Los Angeles: The 68th annual Grammy Awards are taking place Sunday and spirits were high from the jump after a few back-to-back, history-making moments.
The Dalai Lama won his first Grammy for audio book, narration and storytelling recording, beating out Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson. You ready that correctly.
“I am not the Dalai Lama,” Rufus Wainwright joked in an acceptance speech. “It was a privilege to participate on this project.”
“Golden” from “KPop Demon Hunters” won song written for visual media at the Premiere Ceremony, marking the first time a K-pop act has won a Grammy. Songwriters delivered their acceptance speech in both English and Korean, highlighting the song’s bilingual appeal.
Music film went to “Music for John Williams,” which means director Steven Spielberg has officially won his first Grammy. That makes him an EGOT winner – an artist with an Emmy, Grammy, Tony and Oscar.
The Premiere Ceremony, a pre-telecast show held at the adjacent Peacock Theater, began with musician and host Darren Criss setting the scene – giving out the first award of the day, for best pop/duo group performance to Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande for “Defying Gravity.” They were not present to accept the award.
An impressive 86 Grammys will be handed out pre-broadcast.
Yungblud won his first Grammy for rock performance for his cover of Black Sabbath’s “Changes (live from Villa Park),” which he performed at Ozzy Osbourne’s final show. Hardcore band Turnstile also won their first Grammy for rock album and later, metal performance.
“To Baltimore, thank you, we love you,” said frontman Brendan Yates.
The Cure won alternative music performance but were unable to attend as they were attending the funeral of Perry Archangelo Bamonte, the Cure’s longtime guitarist and keyboardist, who died last month.
FKA twigs won her first Grammy for best dance/electronic album for “EUSEXUA,” becoming only the second Black woman to win in the category. “I didn’t expect to come up here. I was just so happy to be nominated,” she said in her speech. “Thank you so much – wow.”
“All the Latino kids in the hood watching, anything is possible,” said rapper Lefty Gunplay, who also won his first Grammy for rap performance for his role on Kendrick Lamar’s “TV Off.”
Earlier on, Edgar Barrera handed out some of the Latin music categories: Natalia Lafourcade won best Latin pop album for “Cancionera”; best Latin Rock or Alternative album to CA7RIEL & Paco Amoroso for “Papota.” It is their first win on their first nomination. In their speech, in Spanish, they thanked their home country of Argentina and all of Latin America. Musica Mexicana album (including Tejano) went to Carin Leon for “Palabra De To’s (Seca).” It is his second win on his second nomination.
It is a dramatically different tone than last year. The 2025 award show was completely reimagined and refocused to relief efforts following the devastating Los Angeles-area wildfires. In 2026, the focus has been placed once again on the music, where Kendrick Lamar, Lady Gaga, Bad Bunny and more will go head-to-head during the televised ceremony.
The energy was high from minute one at the Premiere Ceremony: Earth, Wind & Fire gave a groovy opening performance of “Shining Star” with some help from Israel Houghton, Lila Ike, Grace Potter, Maggie Rose and Trombone Shorty.
“That’s how you start a show!” Recording Academy CEO and President Harvey Mason jr. said in his opening remarks. “That’s a statement. That’s joy. That’s resilience.”
There were many other performances as well: Zara Larsson brought her Swedish pop “Midnight Sun,” followed by Spiritbox’s metallic “Soft Spine,” Tasha Cobbs Leonard’s “Church,” and Criss and Helen J. Shen’s “Never Fly Away.”
Following the Premiere Ceremony, comedian Trevor Noah will host the main show for a sixth and final year and history could be made when some of the biggest names in music gather. Here’s some key things to know ahead of Sunday’s show at the Crypto.com Arena.
Artists speak out Trump administration’s immigration crackdowns
At the Premiere Ceremony, artists offered pro-immigration and anti-ICE messaging.
Country duo/group performance went to first-time winners Shaboozey and Jelly Roll. Shaboozey accepted the award with tears in his eyes. “I want to thank my mother, who as of today, has retired from her job of 30 years … working as a registered nurse in a psych ward … as an immigrant in this country. Thank you, mom.
“Immigrants built this country, literally, actually. So, this for them,” he concluded. “Thank you for bring your culture, your music and your stories.”
Amy Allen won songwriter of the year, nonclassical for a second year in a row and wore an “ICE Out” pin, an anti-immigration enforcement message. So did Kehlani – who won her first Grammy for R&B performance and later, her second, for R&B song.
“I’ve never won anything before, this is a really crazy feeling,” she said as she fought back tears, reflecting on her first nomination 10 years ago. Then she shifted gears to focus on the current political moment: “Imma leave this and say, (expletive) ICE.”
“I’m scared,” Gloria Estefan said of the current political moment backstage at the Grammys. “There are hundreds of children in detention centers. … I don’t recognize my country in this moment right now.”
Who’s nominated at the 2025 Grammys
Kendrick Lamar leads the 2026 Grammy Award nominations with nine. Lady Gaga, Jack Antonoff and Canadian record producer/songwriter Cirkut follow with seven nominations each.
Sabrina Carpenter, Bad Bunny, Leon Thomas and Serban Ghenea all boast six nominations. Andrew Watt, Clipse, Doechii, Sounwave, SZA, Turnstile and Tyler, the Creator have five each.
AP
