Rapper's Point: Hip-hop stars became Grammy winners

Kendrick Lamar's record, Lady Gaga with a basket on her head and Justin Bieber in his underpants. The 68th Grammy Awards Ceremony was held almost without scandals, except for the checkmate from the stage in Billie Eilish's speech, but the fight against Donald Trump's immigration policy became the leitmotif in the behavior of the stars and in the distribution of prizes. The Spanish-language album DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS by Puerto Rican rapper Bad Bunny was recognized as the album of the year. The US president has already taken offense, but not at the musical choice, but at jokes about Greenland and Epstein, promising to sue host Trevor Noah. Details can be found in the Izvestia article.

Gibberish and a head in a basket

The results of the Grammy Awards are something of a barometer for the mainstream music industry. Although the Recording Academy has its favorites, overall the vote pretty accurately reflects "where the wind is blowing." So this year, from the very list of nominees, it was possible to understand that the year turned out to be, in general, not the brightest. There was no obvious favorite whose songs would be on everyone's lips.

It is worth mentioning here that only recordings released before the end of August can qualify for the award, respectively, Taylor Swift's autumn The Life of a Showgirl will be included in the next season. As well as the recent Don't Be Dumb by rapper A$AP Rocky. But The Weeknd's Hurry Up Tomorrow was deliberately ignored: some time ago, a black cat ran between the academy and the singer. As you can see, the conflict has not been resolved yet. Let's add here the absence of new products by Beyonce, Drake, Olivia Rodrigo — the favorites of recent years.

As a result, the set turned out to be so pale that Billy Eilish's Mindflower from the Hit Me Hard and Soft CD the year before last had to be recognized as the song of the year: a melancholic composition with guitar accompaniment, released as a single more than six months after the longplay itself, certainly does not look like a super hit, but — here, as they say, "on fishless ...". The only strong competitor is Lady Gaga's Abracadabra, which returned after a long hiatus, but they preferred to mark her track as the best pop—dance record. And the Mayhem record itself became the pop vocal album of the year.

For Gaga, this is more of a failure than the other way around: the singer was represented in all the main categories (song of the year, album of the year and record of the year), but received only two minor statuettes. However, her performance at the Grammy 2026 turned out to be perhaps the most striking musical number. She sang her "Abracadabra" in an unexpected rock treatment and a signature eccentric outfit with a headdress resembling either a wicker basket or a lampshade.

The Grammys as Greenland

Billie Eilish's appearance on stage was also memorable, but not with music, but with a speech against the ICE immigration police, which tightened the fight against illegal immigrants under Trump. The singer spoke about this with all directness. "No one is illegal on stolen land!" And she added a strong word, which, of course, was stammered. She was supported by many stars who came to the ceremony wearing badges against ICE. But the most eloquent thing was not even this ostentatious activism, but the decision to name the Puerto Rican's work Bad Bunny y as the album of the year.

It's not the first time he's won a Grammy, and he's got even more nominations, but it's the first time he's won a statuette in the main category. This is all the more remarkable because all the songs in DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS are in Spanish. Of course, when receiving the prize, Bad Bunny also spoke out against ICE. It seems that this was the idea of the academy, since the record does not represent anything outstanding from a purely musical point of view. Signature reggaeton mixed with some other Latin American styles. Cute, but standard. It is reckless to claim that the CD has attracted more attention in the past year than Lady Gaga's Mayhem or Sabrina Carpenter's Man's Best Friend. But the political front for the Grammys (as well as for the Oscars) is sometimes more important than creativity as such.

Trump personally got hurt at the ceremony. Host Trevor Noah drew attention to the absence of Nicki Minaj in the audience, who recently declared herself a fan of the president and met with him at the White House. According to Noah, he argued with her, who has more of a fifth point. And presenting the Grammy to Billie Eilish, he compared the much-coveted award to Greenland: "Epstein Island is no more, so Trump needs a new one to hang out with Bill Clinton." The American leader reacted promptly and in his trademark emotional style on his Truth Social network, threatening to sue and saying that it was impossible to watch the Grammys, and Trevor was "poor, pathetic, incompetent, stupid."

Open to the world

But politics is politics, and nudity is on schedule. This year, the traditional function of Bianca Censori was performed by singer Chappelle Roan, who came in a dress that exposed her breasts and held onto pierced nipples (fortunately, false ones). Only Justin Bieber's look could compete with this outfit in terms of the degree of cuteness: he performed the Yukon number from his recent album in only boxer shorts, showing the public a new tattoo on his back — a portrait of his wife Haley.

By the way, Bieber can be called the main loser of the ceremony.: He did not win any prizes in any of the four nominations. And the luckiest one turned out to be Kendrick Lamar. Not only did he take away five statuettes, including the "Record of the Year" (for the song Luther — duet with SZA), but he also broke the record of Jay Z, becoming the owner of the largest number of Grammy Awards among rappers: 27 gramophones. In general, this is definitely not the year of pop music. Except in the sense of the host's joke about Nicki Minaj.