Oscar People at the Grammys - How'd They Fare?
Monday, February 2, 2026 at 8:50PM by Nathaniel R
A Golden Globe reunion at the Grammys: Teyana Taylor and Nikki Glaser
Did you watch the Grammy Awards last night? We did. Though it was no match for last year’s pop diva ecstasy –it’s tough to beat a year in which Charli XCX, Chappell Roan, and Doecii all provided jawdropping performances – it still had a few noteworthy moments. Lady Gaga is, of course, always an event; it was a hoot to see Cher be both very present and absent-minded simultaneous, giving an excellent ups-and-downs of showbiz speech before wandering off without presenting her award. In fact Cher was so memorable in her goofiness around the envelopes that it was almost giving Elizabeth Taylor's "GLADIATOR!" and I love any of you who remember that.; Host Trevor Noah made the most out of Bad Bunny’s contractual obligation to NOT perform (due to the upcoming Superbowl) anything despite winning Album of the Year; and Lola Young (who I would have voted for her in heartbeat in Best New Artist) was “Messy” in the happiest imaginable way. But for today’s post let’s look at how the various Oscar nominees fared during the Music Industry’s big night…
Ludwig Goransson, who will surely win another Oscar (possibly two) in March was awarded Best Compilation Soundtrack for Visual Media and Best Score Soundtrack Album for Visual Media for his songs and score to Sinners. Yes this mean Timothée Chalamet didn’t become an Grammy winner for A Complete Unknown (he was up for the Compilation prize as the main show from that song score). Due to different eligibility periods and tastes Ludwig was not up against any current Oscar nominees for Score though he did beat KPop Demon Hunters in the compilation category.
Teyana Taylor, who was looking like perfection in a barely there dress and nerdy glasses, got shout-outs on stage for her soon-to-probably-be Oscar-winning work in One Battle After Another but she lost at the Grammys for her R&B album “Escape Room” to Leon Thomas's "Mutt".
Speaking of Oscar winning actresses, Jennifer Hudson and Barbra Streisand were both up for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album for “The Gift of Love” and “The Secret of Life: Partners 2”, respectively, but lost to Laufey’s excellent album “A Matter of Time”.
Iconic filmmaker Steven Spielberg added his first Grammy to his already overburdened shelves of prizes turning him into and EGOT winner. His massive collection which stretches from the early 1970s through last night features numerous festival, critics orgs, and honorary lifetime achievement style prizes, as well as 9 PGAs, 7 David Di Donatello Awards, 7 Daytime Emmys, 6 Saturn Awards, 4 Golden Globes, 4 Primetime Emmys, 3 Hugo Awards, 3 BAFTAs, 2 ShoWest Awards, 3 Oscars, 3 DGA prizes, 3 NBRs, 2 Cinema for Peace prizes, 2 ACE awards, 2 Czech Lions, an NAACP Award, an Amanda Award, one People's Choice, one Kennedy Center Honor (*cries*), one International Emmy, an Honorary César, 1 Tony Award, and now a brand spankin’ new Grammy for producing “Music by John Williams” which won Best Music Film. This was his first Grammy nomination. The nominees in that category were:
BEST MUSIC FILM
-
Devo - Devo
-
Live at Royal Albert Hall - Raye
-
★ Music by John Williams - John Williams
-
Relentless - Diane Warren
-
Piece by Piece - Pharrell williams
Grammys are often “shared” wins so this means that other Oscar regulars that Spielberg works with like Brian Grazer, Ron Howard, Kathleen Kennedy, and Frank Marshall are also Grammy winners now, too, though some of them already were (like Grazer & Howard who won this same category about a decade ago for their Beatles film).
Yes this means that former Oscar nominees Pharrell Williams and Diane Warren lost for the music films that were about them. But they are previous Grammy winners so they’re fine. Pharrell had multiple nods this year so he took home his 14th Grammy for his work with the rap duo Clips. For the record, Warren the dread perpetual Oscar-slot usurper won her single Grammy for “Because You Loved Me” the theme song from the bad Michelle Pfeiffer movie Up Close and Personal (1996). That was only her second Oscar nomination. While Warren has the same number of Grammy and Oscar nominations the Grammys have been far more selective about what they’ll nominate her for, sometimes going years inbetween nominations! But they also have a ton more music categories than Oscar (naturally) so sometimes she’ll get multiple nominations for the same song. Still that’s preferfable to what the Oscars do which is to force her upon us every damn year no matter how strong the composers they have to ignore to include her happen to be that year.
