2026 Grammys Review

The Grammys are not just an award show, but a time capsule of culture. It reflects the political climate of our time, what moves people and what people are speaking out against. It highlights true artistry, giving a glimpse into the future of music, and who the next generation of taste makers will be. Every year, the winds, the snubs, the speeches are all telling a story. A story that is beyond who just takes home a trophy, but what is rewarded, what is resisted, and even what the industry missed on and is still trying to catch up to. So this is going to be more than just a rundown of the winners and the losers, but a prediction into the future of music. What did this Grammys mean for how they think about voting in the future, what got nominated, and what artists will take off the most next year? Welcome back to Nikki and I, I'm your host Nikki Reardon, and I couldn't have any more excited to talk to you all about the Grammys today. I got to go last night with YouTube. It was the most insane thing ever. We got to walk on the cart and take pictures. I did the freaking glam bot. We got to be in a little sweetie with all of us the whole time. It was amazing. Thank you so much to YouTube if they're watching us. Oh my God. I had the time of my life. It was so special. The performances this year were so amazing. I can't wait to talk to you about them. I have many, many thoughts. And thank you guys for watching. That's crazy, man. That is crazy. I can't believe that this is something that I get to do and call work. And you're just making my dreams come true. Honestly, I don't know how to describe it other than that. But thank you every watch, every time you click a video. You are making that possible for me and making people take music journalism seriously and actually want to discuss your artistry and what it means to be a musician. So thank you. You guys are really like changing my life. So we're going to start with my favorite category. Of course, best new artist. I called Olivia Dean. Okay. We got to know. I think she could literally win album of the year next year, which I'm not sure if somebody has won best new artists and then album of the year the year after, but technically the art of loving counts in the album cycle for next year. So like, we could enter the year of Olivia Dean, which is so crazy. And her performance, God, she just has the most magnetic aura of any human being I've ever seen. Like the way she smiles and she moves her arms, like you can just tell she is living her dream, man. It is beautiful. And her speech was so flawless. It was concise. It was political. It touched on what it meant to her and also her experience of being a granddaughter of an immigrant is just so beautiful and meant so much to me. I also love that they did the best new artist. Medley again, I think that is so much fun. And I think it's really important to give sort of the new artists a moment on stage. You know, for a lot of people, this is the first time they're really experiencing a lot of them. You know what I mean? Like we know Gaga and Kendrick and Bad Bunny. Like the world knows them by now, you know? So I love that there's really like this very focused intention to say like, hey, these are the people who just amazed us this year and they are the next generation of stars. And giving them each their own moment was so beautiful, but there was some really big standouts for me. Lola Young's performance had my jaw on the floor. I think the smartest thing she could do was exactly with just the piano in her voice. Like she, her vocal talent is unreal. And when there's so much going on, you're in a medley with seven other people. I think minimalism was such a great strategy, right? Just her and a piano. Like this is all I need, just me and my vocals and this slow rendition of messy. Oh my god. Oh my, I need her to relational and streaming. Please put that on Spotify. It was so stunning. Her vocals are like even better life. It is outrageous. She is going to go down. I think it's one of the greatest vocalists of this generation. I love that Sombra did 12 to 12. I think that is his best song. And it really shows the range of him as both a songwriter and producer. I think it shows that there's like so much more in him as an artist, right? Like back to friends and undressed is like him and his sad boy email era. But after this performance, I'm like, oh, you could do an entire disco album. And it would be amazing. I would eat that up. I love that he dresses like his songs all the time, like him being this giant disco ball and a custom italics. Oh my god. It was amazing, right? Like that is 12 to 12 manifested into an outfit. And that's what agrarian looks should be to me. And also I love that he's like trying to dance again. Boys do not do choreography anymore. It blows my mind. And like is Sombra a dancer like Hatsai? No, but like I love that he's doing a little groove. He's shimmying on the stage like we want performance. The girls look at what Sabrina is doing. Look at which like all of these artists are doing what Addison did. Like I want to see boys trying that hard. And I think him really like starting to be like, you know, just doing a little thing is is amazing. Like I want to see more men going for it in that way. And I think he should like literally take damn classes. It would be so cool and would improve his stage presence so much. The transition of Addison Ray to gnarly gagged me. Oh my God, that I've never felt so gay in my life. I could feel the home of coursing through my face. It was so good. Like I could have take drink a bottle of poppers like it was a bottle of water. Like it was so good. I if you are not getting gnarly at Coachella for cats. I'd tell you, get out of my way, okay, if you're