00e9line Dion<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Milli Vanilli have their Grammys taken away (1990)<\/p>\n

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Michael Ochs Archives\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

The German R&B duo was named Best New Artist in 1990, although their victory was short-lived.<\/p>\n

It later transpired the two didn\u2019t actually contribute any of the vocals heard on their releases, prompting the Music Academy to take back their titles.<\/p>\n

Billy Porter debuts the headpiece that inspired a million memes (2020)<\/p>\n

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David Crotty\/Patrick McMullan via Getty Images<\/p>\n

Billy Porter<\/a>\u2019s red carpet fashion moments are constantly grabbing headlines, but this effort from the 2020 Grammys is one that particularly stands out.<\/p>\n

It wasn\u2019t so much the hat itself that got people talking, but the fact that it was motorised, and the movement of the bedazzled tassles ended up sparking a lot of memes on Twitter that year<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Billie Eilish makes her Grammys debut \u2013 and completely sweeps the board (2020)<\/p>\n

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David Crotty\/Patrick McMullan via Getty Images<\/p>\n

Billie Eilish<\/a> made music history when she hit up her first Grammys in 2020, not only scooping the biggest four awards of the night \u2013 Album Of The Year, Record Of The Year, Song Of The Year and Best New Artist \u2013 but becoming the youngest musician in history to do so.<\/p>\n

The then-18-year-old also performed When The Party\u2019s Over during the ceremony with her brother and co-producer, Finneas.<\/p>\n

Kanye \u2018Ye\u2019 West lives up to his stage-invading reputation (2015)<\/p>\n

Having stormed the stage in defence of Beyonc\u00e9 at the VMAs six years earlier, Ye stood up for Queen Bey once again when she was beaten in the Album Of The Year category by Beck.<\/p>\n

Perhaps suddenly remembering the huge backlash that had come his way in the wake of the VMAs incident, Ye<\/a> decided not to take to the mic this time around, instead shrugging his shoulders and swiftly returning to his front row seat.<\/p>\n

The rapper later claimed that if Beck \u201crespected artistry\u201d he would have given his award to Beyonc\u00e9 for her game-changing self-titled album.<\/p>\n

A stage invader crashes Bob Dylan\u2019s performance (1998)<\/p>\n

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Kevin Mazur\/WireImage\/Getty<\/p>\n

The 1998 Grammys were clearly a year to remember, as in addition to Ol\u2019 Dirty Bastard storming the stage, another unplanned moment helped make headlines, this time while Bob Dylan<\/a> was performing.<\/p>\n

While Bob Dylan performed Love Sick a bare-chested man with \u201cSoy Bomb\u201d written on his torso appeared behind him, and was eventually removed by security.<\/p>\n

He later claimed: \u201cSoy represents dense nutritional life. Bomb is, obviously, an explosive destructive force. So, \u2018soy bomb\u2019 is what I think art should be: dense, transformational, explosive life!\u201d<\/p>\n

Adele\u2019s All I Ask performance doesn\u2019t quite go to plan (2016)<\/p>\n

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Kevork Djansezian\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Listen, we all have our off days, as Adele proved at the 2016 Grammys. Despite riding high on her recent comeback with 25, this performance had everyone talking for all the wrong reasons.<\/p>\n

She later confessed to \u201ccrying all day\u201d following her appearance at the Grammys, she told Ellen Degeneres: \u201cDuring the changeover the microphones fell onto the piano strings which is what the guitar noise was\u2026 and then it kind of put the whole thing off really.\u201d<\/p>\n

And unfortunately, her bad Grammys luck didn\u2019t end there (2017)<\/p>\n

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Kevin Winter\/Getty Images for NARAS<\/p>\n

Things got off to a much smoother start a year later, when she opened the show with a rendition of Hello.<\/p>\n

However, when she came back later in the show to perform a surprise tribute to George Michael<\/a>, things took something of a nosedive.<\/p>\n

After a shaky start, she eventually stopped the performance completely one minute in, stating: \u201cI know it\u2019s live TV, I\u2019m sorry. I can\u2019t do it again like last year. I\u2019m sorry for swearing and sorry for starting again, can we please start it again? I\u2019m sorry, I can\u2019t mess this up for him. I\u2019m sorry.\u201d<\/p>\n

She then restarted the performance, and paid fitting tribute to the musical legend.<\/p>\n

Jennifer Hudson pays beautiful tribute to Whitney Houston (2012)<\/p>\n

Jennifer\u2019s flawless version of I Will Always Love You would stand up by itself as a showcase for the Dreamgirls star\u2019s amazing talent.<\/p>\n

