The 68th Annual Grammy Awards on Sunday delivered a mix of historic firsts and hometown victories — from Bad Bunny becoming the first Spanish-language artist to win Album of the Year to San Diego natives Sara Watkins and Joseph Lorge scoring wins during the Premiere Ceremony. The evening underscored the Grammys’ widening musical scope and a celebration of genres from Latin urban to American roots.
Who won the night
Bad Bunny’s Debí Tirar Más Fotos captured Album of the Year, marking the first time an album primarily in Spanish has earned the top prize. Kendrick Lamar — joined by SZA — took Record of the Year for “luther,” while Lamar also won Best Rap Album for GNX.
Trevor Noah hosted the main telecast in Los Angeles, where many of the biggest categories were reserved for the evening audience. The ceremony followed a Premiere Ceremony earlier in the day, when 86 awards were handed out.
Other major winners
- Best New Artist: Olivia Dean
- Song of the Year: “Wildflower,” Billie Eilish and Finneas
- Best Pop Vocal Album: Lady Gaga, Mayhem
- Best Pop Duo/Group Performance: Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande, “Defying Gravity”
- Best Alternative Album: The Cure, Songs of a Lost World
- Dr. Dre Global Impact Award: Pharrell Williams
San Diego moments: Sara Watkins and Joseph Lorge
Sara Watkins, the Vista-born singer, songwriter and violinist, won two Grammys as part of I’m With Her — Best American Roots Song for “Ancient Lights” and Best Folk Album for Wild And Clear And Blue. Accepting the award for “Ancient Lights,” Watkins exclaimed, “Holy smoke!” and later reflected on the importance of musical community: “What we are seeing here (at the Grammys) is the incredible importance of the community of musicians we belong to.”
Recording engineer Joseph Lorge, a Coronado High School graduate, picked up his first Grammy as a co-winner of Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical for That Wasn’t A Dream, a collaboration credited to Blake Mills and Pino Palladino. Lorge credited his start to local music programs, saying, “I started really getting into music when I was at Coronado High School and the Coronado School of the Arts. I started dabbling in computer technology and (recording) engineering way back then in our school’s music lab.”
Why this matters
Bad Bunny’s Album of the Year win is a cultural milestone for Latin music and highlights the Recording Academy’s broader recognition of non-English-language work. At the same time, wins by artists across roots, folk, jazz, R&B and African music categories point to continuing genre diversity at the Grammys.
Reaction and what’s next
The ceremony generated strong social buzz and industry commentary about representation and the mixing of mainstream pop with niche and regional traditions. Expect artists and labels to spotlight Grammy wins in upcoming tours, reissues and streaming pushes — and for conversations about language and genre at awards shows to continue through the year.
For fans, the immediate takeaways are the new listening suggestions — from Bad Bunny’s album and Kendrick Lamar’s luther to I’m With Her’s award-winning folk record — and the reminder that the Grammys remain a high-profile barometer of what music the industry is celebrating now.