not barricading for Addison, get out of the way, girl. Like this is the energy I'm bringing. You got to shake some ass. Okay, I want to see you bust in moves. We are doing it. We got to make music fun. Okay. And I also felt so bad for Alex Warren. Like you could tell that his inner piece was genuinely out of sync. And what a terrifying thing. Like it's your first ever Grammys. You're performing live on TV. You're floating in the air. Like that is sucks and I'm sure he felt so nervous and embarrassed about it. But it's not come across that way at all. Like I was an objective viewer was like I could tell what was happening. I could tell he was trying so hard to like do his best given the circumstances. So I really was like he did great. You know, like I he should not feel bad at all. It was so amazing that he like pushed through that. And I really it made me have a lot of respect for him. Next let's talk about Song of the Year Wildflower 1 song of the year. I've been saying this that album was too good to never win a Grammy. They had to write their wrongs and they knew it. Okay, like birds of a feather is already like has 3 billion streams in a year. Like that it is a generational album. It is Billy's best work. The songwriting in Wildflower is so stunning the way it explores the past relationship and her own wrongdoing and their wrongdoing and just how that made her feel. It is so vulnerable. It is so raw. The vocal performance in that is like literally some of the best. I think of her entire career. And something that this Grammy's really proved to me is that they don't really care about the rules that much. Like technically Wildflower came out last year. But then because it wasn't packaged as a single until this year, they allowed it. And then Olivia Dean winning best new artist is like again technically her album came out after the cutoff but man I need and nice to each other. The singles were before the cutoff. So like technically those should have been the only songs she was graded on. But I think Grammy's really just goes off vibes a lot of the time. Like Olivia Dean has so much of like the aura and it's just like on a rocket ship right now, right? To where she felt like the best new artist. And I think and a really interesting contrast was to Sombra, right? Because Sombra I think rushed the album. I believe he released it like the week or so before the cutoff day and it was only 10 songs. So like that was a strategic decision by them because they thought oh like he can't really submit for best new artist. Or he's not going to get best new artist if he doesn't have an album out. And Olivia Dean did the opposite where she waited until after and I think had a really really amazing cohesive album. And it ended up they didn't care, you know. Again same thing with like Billy and Wildflower winning song of the year. Like they just are like this is such an amazing song is written so well that like it felt crazy for it not to win anything, you know. I will say I kind of I would have loved if a lot of these other ones I was shocked APT didn't get either of the awards. So that song is huge. It is insane to me. And it's such a cool like fun cheeky cultural reference. I think it's so well written, you know, like the idea of the game APT but then also saying like apartment like come to my apartment. You know it's just such a clever pop song. I love that Bruno and Rosé is such a good combination. I would have loved that song like one song of the year or record of the year. But again wildflower I'm not complaining you guys know Billy is my girl record of the year was kind of a surprise to me. I don't know they love Kendrick and Kendrick is amazing. I mean him winning record of the year back to back years is pretty insane. I think I saw something that he is now the most Grammy winning rapper of all time which is so deserved. I think he is the great will debatably go down as the greatest rappers ever lived at this point which is insane. And he's had such a dominant two years both like commercially culturally it was amazing. So I was happy with that. I will say like there were so many great songs on this list. I think Abercadabra has to be the best performed song of the entire year to me. Like it's she's in a three story cage what she did at Coachella the VMAs. Like it's just insane. Gaga is constructing movies and entire like theatrical productions at this point just for one song. So I'd have loved that one also. Even the subway I think was like a would have been a wildcard anxiety would have been a wildcard pick but I got I love both of those songs. DTMF also would have been awesome but that went out one of the air so like I'm not upset about it. I'm not getting record. Then I want to talk about some of the interesting performances as well as some of like the other categories that I found interesting wins. Sorry with Justin Bieber performing naked. I actually think that there was a lot of hidden symbolism to this. Swag is meant to be it's his first album he has ever done without Scooter Braun. It is the most raw like this is just Justin. I think that is why all the music videos are in black and white. I think that's why the album cover was black. He has been in the machine of this music industry since he was like 11 and it has taken until literally this year for him to get out of that. So I think that the the purpose of the performance was to show like this is me in my most vulnerable state as an artist I have never even been in this at this level in the setting before and I think that's why there was no band there was no clothes there was no nothing right it was just Justin and that was the point of the performance it's the point of the entire album I believe it is raw it is vulnerable it's his first album as a father