With the 2026 Grammys officially upon us, read about all of the night’s best and worst moments below in our Grammys live chat between pop music critic Mikael Wood and staff writer August Brown.
8: 03 p.m. Who else on earth could do this Roberta Flack tribute other than Ms. Lauryn Hill, the inheritor of Flack’s regal, poised soul—a singer who inhabited it with the Fugees’ version of “Killing Me Softly With His Song.” She did it here with Wyclef Jean, preceded by “The First Time I Ever Saw Your Face,” and it’s all perfect. But yeah, Mikael, this is an extremely packed set -any one of these songs deserves a full version in homage —A.B.
Nice close-up of bassist Marcus Miller, who’s been such an instrumental part of so much of the music being honored tonight. —M.W.
8:02 p.m. Busy yet heartfelt tribute to D’Angelo from Lauryn Hill, Raphael Saadiq, Leon Thomas and Bilal. Wish they weren’t moving through these songs so quickly — spend a minute on these gems, I beg of you — but moving to see who showed up to honor a true R&B visionary. —M.W.
7:50 p.m. Poignant shots of the Osbourne family up in the front rows looking very emotional seeing this tribute to the late Ozzy from Post Malone, Slash, Andrew Watt, Duff McKagan and Chad Smith. Even if Ozzy went out with one the most triumphant final acts in rock history, this has to be painful and moving for them. —A.B.
Post Malone turned into a country guy like a week ago. Now he’s a metal guy! —M.W.
Always has been, Post was a huge fan of the late Riley Gale and Power Trip. Definitely earned this slot paying homage to the first and best to ever do it. —A.B.
7:48 p.m. Reba McEntire kicks off the Grammys’ In Memoriam segment with her song “Trailblazer,” which she’s performing with help from Brandy Clark. Jimmy Cliff, Flaco Jiménez, Malcolm-Jamal Warner — always wild to remember how many greats have passed in a given year. —M.W.
7:34 p.m. “Brian somehow changed how much a song could do, how much an album could contain,” Bruce Springsteen said, in a quick video tribute to the late Brian Wilson. Hope Wilson gets more tribute tonight, as he was one of the immeasurable losses of music history last year. —A.B.
Q-tip and Pharrell Williams at the 68th Grammy Awards held at the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles, CA, Sunday, Feb. 1, 2026.
(Myung J. Chun/Los Angeles Times)
7:32 p.m. Q-Tip is here to present Pharrell Williams with the Dr. Dre Global Impact Award. Four years into this prize, I’m still not really sure what it’s supposed to recognize. But sure! Pharrell — great songs, cool shades, nice pink-velvet bell bottoms. —M.W.
7:12 p.m. Song of the year goes to Billie Eilish’s “Wildflower,” which she wrote with her brother, Finneas O’Connell. This is a huge upset — “Golden,” from Netflix’s smash “KPop Demon Hunters,” was widely expected to win. The siblings’ victory makes them the first songwriters to take song of the year three times — that’s more than Adele, more than U2, more than Henry freaking Mancini. In her and Finneas’ speech, Billie seems genuinely surprised — yet she’s composed enough to deliver a succinct message to anyone watching: “No one is illegal on stolen land.” —M.W.
Billie Eilish and Finneas winning this for a third time is a fascinating upset. The Grammys obviously have lauded them plenty, but this is a generationally-significant writers’ award for a song that few expected them to take home this award. As fun as it would be to see a K-Pop song win, I didn’t think “Golden” would pull it out, but in a way this is even more of a contrarian surprise – making Billie and Finneas perhaps the most acclaimed songwriters in Grammy history, in a Grammy career that began only in 2020. And good for her for being so forceful and unambiguous in her politics onstage. —A.B.
7:02 p.m. Pop solo performance goes to Lola Young’s “Messy.” I didn’t see this one coming, but I’m very much here for it: “Messy” is a generational anthem about not feeling adequate to the job of life as social media has prescribed it to you. Accepting the award, Lola says she prepared no speech — obviously, she notes, because she’s messy — but manages to get an F-bomb through CBS’s censors. Love that for her. —M.W.
If Sharon Horgan wrote a pop star career arc, it’d be Lola Young’s. Always fun to see someone be genuinely surprised and sincerely unprepared for a win here. —A.B.
6:58 p.m. Pretty sure I asked you this during a previous Grammys chat, August, but I’ll ask you again: You ever think Bruno Mars wakes up and thinks: Today I’m not gonna make a hit? Singing his new single “I Just Might,” Bruno is, as always, the very picture of pop-music finesse. —M.W.
Pathologically chart-topping, terminally melodic, incurably suave, fatally incapable of missing at the Grammys. —A.B.
