Are the Grammys Good Again?
Stunned silence can be a crisis for a live broadcast, especially a historically snoozy one like the Grammys, a show that’s been hemorrhaging viewers year over year. But during Sunday’s ceremony, Bad Bunny’s stoic yet emotive reaction to winning the night’s top honor, Album of the Year—an award that’s never gone to a predominantly Spanish-language album before— reflected the weight of the moment. When Harry Styles read out his name, Bad Bunny stayed in his seat for a while, eyes shut, as the room roared behind him. Heaving sobs built in his chest, rattling his entire body. When he rose nearly thirty seconds later to accept the award for DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS, his face was slick with tears.
At the podium, he took another beat to steady himself, and found the first words of his acceptance speech: “Puerto Rico.” Then he delivered an ode to his home, largely in his native Spanish: “Believe me when I tell you that we are much bigger than 100 x 35,” he said, a nod to the island’s oft-cited dimensions as 100 miles long and 35 miles wide, before going on to thank his collaborators and his mom. “I want to dedicate this award to all the people that had to leave their homeland, their country, to follow their dreams,” he continued. “To all the people who have lost a loved one, and still have had to keep moving forward and continue with much strength, this award is for you.” This followed the more pointed speech he’d given earlier that night, when he accepted the award for Best Música Urbana album by viscerally condemning ICE’s ongoing deportation campaign. “We’re not savage,” he said then. “We’re not animals. We’re not aliens. We are humans, and we are Americans.”
As a ceremony that’s historically valued establishment favorites rather than musicians taking a huge swing with their art, the Grammys have long held a reputation as a fuddy-duddyish victory lap for longtime music veterans; it’s rarely been a venue for searing political statements, or even subtle ones, like the “ICE OUT” pins many an artist wore on Sunday. And while the Grammy stage has seen a few standout moments in recent years—like Doechii’s performances of “Catfish” and “Denial is a River” at the 2025 show—the freewheeling red carpet and inter-audience reaction shots have commanded more attention than the ceremony itself. This being the Grammys, there were still some moments of viral disarray this year, like Cher giving a meandering speech about career derailment and Autotune before announcing the recipient of the Record of the Year award —which went to Kendrick Lamar and SZA, for their song “Luther”—as, incredibly, “Luther Gandross.”
But a surge of energy coursed through this year’s ceremony, with awards that seemed more tapped into the zeitgeist than they have in ages. DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS is an album as galvanizing as it is rump-shaking, entirely deserving of the Grammys’ top prize. Lady Gaga’s conceptual banger Mayhem, FKA Twigs’ adventurous Eusexua, and GNX, the barnburning Kendrick Lamar album, all snapped up awards. The Best Metal Performance award went to a hardcore band—Turnstile, who took home two prizes after grinding for over a decade—and Best Alternative Album went to The Cure for their ripping Songs of a Lost World.
An ongoing expansion of the institution’s voting body—which began in 2019, following much criticism of the Grammys’ old, white, and male voting base—undoubtedly played a role in this vibe shift. As of 2024, 66% of the Recording Academy’s 13,000 voting members had joined within the previous five years. As the Associated Press reported, the Academy welcomed 3,800 new members in 2025, including all voting members of the Latin Recording Academy. A plurality of those new members are people of color; half are under the age of 40.