I believe like it's it was just I think really really poetic actually I think people just thought like oh my god a hot which yes but there was I think actually like a lot of intention and symbolism in that performance for best pop duo or group performance I have a hot take I think the original defiant gravity is better than the Ariana Grande and Cynthia version you can come from me you can disagree with me I know that is a very hot take for a lot of people and maybe it's just the solcha for me honestly and and that's what it is but I would have loved if you know I think golden by came up from came up demon hunters should have won that as well honestly like that it is literally the most dreamed movie in Netflix history and it's K-pop demon hunters like there's no way it's not a franchise not a part of it like nobody would have known it was such a cultural phenomenon it was such an amazing thing so for I think the genre of K-pop to have this really great mainstream moment with young people is so cool it I think is something that will be talked about and strategize and every movie company is trying to think about how do we get our own version of that now and I would have loved if I had won this honestly so I'll take divine gravity because you know I I love wicked we know this I love our in a grand day I love them like like I think I would have wanted K-pop demon hunters more honestly then sinners winning best soundtrack over wicked was shocking to me but I am so happy sinners soundtrack is one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen it is so integral to the storytelling of that movie and I love that music is actually like a very deep theme of the movie it is this window into the culture of the time it is touching on how all of these genres like country and jazz and bluegrass were completely derivative from black artists from slaves or freed slaves at that time and then it was you know propagated and commercialized and sort of taken away from those communities are just not given the same level of ownership and that like it's it's just beautiful I love that sinners was a completely original film right it's not IP it's not a book it's not like it's nothing it's just sinners and compared to something like wicked which has all of this institutional backing has been on Broadway has like we've all known about wicked right I love that sinners one I hope sinners win some some Oscars I wanted to invest picture of my being honest with you so fingers crossed this is a good start and last we got to talk about album of the year bad bunny winning album of the year was so deserved that music is just it gives me chills like it is such a window into Puerto Rican culture what it was like growing up there how he has this so much love in nostalgia for his childhood and missing these moments that meant so much to him and as he grows in his career and becomes his massive worldwide artist he's so intentional about remaining in touch with his culture about using his platform to make people understand what it means to be Puerto Rican and that I think is just so freaking beautiful I I love that he is even he dresses very gender fluidly he you know what I mean like I think bad bunny is just such a great role model and it makes me so happy that he won and especially in this time with all the things that happen with Trump and then he's about to do the Super Bowl oh baby oh baby it's gonna be a crazy year it is going to be like I think Super Bowl is on like in a week or two I cannot wait it's going to be like one of the most talked about performances of all time I hope he like breaks the record for the most amount of views in this Super Bowl because that will piss off I will say like one of the things that really I think sort of snubs that surprised me the most was Gaga not winning any of the big four I felt like this album was amazing she broke the record for the largest set of a female artist in history when she performed in Brazil her Coachella set was like culture breaking generational performance uh abracadabra's performances but then the music everything like it's just it was such an amazing album I think it showed her range as an artist incredibly die with a smile I believe is the biggest song of the past two years and that is on this album technically even though it came out last year it just shocked me you know when I really think she wanted it but also I think like again like out with this was bad bunny's yerks relate to me it was absolutely amazing and I'm so happy because he's also never one album the year he's also the first Spanish-speaking album to win out of the year and that was it just so important for the culture now again that's not saying that I talk about how like the Grammys in music is this time capsule in window into culture like it is because of things like this moments like this right it is a reflection of what is going on in the world and people are so excited to celebrate land culture and want to upload uplift these artists because they are being persecuted at a larger scale and and the debaterly the larger scale in American history right now right and that is really terrifying but again it's these moments that make makes optimistic that more people are waking up than we think they are and that this is you know just an amazing thing and I can't wait to see what the rest of the year holds you know it this is going to be I think a really crazy music but yeah that was my Grammy recap let me know if there's anything that I didn't talk about that you wanted me to I'll try to respond to some comments and thank you so much for watching then and I got to go to the Grammys like what what um yeah I love you don't forget to subscribe to the channel we got some good things coming up and I'll see y'all soon bye