The 2026 Grammys are easiest to understand if you follow five artists. Between them, they basically tell the story of the entire night.

Bad Bunny

Bad Bunny defined the ceremony. His album Debí Tirar Más Fotos won Album of the Year, making history as the first Spanish-language album ever to take the Grammys’ top prize and beating out nominees like Kendrick Lamar, Lady Gaga, and Tyler, the Creator. The win marked his first time taking home a “Big Four” (Album of the Year, Record of the Year, Song of the Year, and Best New Artist) category and underscored the global dominance of Latin music. He also won Best Música Urbana Album and Best Global Music Performance, making it clear that his impact wasn’t limited to one category.

Kendrick Lamar

If Bad Bunny had the biggest single win, Kendrick Lamar had the biggest overall night. He won Record of the Year for “Luther” with SZA and Best Rap Album for “GNX”. Those victories pushed him past Jay-Z to become the most-awarded rapper in Grammy history, with 27 career wins. Kendrick opened the televised awards with his rap album win and kept returning to the stage. His speech emphasized hip-hop’s cultural longevity, reinforcing his position as one of the genre’s defining artists.

Billie Eilish

Billie Eilish took home Song of the Year for “Wildflower,” adding another major Grammy to her already stacked résumé. The category included heavy competition from Lady Gaga, Kendrick Lamar, and Bad Bunny, but Eilish’s songwriting secured the win. She also appeared throughout the night wearing an “ICE OUT” pin alongside other artists, reflecting the subtle but noticeable political messaging that threaded through the ceremony.

Olivia Dean

British singer Olivia Dean won Best New Artist, one of the most anticipated categories each year. While not the most commercially dominant nominee, her win signals that the industry sees her long-term potential. Best New Artist often predicts future headliners, and the Grammys clearly positioned Dean as someone to watch moving forward.

Lady Gaga

Lady Gaga didn’t sweep the night, but she remained a constant presence. She won Best Pop Vocal Album for Mayhem and was nominated across multiple major categories, including Song and Album of the Year. Her continued success highlights her staying power: nearly two decades into her career, she is still competing with and winning against a new generation of artists.

The 2026 Grammys weren’t chaotic or shocking. Through those five artists, the night felt less like a turning point and more like a confirmation of where music already is.

The 64th Annual Grammy Awards were held April 3, 2022, in Las Vegas. It was a night of high anticipation, as the awards for artist, album and song of the year were to be announced. Going into it, expectations were high for Olivia Rodrigo who had several nominations and was being considered for the top awards. BTS – the Korean pop boy band – was probably the most anticipated performance of the night. Although incomparable to the drama at this year’s Oscars, the Grammy Awards was full of their own memorable moments.

It ended up being a big night for Oliva Rodrigo, going home having won three Grammys – Best New Artist, Best Pop Solo Performance and Best Pop Vocal Album. Silk Sonic, a duo made of Burno mars and Anderson Paak, also found a lot of recognition, especially for their song “Leave the Door Open,” which won Record of the Year and Song of the Year. 

Jon Batiste’s album “We Are” was awarded Album of the year. Best Pop Duo/Group Performance went to Doja Cat and SZA for their song “Kiss Me More,” beating out BTS as the fan favorite. Glass Animals lost out to Olivia Rodrigo in the Best New Artist category, another award not given to the fan favorite of the night. A notable win was Baby Keem for his song “Family Ties”, featuring Kendrick Lamar, proving his spot as an up-and-coming name in the rap industry.

In between the awards were performances from many well-known names. On their big night, both Silk Sonic and Oliva Rodrigo performed towards the beginning of the ceremony. BTS performed their popular English-language hit “Butter,” once again dazzling audiences with their perfected dance moves. 

Once seen as the most prestigious awards show in the music industry, the Grammy Awards lost much of their prestige and is still spiraling. The 2019 Grammys were arguably one of the worst shows they’ve ever had. The show experienced another low viewing, as only 19.9 million people tuned in for the award show. Though that sounds like a lot of people were watching the Grammys, the data suggests otherwise. Just two years ago, the Grammys were pulling in 26.1 million viewers. This is a 24 percent drop in viewers, showing just how much people don’t really care about the once illustrious award show.

