Rosé, Bruno Mars and Sabrina Carpenter open 2026 Grammy Awards with electric performances
By Canadian Press on February 1, 2026.
LOS ANGELES (AP) — The hits arrived fast and furious. Rosé and Bruno Mars’ opened the
68th annual Grammy Awards Sunday with an electric rendition of their multicultural pop smash, “APT.”; the Blackpink singer channeled a pop-punk Gwen Stefani in her tie and platinum blond hair.
Then: host Trevor Noah opened with a speech celebrating the incredible breadth of talent nominated this year while poking fun at them — at one juncture, joking that Jelly Roll and Teddy Swims should be able to unlock each other’s phones, given their similar face tattoos.
Noah is hosting the Grammy Awards for
a sixth and final time live from Los Angeles’ Crypto.com Arena.
And what else could follow but another starry performance: Sabrina Carpenter with her “Manchild” kiss-off.
First time winners were abundant
An exciting, early theme of
the 68th Grammy Awards? First time winners.
During the Premiere Ceremony held at the adjacent Peacock Theater in Los Angeles ahead of the main show,
the Dalai Lama won his first Grammy for audio book, narration and storytelling recording, beating out Supreme Court Justice
Ketanji Brown Jackson. You read that correctly.
“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.
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.
FKA twigs
won her first Grammy for 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.”
Latin rock or alternative album went 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.
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.”
How to watch the show
The main show is airing live on CBS.
The Grammys can also be watched through live TV streaming services that include CBS in their lineup, like Hulu + Live TV, YouTube TV and FuboTV. Paramount+ premium plan subscribers can also stream it live.
Who’s nominated at the 2026 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.
Who’s attending and performing at the Grammys
Doechii, Harry Styles, Carole King, Chappell Roan, Charli xcx, Jeff Goldblum, Karol G, Lainey Wilson, Marcello Hernández, Nikki Glaser, Q-Tip, Queen Latifah and Teyana Taylor will present at the 2026 Grammys.
Performers include Justin Bieber, Clipse, Pharrell Williams, Sabrina Carpenter Bruno Mars, Rosé, Tyler, the Creator, Lady Gaga and all eight of the this year’s best new artist nominees:
Leon Thomas, Olivia Dean,
global girl group Katseye, The Marías, Addison Rae, sombr, Alex Warren and Lola Young.
Reba McEntire, Brandy Clark and Lukas Nelson will take the stage for the in memoriam. Ms. Lauryn Hill will pay tribute to D’Angelo and Roberta Flack. Post Malone, Andrew Watt, Chad Smith, Duff McKagan and Slash will honor Ozzy Osbourne.
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For more coverage of this year’s Grammy Awards, visit:
http://www.apnews.com/GrammyAwards
Maria Sherman, The Associated Press
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