6:46 p.m. Pop vocal album goes to Lady Gaga’s “Mayhem,” which I would’ve been shocked to see beaten by another nominee. After thanking her collaborators Cirkut and Andrew Watt, Gaga encourages other women in pop music to take an active role in the production of their records — to “make sure that you are heard, loudly.” There would’ve been no chance for Gaga to win album of the year if she hadn’t won this one, so her hope for a first major-category victory stays alive. —M.W.
Definitely wild that Gaga has yet to take home an award for album, record or song after nearly two decades defining and demolishing pop, jazz and film music. Still has to be an outside pick though this year, versus the critical, commercial and legacy-sealing juggernauts from Kendrick and Bad Bunny. —A.B.
6:35 p.m. Seeing some clips for the upcoming Michael Jackson biopic in the ads here. What a…challenging time to release a major feature about a powerful male celebrity accused of child abuse. —A.B.
6:34 p.m. Lady Gaga’s performance of “Abracadabra” is basically a cover of the Rapture’s “House of Jealous Lovers.” —M.W.
Where is Girl Talk when you need him to make that mashup a reality. Man, to be back at Coachella last year, seeing this madness onstage for the first time. —A.B.
6:29 p.m. Jelly Roll wins the award for contemporary country album. He views every awards-show acceptance speech as an opportunity to audition for a future job as a megachurch pastor, and this one is no exception. — M.W.
Interesting to see Jelly Roll win this right after he joined Kid Rock’s MAGA-coded “Rock the Country” tour. Beyoncé winning for country album already feels like an eon ago. —A.B.
6:24 p.m. Yikes to Lainey Wilson’s cornball “Somewhere Over the Rainbow”/”Somewhere Over Laredo” joke with “Wicked’s” Jeff Goldblum. You’re better than this, Lainey! —M.W.
6:20 p.m. Pretty inevitable for Bad Bunny to take home the award for música urbana album, a category he essentially inaugurated. But a strong statement on the current war on immigrants here: “ICE out,” he says. — A.B.
After noting that “we are humans and we are Americans,” Bad Bunny goes on: “The hate get more powerful with more hate. The only thing that is more powerful than hate is love. So please — we need to be different. We have to do it with love.” —M.W.
Los Angeles, CA February 1, 2026 – Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles, CA, Sunday, Feb. 1, 2026.
(Myung J. Chun/Los Angeles Times)
6:12 p.m. Justin Bieber heard your thoughts on Sombr, Mikael, and decided to go fully shirtless.—A.B.
Shirtless and pantsless! I was already looking forward to seeing how Biebs planned to bring the radically underdressed “Swag” to Coachella in a few months. This heartthrob-in-his-underwear take on “Yukon” has me doubly intrigued. —M.W.
6:08 p.m. Kind of a cringey comedic bit between Trevor Noah and Bad Bunny that I won’t go to the trouble of play-by-playing here. But the pull quote from Bad Bunny: “Puerto Rico’s part of America.” —M.W.
6:00 p.m. As expected, Olivia Dean wins best new artist. In her speech, she notes that “I’m up here as a granddaughter of an immigrant.” She calls herself “a product of bravery, and I think those people deserve to be celebrated.” —M.W.
Good for her for using her moment to point that out, the U.S. is in the throes of a terrible moment on immigrants, but no country is immune from the sentiment and I’m happy to hear a unified front on fixing this from artists everywhere.—A.B.
Would not have called Lola Young doing “Messy” as a bare-bones piano ballad. It’s got one of the most hypnotic grooves heard on pop radio in the last decade! No question she can sing, though. —M.W.
I hope she’s doing better these days! That sudden rush of fame and enormous demands on your body and mind can exhaust the most resilient of us, and Lola’s such a force of charisma who deserves time to chill. —A.B.
And now the new artist category’s presumptive favorite, Olivia Dean, with “Man I Need.” I’m probably wrong about this, but I kind of feel like this song will still be with us in 40 years the way Whitney Houston’s “I Wanna Dance With Somebody” is now. Just a gorgeous soul-music love bomb. —M.W.
Olivia Dean at the 68th Grammy Awards held at the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles, CA, Sunday, Feb. 1, 2026.
(Myung J. Chun/Los Angeles Times)
Yeah, “Man I Need” could have come out at any point in the last 60 years and been a hit in any of them, and the rest of her catalog is just as timeless. The Grammys LOVE young people making sturdy, soul-soaked music like that. Looking at a lifer here. —A.B.
Sombr finishes out the new artist showcase. I’ve seen this dude play probably half a dozen times at this point and can’t recall ever seeing him wear a shirt. August, you profiled Sombr a few months back. What can you tell me about his philosophy regarding the upper body? —M.W.
Man, if my chest hair wasn’t going visibly gray and I was instead a lanky, chiseled Zoomer with a hit LP I might feel the same way about top buttons. —A.B.
5:40 p.m. The Marías open a sequence of performances by the show’s best new artist nominees, and it’s cool to see a band just playing music on live network TV. —M.W.
