Music’s Biggest Disappointment - The GRAMMYS

By Antonio Machado

Multimedia Editor

Marcus Falcão / THE GATEPOST

Every year, hundreds of artists gather together to witness tears, political advocacy, terrible speeches, terrible performances, and absolute world-shattering performances on music’s self-proclaimed biggest night, The GRAMMYS. The 68th Annual GRAMMY Awards were no different. The show opened with a jumpscare - Bruno Mars and ROSÉ immediately took the stage to perform their hit song “APT.” Trevor Noah took the stage to announce this year would be his last time hosting after six consecutive ceremonies, and we will all mourn his milquetoast humor, which he thankfully ditched for this night. Alongside a terrible running joke begging Bad Bunny to perform live, he snuck in a few jabs at President Donald Trump and Nicki Minaj - which seemed like the only times anybody in attendance or at home laughed at what he said. But nobody watches The GRAMMYS for the host. People tune in to raise pitchforks when their favorite musician doesn't win an award and be hypercritical of every performance and speech. The beautiful thing about the four-hour ceremony is not that roughly over an hour of that run time is allocated to ads, but rather that only nine of the 95 categories are presented during the main broadcast. The rest are meekly handed out at the non-televised pre-show. However, to make up for this, they allow the artists to do anything they want for their performances. A major moment of this year was the back-to-back performances by all the artists nominated for “Best New Artist.” Addison Rae demonstrated that charisma, uniqueness, nerve, and talent aren’t everything you need to be an amazing live performer - you also need good breath control. A few breathy missed notes aside, Addison was easily the most captivating and polished of the New Artist nominees, which sucks because she was the first, and it all went immediately downhill. KATSEYE was single-handedly the reason why The GRAMMYS were down in viewership by 6%, according to an article by Variety. Making music that sounds like AI-generated versions of what 12-year-old Americans think K-pop songs sound like is one thing - performing those songs on the most prestigious stage for a musician is another. The Marias were on stage. That’s about it. Lola Young attempted an acoustic cover of “Messy.” Some will argue the messy singing was emotional, but they would lose that argument. But she somehow took home “Best Pop Solo,” so turning a song into a Twitter laughingstock has its benefits. Leon Thomas III reminded us why “Victorious” was a successful show - an incredibly talented cast. However, he, who has written music for various artists including but not limited to Ariana Grande, SZA, and Drake, should not have been nominated for “new” artist. Alex Warren performed “Ordinary” and exemplified the title to a T. Sombr pleaded for the audience to engage with him during his performance to absolutely no avail, but he tried, and that’s what matters. The great thing about this year was that since all the nominees for this category were so underwhelming, Olivia Dean’s perfectly digestible beige mom elevator music easily took home “Best New Artist.” Lady Gaga also notably took the stage to deliver some fierce demonic camera work on a rock version of “Abracadabra.” A very welcome followup to Jelly Roll’s acceptance speech wherein he basically said “Jesus” on repeat until everyone felt uncomfortable and he got off stage. The winners and losers this year were for the most part expected, aside from a few surprises. Prior to this year's GRAMMYS, Bruno Mars had won every single one of his GRAMMY Award nominations since 2014, so his surprise and ensuing anger at the inadequacy of ROSÉ’s “APT,” which lost every single award it was up for, was palpable - and it tasted great. Sabrina easily had the best performance of the night. The rising star performed the entirety of “Manchild,” which was up for “Best Pop Solo” alongside both “Record” and “Song of the Year,” and she absolutely killed it. Sabrina Carpenter joined the likes of Ariana Grande and Billie Eilish as artists who went home empty-handed despite being one of the most nominated artists of their respective years and having arguably the most successful albums of the nominees. Big ‘Brina should keep her hopes high, however. Billie Eilish earned herself a “here, damn” award for a song released two years ago - seemingly because of the outrage caused during last year's ceremony when she went home empty-handed - so all Sabrina has to do is make “House Tour” a single and expect to sweep in 2027. Cher very Lola Young-ily took the stage to receive her “Lifetime Achievement Award.” She had clearly not rehearsed nor been instructed, and frankly, she deserved more screentime, as she was barely given any time to properly receive her award before being asked to present “Record of the Year,” which deservingly went to Kendrick Lamar and SZA. After being tormented the entire night by Trevor Noah, Bad Bunny walked away with “Album of the Year” and a beautiful speech condemning the presence of ICE in America. The 2026 Grammys went just as usual - sometimes, they’re too messy, and then they're too f**king clean. Rating: D+ Luther Vandross!