{"id":317570,"date":"2026-02-03T06:03:07","date_gmt":"2026-02-03T06:03:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/317570\/"},"modified":"2026-02-03T06:03:07","modified_gmt":"2026-02-03T06:03:07","slug":"secrets-of-the-2026-grammys-justin-bieber-lady-gaga","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/317570\/","title":{"rendered":"Secrets of the 2026 Grammys: Justin Bieber, Lady Gaga"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tWhen Cher<\/a> created some memorable live-TV chaos by forgetting to present Record of the Year at the 68th annual Grammy Awards Sunday night, executive producer Ben Winston immediately spoke into host Trevor Noah<\/a>\u2018s earpiece. \u200a\u201dYou\u2019ve just gotta get up and bring her back,\u201d Winston recalls telling Noah, who grabbed a microphone and explained the situation. Cher made her way back to the stage, only to announce the winner as Luther Vandross, who died in 2005. \u201cI \u200apromise you, we had briefed her, and I promise you, what she had to do was in the prompter,\u201d says Winston, who enjoyed the mess. \u201cIf I could go back in time, I\u2019d want that to happen again. She\u2019s happy with it. She had a great time. You want a bit of anarchy.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tIn the new episode of Rolling Stone Music Now, Winston goes deep on the making of this year\u2019s jam-packed Grammy Awards and its many superstar performances. To hear the entire podcast episode, listen on Apple Podcasts<\/a> or Spotify<\/a>, or just press play above. Some highlights follow:<\/p>\n

\n\tJustin Bieber<\/a> didn\u2019t need much time to rehearse his performance.<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0Each Grammy performer gets 90 minutes of rehearsals, but Bieber was happy with his self-looped performance of \u201cYukon\u201d after a single run-through .\u201dHe \u200acame to the stage, he did it once,\u201d says Winston. \u201cIt was brilliant. We are seven minutes into his hour and a half rehearsal. And he goes, \u2018How\u2019d it look to you? You happy with it?\u2019 And I was like, \u2018Oh, my God. It looked beautiful. I loved it.\u2019 And he went, \u2018Okay, fantastic. See you Sunday!’\u201d Bieber started to leave; Winston asked him to do it once more so the camera operators could at least learn the song. He obliged, and that was it \u2014 15 minutes total. Biebs\u2019 shirtless look wasn\u2019t necessarily planned out, Winston adds: \u201cI don\u2019t think he decided what the outfit would be until he walked on stage.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\tEditor\u2019s picks<\/p>\n

\n\tLady Gaga<\/a> flew in from Japan the morning before the show, which left no time to rehearse with dancers <\/strong>\u2014\u00a0 a situation that inspired the show\u2019s minimalist, band-focused performance<\/strong>, with a hard-hitting rearrangement of \u201cAbracadabra\u201d from producer Andrew Watt<\/a>. <\/strong>\u201cIf she\u2019d been in L.A. it would\u2019ve been a hundred dancers and this big thing,\u201d Winston says. \u201cBut actually it drove this creative that was so amazing. \u200aThere was one point a few weeks before the show that we thought we might have to lose her from the show, \u2019cause she just was like, \u2018I just don\u2019t see how I can.\u2019 So it was amazing that not only did she do it, but I think she brought one of the most iconic performances. I think she was really proud of that performance because it was so from her and her team\u2019s genius mind.\u201d Her under-mask close-ups were captured with a camera on a robotic arm, which may have been a first for an awards show.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe show\u2019s producers decided to embrace the fact that Bad Bunny couldn\u2019t perform.<\/strong>\u00a0The NFL\u2019s exclusivity window meant Bad Bunny was barred from performing within weeks of his halftime show. Winston\u2019s solution: own it. \u201cTrevor and I were on a FaceTime a few weeks ago and we were sort of one-upping each other with ideas,\u201d he says. They landed on having Noah goad Bad Bunny from the floor while a marching band played his music around him. \u201cMaybe he did break his contract,\u201d Winston jokes. \u201cBut who cares? It was great fun.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tBruno Mars rearranged \u201cAPT\u201d days before the show<\/strong>. The opening number was originally planned as the studio version of the Ros\u00e9 collaboration, but when Winston sat with Mars and his band the Hooligans during rehearsals, Mars played him a new arrangement. \u201cHe was like, \u2018If it\u2019s a Grammy\u2019s open, I don\u2019t think we should go like the pop version. I think it should have a bit more aggression, a bit more energy.’\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tSabrina Carpenter\u2019s live bird was a last-minute addition.<\/strong>\u00a0The dove wasn\u2019t part of Friday\u2019s rehearsal. \u201cEric Cook, who\u2019s our amazing co-EP, came to me and said, \u2018How would you feel about a request from Sabrina Carpenter\u2019s team that she\u2019d like to add a live bird to the performance?’\u201d Winston recalls. \u201cAt that stage, when you\u2019re dealing with everything\u2026 you\u2019re just a bit like, \u2018Sure. Add it.’\u201d<\/p>\n