Speaking of… Oscar winning composers Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross (of Nine Inch Nails and The Social Network fame) who were shut out at the Oscars for their Tron Ares song “As Alive As You Need Me To Be” won “Best Rock Song” for that same tune.
Wicked star and two-time Best Actress nominee Cynthia Erivo was already a Grammy winner (Best Musical Theater Album the Color Purple) but last night she won her second Grammy – this time for “Defying Gravity”. That award was her co-star Ariana Grande’s third Grammy win, and second in the Best Pop Duo or Group Performance category. The first time Ariana won that prize was pandemic era hit “Rain on Me” her duet with….
…Lady Gaga. While Gaga didn’t manage to win Album of The Year for her opus “Mayhem” – the top prize continues to allude her – she did take home another two Grammys. She won Pop Vocal Albumas well as Best Dance/Pop Recording for “Abracadabra”.
Oscar winning brother/sister geniuses, Billie Eilish and Finneas won Song of the Year for the third time with “Wildflower”. Their previous wins in the category were for “Bad Guy” and “What Was I Made For” the latter of which also won them the Oscar as the theme song from Barbie (2023).
Oscar winner Jamie Foxx (Ray) was also up for a Grammy last night for his comedy album “What Had Happened Was…” but he lost to Emmy nominee Nate Bargatze for “Your Friend Nate Bargatze”
Finally, though these aren’t Oscar-related, you know we have to mention Broadway peeps.
BEST MUSICAL THEATER ALBUM
-
★ Buena Vista Social Club
-
Death Becomes Her
-
Gypsy
-
Just in Time
-
Maybe Happy Ending
Buena Vista Social Club unsurprisingly took this strong category but sadly that means that some of our most beloved Broadway icons lost including Audra McDonald and Danny Burstein (Gypsy) and Jonathan Groff (Just in Time), and Megan Hilty (Death Becomes Her) among others including Emmy winner Darren Criss (Maybe Happy Ending) and former Destiny’s Child member Michelle Williams (Death Becomes Her) lost. For the record the absolute legend Audra McDonald only has two Grammys, neither of them in this category (She’s won Opera Recording and Classical Album both for the same project, “Weill: Rise and Fall of the city of Mahagonny” which was a recording of one of Kurt Weill and Bertol Brecht’s classic operas) . Audra’s lack of shelves of Grammys clearly signifies to us that the music industry doesn’t care much about Musical Theater. They have infinite variations of “Country” and “Rap” and “Pop” etcetera (they keep splintering the categories to give famous stars yet more opportunities to win) but Musical Theater icons only have this one category to compete in. For what it’s worth the beyond loveable Jonathan Groff does have a Grammy as one of the principal soloists of Hamilton which won this category back in the day. This was his fourth nomination for Musical Theater Album but he only won that very first time up at bat for his wickedly hilarious work as King George in the seismically popular Lin-Manuel Miranda musical.
Cher will outlive us all.
Of course since this was the Grammys a huge swath of the awards we just mentioned were announced off air so we didn't even see half of those celebrities. That's what happens when you have 100+ categories and believe that what people really want is a hodgepodge concert with schizophrenic taste in music genres.
Were any of your favourite artists, albums, or songs up for Grammys this year?
Reader Comments (8)
Lady Gaga deserves all this and heaven too. ❤️
Nathaniel, do you think Ludwig Goransson can win a third Oscar in 7 years? And he's very young, 41 years-old.
John Williams, the legend, has 5 Oscars.
The way these awards define and segment talent is so arbitrary. The Grammys act like a rigorous "shape cropper," defining the boundaries of success, often ignoring niche excellence—like Audra McDonald's lack of wins in Musical Theater Album. It makes Spielberg's EGOT feel even more monumental given the industry politics.
I don't watch music award shows as i'm not interested in any of the singes apsrt from GaGa but I did see Cher's "Luther Gangross" flub so now Travolta's "Adele Dazeem" has some real competition.
"Glaaaaaaadiator!"
I was surprised to be so impressed by (most of) the Best New Artist nominees—I've crossed the threshold where I'm no longer aware of popular music or what young people are listening to.
It wasn't well received afterwards but I personally loved the chaotic AF in memoriam with Lauryn Hill & company.
They did Cher dirty!
What were they thinking? Benson Boone was not nominated in any category?
I absolutely loved the whole Miley Cyrus thing with the neon lights, the sax solos and the giant fans messing with her hair. Pop is alive thanks to her.
Peggy Sue -- i couldn't agree more. Love that whole album. She's so underappreciated!