What A ‘Mayhem’ Night – Grammy ’26!

From the remarkable “ICE Out” note from Bad Bunny, topless Justin Bieber performing in pyjamas shorts, Kendrick Lamar sweeping the most Grammy wins, here is a humble summary of what this night meant to artists, singers, songwriters, music producers and us, music enthusiasts. As soon as the night met sunlight, this remarked the final appearance of beloved Grammy host, Trevor Noah after six dedications but none of that important now, except for wondering whom Queen Bey had passed the AOTY throne to?

Before we answer that, let’s recount how glamorous this night was to all first-time winners especially from Best New Artist contenders. Comfortably being ‘Messy’, Lola Young showed how a record about vulnerability and “It’s Ok to Don’t Know” could claim her Best Pop Solo Performance for the first time. It also took a memorable moment to celebrate Olivia Dean’s ‘daughter of immigration’ story at Grammy stage where soulful, slumber ‘Man I Need’ has caught the music community to crown her Best New Artist – the pride of owning the skin and uniqueness. Thomas and Kehlani came hand in hand with R&B storytelling, raspy but spicy, loving but daring, and for the latter, “age like a fine wine” where both have been dominated across R&B genre.

Last night, the Grammys were decorated with powerful messages as responses to current issues. Our Oscar-Grammy darling, Billie Eilish and her brother, FINNEAS, quoted ‘No one is illegal on stolen land” demanding effort to ‘keep fighting’ and ‘keep demonstrating’ against cruelty and barbarity across the world during their speech of winning Song of The Year with Wildflower. In which Noah took a chance to criticise Trump’s decision on Greenland control, the ‘Epstein Island’ seemingly got special ‘attention’ in his joke towards “Bill Clinton and Trump” that they might need to find another empty island to ‘enjoy’ since it’s long gone. Meanwhile these names were under the spotlight, Nicki Minaj was also mentioned for her recent ‘excitement’ with US citizenship through so-called ‘Trump Golden Card’ – what a ‘clever’ act by her.

Despite these three names being criticised badly, Grammy’s night had raised the bar for other three iconic talented contenders for major categories: Bad Bunny, Kendrick Lamar and Lady Gaga. What an achievement that Kendrick Lamar has gotten throughout the night, carrying home five awards including ROTY for second time alongside SZA with “Luther”, surpassing Jay-Z with total wins of 27. Apparently, his domination as a giant rapper is getting recognised by the Grammys, continuously breaking records and ‘pushing forward’ for others to feel inspired and strive. “Don’t fall into despair … we need to trust each other”, that’s what SZA said during her winning speech since division/divergence is what easily happens nowadays and become crystal clear across “differences”. She ended with a strong message that “we are governed by God” and not government.  

The long-overdue AOTY for Lady Gaga seemingly became again, blurry after the crown was passed to heartthrob Puerto Rican musician, Bad Bunny with “Debí Tirar Más Fotos” marking him as the first Spanish-language artist to win AOTY. What a great achievement to shout out to but this article wants to draw a little bit beyond that winning where Noah shared during that prestigious night, Bad Bunny had launched a 30-show residency in Puerto Rico where the first nine shows were reserved exclusively for Puerto Rico residents and generated $200 million in economic impact for his country – what a proud nationalistic enthusiasm to be proud of own identity through music and create spaces for everyone to cherish the art! If the girls and gays were fallen over his commercial with Calvin Klein before, his character/passion alone can tackle the straights (since they lack of it).

However, what a different story for Gaga! Despite her massive success with “Mayhem” and leading single, “Abracadabra” claiming Best Pop Vocal Album and other two awards, her craftsmanship and recognition are unparalleled. The article believes Little Monsters won’t be happy to stay awake until 4 am (if you are watching from the UK), but it felt the same since her moment should already be claimed with “The Fame Monster” and other success era but Grammy wasn’t interested to give her one. Despite that, she still used her winning speech as an encouragement factor especially towards empowering women in the music industry who had been working across male-dominated spaces to stay persistent listening to oneself, fighting for what you believe and make sure you are heard loudly. She ended her speech with, “I believe in discipline and craftmanship and this is what ‘Mayhem’ means to me”.And that’s how Grammy’s night had wrapped up. As it happened every year, fandom base war might begin soon over these talented winners to being denied of winning, to being questioned of talent, to being disgraced of visionary and dream. Since Swifties might not join that raid for this year, Grammy better step up their game of ensuring all 15,000 eligible voting members to be ‘woke’ for a recognition to be made on the right hands across diverse communities. On that note, these articles wanted to conclude this summary with honourable mentions of last night winner:

• Pharrell William was announced as Dr Dre Global Impact Award recipient

• Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo won Best Pop Duo/Group Performance with ‘Defying Gravity’ despite both were not attending

• Shaboozey won his first Grammy for Best Country Duo/Group Performance with ‘Amen’, opening barrier for black country artist to get recognition from country community

• Sinners film got recognised for Best Compilation Soundtrack for Visual Media and Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media

• “Golden” from Netflix film KPOP Demon Hunters became the first K-Pop song to win a Grammy award for Best Song Written for Visual Media

• “Anxiety” won Best Music Video despite receiving backlash of song sampling from “Somebody That I Used to Know” by Gotye feat Kimbra 

• After years of contribution in industry, Cher was finally recognised with Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award

Words by Aimaan Mohd Ariff