Obviously numbers don’t just drop because people magically stop caring, so one must question why the Grammys are receiving such pitiful numbers.

For starters, this year’s Grammy performances lacked any creativity. Most performances are just the artist singing their song – and some are just lip syncing – with no choreography and average vocals.

For example Alicia Keys, as talented as she is, put on a boring performance of a medley of songs this year. Another artist’s pathetic performance was Cardi B’s. Though stunning visually, the entertainer – I say because I believe she is not a rapper – rolled around on the floor and looked like a fool the entire performance. These performances depict just why the Grammys have started to lose their pizazz and their credibility.

Another reason would be their horrible choice in winners. If one were to look at the previous winners for “Album of the Year,” or most of the categories really, the results are extremely surprising.

Back in 2015, Beck won “Album of the Year,” beating out what should have been Beyoncé’s award after the release of her critically acclaimed self-titled album. This shocked the entire world and is, honestly, the start of the downward spiral of the importance of winning a Grammy. People began to see the Grammys as a joke because Beck’s album was good – obviously – but it wasn’t close to the creativity that Beyoncé brought for her album, or for the other major contender, Sam Smith. If not Beyoncé, Sam Smith – known as the male Adele – should’ve taken home this award for his simultaneously heartwarming and heartbreaking album.

The Grammys did not disappoint in showing the public that they’re still the worst at picking winners. When the nominations came out for all of the categories, the general public went into a frenzy over who was nominated and who was not. Most people tended to focus on the rap categories and the lack of actual rappers. The main categories that caught everyone’s attention were the “Best Rap Song” and the “Rap Album of the Year.”

The “Best Rap Song” category is honestly the biggest joke category at the Grammys in 2019. Obviously the songs “God’s Plan” by Drake and “Sicko Mode” by Travis Scott were clear nominations, but other hot chart toppers seemed to miss out.

Whoever’s idea it was to include the song “Win” is an absolute moron and needs to be kicked off the panel for deciding who should get a nomination. The song itself is utter garbage – there’s no lyrical content behind it and it’s repetitive and annoying. “King’s Dead,” though a great song, had little impact on the culture and died out pretty quick. “Lucky You” is a good song, yet, once again, had no impact on the culture. Why were these songs chosen? No one knows why. No one pushed these songs. No one expected these to end up on this list. In the end, Drake won the category with “God’s Plan”.

The “Best Rap Album” category is almost just as bad. First of all, who even is Nipsey Hussle and how was his album chosen to be in this category? Another average album on this list was “Daytona” by Pusha T. Only boosted by his beef with Drake, Pusha T was unknown for the most part to the general public  – not to mention his music is subpar. The lyrics are good, but his flow and his beats are dull and boring. These two albums were place holders and prove that the true rappers aren’t getting the recognition they deserve. The winner of this category was Cardi B with “Invasion of Privacy.”

So if these categories had joke contestants, then who should’ve taken their places? Easy choice. The actual rappers – defined as someone who is a lyricist and writes their own raps. J. Cole, Eminem – who released two albums – and Nicki Minaj were all snubbed from the Grammys.

J. Cole is known for getting snubbed at award shows so it comes to no surprise that he wasn’t nominated, and Eminem has publicly spoken out about how the Grammys are rigged and anyone can win one nowadays, so his snubbing was no surprise either. How “Chun-Li” was not nominated for “Best Rap Song” and “Queen” not nominated for “Best Rap Album” is beyond anyone. The significant impact that both of these had is astounding. “Chun-Li” alone broke many records and was the highest peaking solo song by a female rapper in 2018, peaking at No. 10. “Queen” was the most anticipated album of 2018 and charted at No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 200.

When it was announced that the “Queen of Rap” had received zero nominations, people began to seriously question the validity of the Grammys.

To sum it all up, the Grammys have just gone downhill. They have boring performers, joke nominations and undeserving winners. Their numbers continue to plummet and will keep on doing so if they don’t start awarding the correct artists for their hard work and dedication, as well as let the artists have control over what they want to perform and how they want to perform it, allowing their creativity to shine through.

If the Grammys want to do better in the future and want people to tune in to their award show, they will take into account all of these things in order to gain their accreditation back.

Photo Courtesy of asmac.org