The Grammys is an annual award ceremony that took place on Feb. 1, 2026. This event honors songwriters, composers, producers and performers who have released music in the last year.
At this year’s Grammys, the most notable winners were Bad Bunny, awarded Album of the Year, Kendrick Lamar and SZA, awarded Record of the Year, Billie Eilish, awarded Song of the Year and Olivia Dean, awarded Best New Artist.
For a musician to have their music be eligible to win a Grammy in 2026, the song or album must be released in the window from Aug. 31, 2024 to Aug. 30, 2025. Singers like Taylor Swift and Harry Styles came out with new albums shortly after the deadline, so they were not nominated.
Eilish won the award for her song Wildflower, featuring her brother Finneas. The song was featured on her album “Hit Me Hard and Soft” that came out in May of 2024, but was officially released as a single in Feb. 2025, therefore it qualified for a Grammy nomination.
“I love Billie but her song [Wildflower] came out in 2024 and its 2026, so I think the award should’ve gone to someone else,” Chloe Osburn, sophomore, said
Olivia Dean is a British singer and songwriter who began her music career in 2018, but gained popularity in Sept. of 2025 when she released her second album “The Art of Loving”. Dean also opened in Oct. and Nov. of 2025 for Sabrina Carpenter’s “Short n’ Sweet” tour.
The nominee list for new artist was KATSEYE, The Marías, Addison Rae, Sombr, Leon Thomas, Alex Warren and Lola Young.
“I liked most of the nominees, like Leon Thomas, but there were a few I was surprised about,” Anderson Stroever, sophomore, said.
The new artist award was one of the most highly anticipated since all the nominees had diverse backgrounds. Rae and Warren were both a part of the same social media group based in Los Angeles, Calif., “The Hype House”. Leon Thomas is best known for his role as Andre in the Nickelodeon show, “Victorious.”
KATSEYE and The Marias are both known for their display of culture in their music. KATSEYE is a K-pop themed girl group, and The Marias is an indie-pop band that incorporates Spanish in their songs.
Bad Bunny’s album, “Debí Tirar Más Fotos”, became the first Spanish-language album to win Album of the Year, and Kendrick Lamar became the most-awarded rapper in history now having 27 Grammys.
During the broadcast of the event, many artists perform live. Carpenter performed one of her top songs, “Manchild”.
Other artists that performed live were: Rosé & Bruno Mars, “APT”, Lady Gaga, “Abracadabra” and Tyler the Creator, “Like Him”.
“I think KATSEYE had a good performance but I feel like their vocals weren’t there and I really like Addison Rae’s music, but she wasn’t performing well,” Stroever said.
A few performances, like Warren’s, had malfunctions. When he was performing his song “Ordinary”, there was a technical failure in his earpieces, making him sing off-beat.
A big part of the Grammys is the red carpet. Many celebrity events have themes, like The Met Gala, an annual fundraising gala for the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute, but the Grammys leaves each musician to have all the creativity in their outfits.
“The best dressed was either Sabrina Carpenter or Laney Wilson, but Addison Rae and Chappel Roan were the worst,” Osburn said.
