K-pop & Yungblud mark first win, Steven Spielberg achieves EGOT status at 2026 Grammy Awards

The 68th annual Grammy Awards are taking place Sunday and spirits were high from the jump after a few backtoback history making moments The Dalai Lama won his first Grammy for audio book narration and storytelling recording beating out Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson You ready that correctlyI am not the Dalai Lama Rufus Wainwright joked in an acceptance speech It was a privilege to participate on this projectGolden from KPop Demon Hunters won song written for visual media at the Premiere Ceremony marking the first time a Kpop act has won a Grammy Songwriters delivered their acceptance speech in both English and Korean highlighting the songs bilingual appealMusic 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 OscarThe Premiere Ceremony a pretelecast show held at the adjacent Peacock Theater began with musician and host Darren Criss setting the scene giving out the first award of the day for best popduo group performance to Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande for Defying Gravity They were not present to accept the awardAn impressive 86 Grammys will be handed out prebroadcast Yungblud won his first Grammy for rock performance for his cover of Black Sabbaths Changes live from Villa Park which he performed at Ozzy Osbournes final show Hardcore band Turnstile also won their first Grammy for rock album and later metal performanceTo Baltimore thank you we love you said frontman Brendan Yates The Cure won alternative music performance but were unable to attend as they were attending the funeral of Perry Archangelo Bamonte the Cures longtime guitarist and keyboardist who died last monthFKA twigs won her first Grammy for best danceelectronic album for EUSEXUA becoming only the second Black woman to win in the category I didnt expect to come up here I was just so happy to be nominated she said in her speech Thank you so much wowAll 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 Lamars TV OffEarlier on Edgar Barrera handed out some of the Latin music categories Natalia Lafourcade won best Latin pop album for Cancioner best Latin Rock or Alternative album to CA7RIEL amp 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 Musica Mexicana album including Tejano went to Carin Leon for Palabra De Tos Seca It is his second win on his second nominationIt is a dramatically different tone than last year The 2025 award show was completely reimagined and refocused to relief efforts following the devastating Los Angelesarea wildfires In 2026 the focus has been placed once again on the music where Kendrick Lamar Lady Gaga Bad Bunny and more will go headtohead during the televised ceremonyThe energy was high from minute one at the Premiere Ceremony Earth Wind amp Fire gave a groovy opening performance of Shining Star with some help from Israel Houghton Lila Ike Grace Potter Maggie Rose and Trombone ShortyThats how you start a show Recording Academy CEO and President Harvey Mason jr said in his opening remarks Thats a statement Thats joy Thats resilienceThere were many other performances as well Zara Larsson brought her Swedish pop Midnight Sun followed by Spiritboxs metallic Soft Spine Tasha Cobbs Leonards Church and Criss and Helen J Shens Never Fly AwayFollowing the Premiere Ceremony comedian Trevor Noah will host the main show for a sixth and final year and history could be made when some of the biggest names in music gather Heres some key things to know ahead of Sundays show at the Cryptocom ArenaArtists speak out Trump administrations immigration crackdownsAt the Premiere Ceremony artists offered proimmigration and antiICE messagingCountry duogroup performance went to firsttime 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 momImmigrants built this country literally actually So this for them he concluded Thank you for bring your culture your music and your storiesAmy Allen won songwriter of the year nonclassical for a second year in a row and wore an ICE Out pin an antiimmigration enforcement message So did Kehlani who won her first Grammy for RampB performance and later her second for RampB songIve 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 ICEIm scared Gloria Estefan said of the current political moment backstage at the Grammys There are hundreds of children in detention centers acirciquestbrvbar I dont recognize my country in this moment right nowWhos nominated at the 2025 GrammysKendrick Lamar leads the 2026 Grammy Award nominations with nine Lady Gaga Jack Antonoff and Canadian record producersongwriter Cirkut follow with seven nominations eachSabrina 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 eachThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever