{"id":264222,"date":"2026-02-02T18:18:09","date_gmt":"2026-02-02T18:18:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/264222\/"},"modified":"2026-02-02T18:18:09","modified_gmt":"2026-02-02T18:18:09","slug":"leon-thomas-mutt-album-makes-historic-win-at-grammys-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/264222\/","title":{"rendered":"Leon Thomas’ ‘Mutt’ Album Makes Historic Win at Grammys 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

Leon Thomas<\/a> scored two wins at the 68th Grammy Awards on Sunday (Feb. 1).\u00a0<\/p>\n

At the Premiere Ceremony, held ahead of the main telecast, Thomas won Best Traditional R&B Performance for \u201cVibes Don\u2019t Lie.\u201d The category also included Durand Bernarr<\/a>\u2018s \u201cHere We Are,\u201d Lalah Hathaway<\/a>\u2018s \u201cUptown,\u201d Ledisi<\/a>\u2018s \u201cLove You Too\u201d and SZA\u2019s \u201cCrybaby.\u201d<\/p>\n

Thomas, the most nominated R&B artist<\/a> at this year\u2019s ceremony (six), was not present when the award was called \u2014 for good reason. The Best New Artist nominee was wrapping up rehearsals for his performance for the main telecast.<\/p>\n

His mother accepted the award on his behalf. \u201cWe are so honored. Thank you, Academy, for voting for him,\u201d she said. \u201cHe worked so hard on this album, and he\u2019s so happy to get such a wonderful reception.\u201d<\/p>\n

Thomas also won Best R&B Album for his lauded LP,\u00a0MUTT,\u00a0which was also nominated for Album of the Year. The stacked category also included Giv\u0113on\u2019s Beloved, Ledisi\u2019s The Crown, Teyana Taylor\u2019s Escape Room\u00a0and Coco Jones\u2019 Why Not More?\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"Leon Thomas with his two statuettes at the 68th Grammy Awards. (Photo Credit: Leon Bennett\/Getty Images for The Recording Academy)<\/p>\n

By the time the category was called, Thomas had made it from the rehearsal stage to the podium to accept the honor.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is such a moment because this is a miracle of endurance,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd I have to say right now, I have to thank God for this moment. There\u2019s been so many people on this run that have helped me get here.\u201d He went on to thank his management team, label, and parents, who all believed in him. Thomas concluded with, \u201cJust know that live music, live R&B is worth it, and I\u2019m going to keep going.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"LeonEZMNY Records\/Motown Records<\/p>\n

MUTT is the first sophomore album by a solo male artist to win in the Best R&B Album category since D\u2019Angelo\u2019s Voodoo<\/a> at the 43rd Grammys in 2001. In the category\u2019s 31-year history, it\u00a0is only the second to ever achieve this feat. Among all solo artists, MUTT is the first sophomore LP to win Best R&B Album since Alicia Keys<\/a>\u2018 The Diary of Alicia Keys in 2005, which was also nominated for Album of the Year.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s worth noting that the Best Contemporary R&B Album \u2014 a separate, now-defunct category that ran from 2003 to 2011 \u2014 did see sophomore wins from Beyonc\u00e9\u2019s B\u2019Day in 2007 and Ne-Yo\u2019s Because of You in 2008. That category, however, should not be confused with Best R&B Album, which has been awarded since 1995.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

MUTT includes the Grammy-winning \u201cVibes Don\u2019t Lie,\u201d as well as the Grammy-nominated \u201cYes It Is.\u201d With Thomas\u2019 latest wins, he now has three Grammys. He won his first award for Best R&B Song at 66th Grammys for his contribution to SZA\u2019s \u201cSnooze.\u201d<\/p>\n

In other awards news, Thomas is nominated in four categories at the 57th NAACP Image Awards<\/a>, including for Outstanding Male Artist.\u00a0<\/p>\n

This summer, Thomas will open for Bruno Mars\u2019 The Romantic Tour<\/a>, which will also feature support from Anderson .Paak as DJ Pee .Wee, Victoria Mon\u00e9t and RAYE.<\/p>\n

Here is every sophomore LP that won a Grammy for Best R&B Album (year awarded):<\/p>\n

CrazySexyCool \u2014\u00a0TLC (1996)
\nVoodoo\u00a0\u2014 D\u2019Angelo (2001)
\nVoyage To India \u2014\u00a0India.Arie (2003)
\nThe Diary of Alicia Keys \u2014\u00a0Alicia Keys (2005)
\nMutt \u2014 Leon Thomas (2026)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Leon Thomas scored two wins at the 68th Grammy Awards on Sunday (Feb. 1).\u00a0 At the Premiere Ceremony,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":264223,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[156,26626,21726,75532,157,111,139,69],"class_list":{"0":"post-264222","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-music","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-grammy-awards","10":"tag-grammys","11":"tag-leon-thomas","12":"tag-music","13":"tag-new-zealand","14":"tag-newzealand","15":"tag-nz"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/264222","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=264222"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/264222\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/264223"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=264222"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=264222"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=264222"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}