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\n\tLauryn Hill took charge of her In Memoriam tribute<\/strong>. The 11-minute performance honoring D\u2019Angelo and Roberta Flack<\/a> was far more ambitious than originally planned\u00a0\u2014Winston had imagined Hill simply playing her D\u2019Angelo collaboration \u201cNothing Even Matters\u201d into \u201cKilling Me Softly.\u201d \u201cThe original ask was four, four and a half minutes,\u201d Winston says. \u201cShe came back with, \u2018I\u2019ll do it, but I want to pay real tribute to these two icons.’\u201d Hill reached out to the performers, organized the arrangements, and insisted on a poignant shot of D\u2019Angelo\u2019s abandoned keyboard. She also was \u201cgenuinely early, every time.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe Best New Artist medley went from five performers last year to eight this year \u2014 and Winston isn\u2019t eager to do it again.<\/strong>\u00a0The show\u2019s most technically demanding sequence featured all eight Best New Artist nominees performing back-to-back, moving throughout the arena with no breaks. \u201cI think we\u2019ve got away with it technically \u2014 I\u2019m not convinced we can do it again,\u201d says Winston, who is thinking of breaking the medley into two segments next year. \u201cWe are an inch away from it not working. Maybe it\u2019s not worth taking the risk.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tWinston says artists weren\u2019t discouraged from talking about politics in their speeches. <\/strong> \u201cThese are beautiful, creative people who feel things,\u201d Winston says. \u201cTheir job is to feel things and make you feel something. It would be odd if they went up on stage and said, \u2018I wanna thank the sound engineer, I wanna thank my publicist\u2026 Of course they\u2019re gonna have something to say. That\u2019s why they\u2019re artists.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tWinston literally shrugged when asked about Donald Trump\u2019s threat to sue Trevor Noah.<\/strong>\u00a0Noah joked during the broadcast that Trump wants Greenland because he misses Epstein Island, prompting the president to call the show \u201cvirtually unwatchable\u201d and threaten legal action on the basis that he never visited the island. \u201cI dunno,\u201d Winston says.<\/p>\n

\t\tTrending Stories<\/p>\n

\n\tWinston says finding a new host will be difficult \u2014 and he\u2019s not sure a traditional stand-up comedian would work.<\/strong>\u00a0Trevor Noah is departing after six years, and Winston is uncertain about the path forward. \u201cIt\u2019s really hard in that room to play comedy \u2014\u00a0 it\u2019s an arena,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Harry Styles didn\u2019t know about the \u201cWhere\u2019s My Husband\u201d meme until Winston told him about it.<\/strong>\u00a0When Styles came out to present Album of the Year, Raye\u2019s \u201cWhere\u2019s My Husband\u201d played \u2014 a nod to the way fans have been using the song over clips of Styles. \u201cIt was going really viral a couple of weeks ago,\u201d Winston says. \u201cI sent him a few of the videos and we had a laugh about it.\u201d <\/p>\n

\n\tDownload and subscribe to\u00a0Rolling Stone\u2018s weekly podcast, Rolling Stone Music Now, hosted by Brian Hiatt, on <\/a>Apple Podcasts<\/a> or <\/a>Spotify<\/a>. Check out nine years\u2019 worth of episodes in the archive, including in-depth interviews with artists including Mariah Carey, Bruce Springsteen, Questlove, Halsey, Missy Elliott, Dua Lipa, Neil Young, Snoop Dogg, Brandi Carlile, Phoebe Bridgers, Yungblud, Rick Ross, Alicia Keys, the National, Brian May, Roger Taylor, Ice Cube, Taylor Hawkins, Willow, Keith Richards, Robert Plant, Killer Mike, Julian Casablancas, Sheryl Crow, Johnny Marr, Scott Weiland, Liam Gallagher, Alice Cooper, Fleetwood Mac, Elvis Costello, John Legend, Donald Fagen, Charlie Puth, Phil Collins, Justin Townes Earle, Stephen Malkmus, Sebastian Bach, Tom Petty, Eddie Van Halen, Kelly Clarkson, Pete Townshend, Bob Seger, the Zombies, and Gary Clark Jr. And look for dozens of episodes featuring genre-spanning discussions, debates, and explainers with Rolling Stone\u2019s critics and reporters.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When Cher created some memorable live-TV chaos by forgetting to present Record of the Year at the 68th…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":317571,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[264],"tags":[106930,50933,27912,18,117,19,17,741,26293,337,100756,101475],"class_list":{"0":"post-317570","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-music","8":"tag-2026-grammy-awards","9":"tag-andrew-watt","10":"tag-cher","11":"tag-eire","12":"tag-entertainment","13":"tag-ie","14":"tag-ireland","15":"tag-justin-bieber","16":"tag-lady-gaga","17":"tag-music","18":"tag-roberta-flack","19":"tag-trevor-noah"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/116005188666065319","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/317570","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=317570"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/317570\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/317571"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=317570"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=317570"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=317570"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}