But when you take into account she\u2019d had less than 24 hours to rehearse the song, as Whitney Houston had died the day before, it makes it all the more poignant and impressive.<\/p>\n

Lady Gaga channels Ziggy Stardust as she prepares to honour David Bowie (2016)<\/p>\n

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Sadly not all tribute performances at the Grammys have won such unanimous praise.<\/p>\n

Lady Gaga divided Bowie fans after she was selected to pay tribute to him at the Grammys that year, with some suggesting that by donning his famous outfits and attempting to imitate his performance style, she\u2019d made the show more about herself than her idol.<\/p>\n

Even Bowie\u2019s son seemed nonplussed, although when Lorde put her own subdued spin on Life On Mars? at the Brits weeks later, he was far more impressed<\/a>…<\/p>\n

Madonna introduces Sam Smith\u2019s divisive performance with a celebration of \u2018troublemakers\u2019 (2023)<\/p>\n

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Christopher Polk via Getty Images<\/p>\n

By the time the Grammys rolled around in 2023, Sam Smith had been at the centre of plenty of controversy thanks to their hits Unholy and I\u2019m Not Here To Make Friends \u2013 so there was no one better to introduce them at the Grammys than the Queen of Controversy herself.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou guys need to know \u2015 all you troublemakers out there \u2015 you need to know that your fearlessness does not go unnoticed. You are seen, you are heard and, most of all, you are appreciated,\u201d Madonna said during her intro<\/a>.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s worth pointing out that both Sam and Madonna faced even more backlash after the Grammys, thanks to the former\u2019s \u201cdevilish\u201d performance and the latter\u2019s appearance, which they shrugged off during their collab Vulgar<\/a>, recorded that same week.<\/p>\n

Taylor Swift uses her acceptance speech to fire back at Kanye West (2016)<\/p>\n

Following a brief truce, Taylor Swift<\/a> and Kanye West\u2019s feud was well and truly back on by the 2016 Grammys, after he disparagingly referenced her in his song Famous.<\/p>\n

Referring specifically to his notorious \u201cI made that bitch famous\u201d line, Taylor told the crowd: \u201cTo all the young women out there, there are going to be people out along the way who will try to undercut your success, and try to take credit for your accomplishments and your fame.\u201d<\/p>\n

And as we know, things didn\u2019t end there<\/a>…<\/p>\n

Chappell Roan calls out music industry injustices after accepting Best New Artist (2025)<\/p>\n

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By the 2025 Grammys, Chappell Roan<\/a> had already become known as an artist with no issues speaking her mind, which she proved while accepting the award for Best New Artist<\/a>. <\/p>\n

\u201cI told myself if I ever won a Grammy and I got to stand up here, in front of the most popular people in music, I would demand that labels and the industry profiting millions of dollars off of artists would offer a liveable wage and healthcare, especially to developing artists,\u201d she said, to massive applause from the audience.<\/p>\n

She concluded: \u201cRecord labels need to treat their artists as valuable employees with a liveable wage, health insurance and protection. Labels, we got you. But do you got us?\u201d<\/p>\n

Predictably, not everyone in the industry responded well to Chappell\u2019s comments<\/a>, but within weeks, change was already being reported<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Ariana Grande gets all dressed up with no place to go (2019)<\/p>\n

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In 2019, Ariana Grande<\/a> had been scheduled to perform at the Grammys, where she had been nominated for two awards.<\/p>\n

Ultimately, she pulled out after a much-publicised row with a producer, but still ended up stealing the show on the night, sharing snaps of her red carpet outfit (which she sported to lay around the house), live-tweeting the whole event and even winning her first Grammy after snubbing the show completely.<\/p>\n

She later wore an even more elaborate gown when she attended the following year\u2019s awards<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion give their WAP-tastic tune its live debut (2021)<\/p>\n

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Kevin Winter via Getty Images<\/p>\n

The two rappers\u2019 outrageous collab was a number-one smash on both sides of the Atlantic in 2020, but because of the pandemic, they weren\u2019t able to perform it live together until the following year.<\/p>\n

Still, Cardi and Megan made sure WAP got the live debut it deserved, with a performance so raunchy it sparked almost 1000 complaints to the FCC<\/a> (America\u2019s equivalent to Ofcom).<\/p>\n

The 2026 Grammys will take place on Sunday 1 February.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"And when you get some of the most prolific musicians in the world in the same room, it\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":268578,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[16950,146,14445,85,46,409,40601,140158],"class_list":["post-268577","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-awards-season","tag-entertainment","tag-grammys","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-music","tag-nostalgia","tag-ukmusic"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/268577","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=268577"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/268577\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/268578"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=268577"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=268577"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=268577"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}