Shades of Charli XCX’s chaotic back-alley meta-entrance into the Crypto.com arena from Addison Rae here, with a cool pivot into choreo. Brat Summer still lives on in its feral children. —A.B.
Katseye at the 68th Grammy Awards held at the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles, CA, Sunday, Feb. 1, 2026.
(Myung J. Chun/Los Angeles Times)
Fun, weird, noisy performance of “Gnarly” by Katseye, a group that started out as a reality-TV creation but has quickly come to feel like a real act with a shared creative ambition. I’m into it. —M.W.
Leon Thomas was all over the pre-party circuit this week, I swear I saw him play “Mutt” more often than I saw my family this year. Great every time though, he rips and clearly has some behind-the-scenes buzz from the songwriter trenches. —A.B.
He does rip! Alex Warren, meanwhile, is being made to march down a stairwell past a kindly looking grandmother typing away on her phone as he pours his heart out in “Ordinary.” Rude, Grammy producers — rude. — M.W.
Heard someone quip that we live in an era of kids with face tattoos making Adult Contemporary music and well, here we are with Alex Warren . —A.B.
Kendrick Lamar at the 68th Grammy Awards held at the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles, CA, Sunday, Feb. 1, 2026.
(Myung J. Chun/Los Angeles Times)
5:24 p.m. Kendrick wins best rap album, which you figure he’d have to have won to keep album, record and song of the year in play for “GNX” and “Luther.” —M.W.
This was his to lose, as it always is, but it’s a solid omen for him joining Roberta Flack, U2 and Billie Eilish as artists who’ve won record in consecutive years. —A.B.
Yep. I always enjoy trying to game out what’s gonna happen in the ceremony based on the order of awards. (Tragic for me, I realize.) Given that he also came up big on the pre-show, with wins for rap song and melodic rap performance, this could mean a big night for Kendrick. —M.W.
5:21 p.m. Kendrick looking sharp in that tux (though I did love his all-denim look last year). —M.W.
Noah telling Kendrick “I remembered what you can do to lightskinned dudes from other countries” – Drake is never not catching strays at the Grammys. —A.B.
5:17 p.m. Sabrina Carpenter clearly spent big at the last Spirit Halloween to stay open in Los Angeles for this lavish performance of “Manchild.” Among her many dancers, I spy a nurse, an astronaut, a UPS delivery guy — even a dude in a pith helmet. —M.W.
International travel for a very extended period of time on Sabrina Carpenter Airlines- feeling pretty glamorous and aspirational these days! – A.B.
5:15 p.m. “Nicki Minaj is not here, she is still at the White House with Donald Trump,” probably a massive relief to everyone on the floor tonight that Barbz aren’t here emboldened with federal police powers. Yet. —A.B.
5:13 p.m. Asking Jelly Roll to unlock Teddy Swims’ phone with his face is a good bit. —M.W.
5:12 p.m. Honestly going to miss Trevor Noah when he moves on from this hosting gig, he’s been great and seems like a sincere fan of the whole shebang with just enough vim and vinegar to keep it lively. —A.B.
5:09 p.m. Trevor Noah as he strolls through the audience chatting up various musicians: “I feel like I’m in Jeff Bezos’ wedding but with way more Black people.” — M.W.
Rose and Bruno Mars at the 68th Grammy Awards held at the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles, CA, Sunday, Feb. 1, 2026.
(Myung J. Chun/Los Angeles Times)
5:03 p.m. Speaking of Bruno and Rosé, here they are opening the show with “Apt.” at what feels like double speed. This song has never reminded me of No Doubt before now, but this rendition feels very “Tragic Kingdom” coded to me. —M.W.
4:45 p.m. Let me tell you, I earned like 10 years of cool-uncle-August credibility with my friend’s five-year-old after I sent over a video clip of the Huntr/x singers performing at the UMG gala yesterday. I’m keeping an eye out on a macro level to see if Kendrick Lamar or Bad Bunny – two of the most politically and creatively salient artists working today for a variety of reasons – are able to finally take home the capstone album prize when each have been deservedly circling it for some time. Artists and voters feel some urgency to make this a statement award. But for Record and Song, don’t count out Grammy bestie Bruno Mars and Blackpink’s Rosé sneaking in for some hardware either. —A.B.
4:45 p.m. August, my friend, we’re going up, up, up — it’s our moment (which is to say another opportunity to liveblog another Grammys ceremony). So glad to be with you tonight as the action unfolds at Crypto.com Arena. Will “Golden” become the first K-pop tune to win song of the year? Will Lady Gaga finally win a top Grammy with “Abracadabra” or “Mayhem”? Will Bad Bunny take it all en route to next weekend’s Super Bowl halftime performance? These are just a few of the evening’s many burning questions. —M.W.