68TH ANNUAL GRAMMY AWARDS FEATURE POWERFUL MUSICAL PERFORMANCES, MIXED WITH SIGN OF THE TIMES POLITICAL MESSAGES.
By Bruce Pilato
Music’s biggest night, -as the industry has proclaimed itself- started off with a more family friendly spectacle than it had in previous years. The emphasis was on commercially infectious pop songs for the first 20 minutes of the broadcast. Bruno Mars and Black Pink member Rose´ revved up the audience with an energetic version of their smash duet, “APT.” That was followed by power-pop songstress Sabrina Carpenter, who commanded a complicated stage set design that emulated a busy airport, complete moving luggage carousels and an army of dancers portraying the various blue collar airport workers. It was executed flawlessly, which is saying a lot for a live-on air television broadcast.
That was followed by the first award of the night, BEST RAP ALBUM, won easily once again by Kendrick Lamar. His speech was heartfelt and humble. He would also win RECORD OF THE YEAR later in the show for “Luther,” his tribute to Luther Vandross done with vocalist SZA.
In between the many music segments, host Trevor Noah kept the audience amused with his lightning-fast whit and celebrity name-dropping. He had announced he was no longer interested in hosting after last year’s show, but the producers were able to lure him back for one final romp at the podium. Never one to let a great opportunity go unused, the multi-billion viewing audience saw him take a few shots at Donald Trump. Keep in time with events on the news, several artists were not afraid to say “F___ Ice” in their acceptance speeches throughout the show.
Puerto Rican superstar Bad Bunny was the big winner with ALBUM OF THE YEAR awarded for his DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS, (or DTMF, as it is called) the first non-English album to win that award. His acceptance speech was mostly in Spanish, included a plea for the undocumented immigrants ICE is trying to deport.
There were some genuine high points in the show. Among them: a medley of songs from all the artists who were nominated for BEST NEW ARTIST: The Marías; Addison Raw, KATSEYE, Leon Thomas, Alex Warren, Lola Young, Olivia Dean, and SOMBR. After the commercial break, last year’s winner Chappel Roan took the stage to give the award to Olivia Dean. Singer/ songwriter Joni Mitchell likely the eldest musician to be up for a Grammy, won for her extensive box set Joni Mitchell Archives- The Geffen Years 1976-1980 She accepted the award, and seemed genuinely surprised she won.
Some of performance segments were clearly over the top, most notably Lady Gaga’s frantic and futuristic performance of “Abracadabra,” and Tyler, The Creator’s “Thought I Was Dead” / “Like Him” / “Sugar On My Tongue” medley. While nothing was an earth-shattering upset this year (….Remember last year when Beyonce won BEST COUNTRY ALBUM?..) there were some surprises such as SONG OF THE YEAR going to Billie Eilesh & her brother Fineas for “Wildfire,” a far less compelling composition than much of her earlier material. British singer Lola Young who’s “Messy” won for BEST POP SOLO PERFORMANCE, and had one of the most joyous acceptance speeches, complete with -F-Bombs.
Considerable time was devoted to honoring the many music legends and industry icons who died in 2025. Some of the music heroes such as Brian Wilson and Sly Stone were given short tributes by artists such Bruce Springsteen and Chaka Khan, but many were acknowledged in a number of musical performances by Reba McEntire, an all-star Ozzy Osbourne Tribute that featured Post Malone, Chad Smith, Duff McKagan, Slash & Andrew Watt), as well as tributes from Lauren Hill, Leon Thomas, Lalah Hathaway, and Jon Batiste for Roberta Flack and D’Angelo.
The 68th Grammy Awards capped off a full week of music industry events presented by The Recording Academy. The Academy along with a myriad of record companies, producers, and entrepreneurs had several showcases, charity events, and parties staged throughout Los Angeles. The big three events, outside of the Grammy Awards itself, were the Special Merit & Lifetime Achievement Awards; the MusiCares Person of The Year event, which honored Mariah Carey this year; and the Pre-Grammy Gala thrown by Clive Davis with the Recording Academy, and unquestionably the most desirable invite of the entire week.
The Special Merit & Lifetime Achievement Awards pays homage to both front-line music celebrities and behind the scenes music executives, innovators and inventors. This year’s event honored icons such as Cher, Carlos Santana, and Paul Simon, although none those A-listers were in attendance to accept their awards. They did have R&B legend Chaka Khan in the house, as were trail blazing record executive Sylvia Rhone and Elton John lyricist, Bernie Taupin.
Both the MUSICARES and the PRE-GRAMMY GALA were exceptional extravaganzas with some of the artists that were also seen on the GRAMMYS telecast, among them: John Legend, Adam Lambert, and Jennifer Hudson. Mariah Carey took the stage herself at the MUSICARES gala, after hearing a long list of music friends pay tribute to her with their own versions of Mariah’s hits. The biggest surprise was the inclusion of the FOO FIGHTERS with singer Taylor Momsen doing punked out versions of “Love Is a Scam” and “Demented” from the unreleased Carey album, SOMEONE’S UGLY DAUGHTER. The event raises millions of dollars each year to help underwrite living expenses and health care for musicians down going through hard times or to be used for victims of the LA wildfires.
The Pre-Grammy Gala, spearheaded by the 93-year-old music legend Clive Davis, awarded brothers Monte and Avery Lipman, REPUBLIC RECORDS co- Founders, with the 2026 GRAMMY Salute to Industry Icons® honor. Musical performances that highlighted the Gala included MGK (Machine Gun Kelly’s) tribute to Ozzy Osbourne and powerful version “Man I Need” by OIivia Dean. It remains Grammy Week’s hottest ticket.
