Kendrick Lamar and SZA pulled off a major upset at the 2026 Grammys, winning Record of the Year for ‘Luther’, their soulful update of Luther Vandross and Cheryl Lynn’s 1982 classic ‘If This World Were Mine’. The track, built on that warm, interlocking vocal sample, beat out a stacked field that included Bad Bunny’s ‘DTMF’, Billie Eilish’s ‘Wildflower’, Chappell Roan’s ‘The Subway’, Doechii’s ‘Anxiety’, Lady Gaga’s ‘Abracadabra’, Rosé and Bruno Mars’ ‘Apt.’, and Sabrina Carpenter’s ‘Manchild’. For Lamar, the win cements back-to-back Record of the Year trophies after last year’s victory with ‘Not Like Us’. He also swept the rap categories tonight: Best Rap Performance, Best Rap Song, and Best Rap Album for GNX. This pushes his career total to 27 Grammys.
The acceptance was pure camaraderie. Lamar and SZA walked up together, flanked by GNX producers Sounwave and Jack Antonoff, plus Kamasi Washington. Cher, presenting the category, had everyone laughing when she flubbed the title as “Luther Grandoss” before fixing it. The song is a restrained, heartfelt flip with no cursing, as requested during sample clearance. Both artists layer their voices over the original’s groove while keeping its romantic core intact.
SZA had five nominations on the night, including Best Pop Duo/Group Performance for her other 2025 Lamar collaboration ‘30 for 30’, which lost to Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande’s ‘Defying Gravity’.
Kendrick Lamar shared: “This is what music is about. Luther Vandross. This is special. I gotta take my time cause it’s one of my favorite artists of all time, and they granted us the privilege to do our version of it. When we got that clearance, I promise you we all damn near dropped a tear, because we know how much young miss Cheryl Lynn poured into that record. And being able to put our vocals on it, it proves that we were somewhat worthy to be just as great as them individuals. They granted us that. They said ‘No cursing though. Can’t curse on it.’ That was our only thing, right? And we said ‘You know what, we’re gonna do just that. No cursing. We’re gonna make sure that this song represents love.’”
SZA added: “I just wanna say thank you to Kendrick for lifting me up. I just am a small part of this record, but what I really wanted to say is please don’t fall into despair. I know that right now is a scary time. I know the algorithms tell us that it’s so scary, and all is lost. There’s been world wars, there’s been plagues, and we have gone on. We can go on. We need each other, we need to trust each other and trust ourselves, trust your heart. We’re not governed by the government, we’re governed by god, and I thank you so much.”
Stream ‘Luther‘:
