The Grammy Awards are still behind history.

Twenty-six years ago, on the Grammy stage, Mexican-born guitarist Carlos Santana received nine Grammy awards for his album Supernatural, including the top award for Album of the Year.

Bad Bunny winning a Grammy in 2026 was a surprise to music lovers - Photo: The Times

At that time, Santana – over 50 years old and once considered past his prime – in his acceptance speech mentioned that " music is created and shaped to promote unity and harmony."

Supernatural's victory that day was considered historic. Now, with Bad Bunny's album Debí Tirar Más Fotos winning Album of the Year at the 2026 Grammys, history is making a comeback. And even more so.

No English required.

Supernatural is an album that's half English, half Spanish. Moreover, its most important element is... non-verbal: the guitar. The guitar is the conductor, the leader. When Santana "battles" guitar with Eric Clapton on that album, the music transcends the boundaries of ordinary language.

Going back in time, in 1965 the Grammys also honored a Brazilian artist, João Gilberto, with his jazz masterpiece Getz/Gilberto. In that album, Gilberto was also a guitarist, collaborating with Stan Getz, an American saxophone player.

Meanwhile, Debí Tirar Más Fotos is a completely Latino album. Bad Bunny is a rapper. The most important thing about rap isn't the instruments, but the language.

And he composes entirely in Spanish. His victory is significant because it shows that you don't need a "cross-over," you don't need connections to English to become a global music superstar.

DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS

The 2026 Grammy Awards also marked another first for a K-pop song: "Golden," from the K-pop animated film Demon Hunters, a cultural phenomenon of the year, won in the category of Best Original Song and Media.

Golden is a song performed by three Korean singers. One of them, Ejae, co-wrote it. As soon as Golden was honored, Ejae's story went viral: a trainee who spent 10 years at SM but never appeared in any group, abandoned by the company after his contract expired.

Finally, after so many years of K-pop darlings like BTS and BlackPink going to the Grammys and leaving empty-handed, the first Korean to receive the award is someone who was once "rejected" by K-pop.

Concerns

Of course, on the surface, such award choices are all steps forward for the Grammys. But there are concerns. After all, Latin music has a long-standing place in Western music.

Bad Bunny remains a quintessential Western artist. He was the most streamed artist on Spotify for three consecutive years (2020-2022) and reclaimed that title in 2025 with 20 billion streams, surpassing even Taylor Swift.

But his "territory" remains primarily in the Americas and Europe. His record-breaking tour also doesn't cover the globe; his only stop in Asia in 2026 will be Japan, a country open to world music. However, this will also be his first time touring in Asia.

Meanwhile, Kpop Demon Hunters, although called a K-pop anime, is entirely in English. Golden is an English song. The production team is primarily made up of Korean Americans or Canadians.

One could argue that all K-pop is K-pop, and the success of K-pop Demon Hunters simply shows that K-pop has become so influential that clear boundaries no longer need to be drawn.

But ultimately, this film represents the American entertainment industry more than the Asian entertainment industry.

And who truly represents Asia? Look at Rosé. She had a truly explosive debut with APT., a collaboration with Bruno Mars. In just one year, the song garnered 2.3 billion views on YouTube and another 2.3 billion streams on Spotify.

The "apateu" game in the song became a global phenomenon. The Grammy Awards were also ready to have APT. open this year's ceremony. The entire audience, including international stars, sang along to "apateu, pateu." But in the end, she still didn't win an award.

It's comforting to think that at least she received many nominations. Meanwhile, Gangnam Style, from over a decade ago, a hit of comparable magnitude, was completely rejected. The American Academy at the time viewed Gangnam Style as mere entertainment, a cheap hit that unexpectedly rose to fame thanks to YouTube's algorithm, rather than a turning point for the industry.

The 2026 Grammy Awards made history in their own right, but it seems they've always been behind in the history of music. And we don't need Grammy recognition to "strive for unity and harmony." Music itself has always been that way.

Back to the topic

Hien Trang

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/grammy-van-di-sau-lich-su-20260208101151149.htm