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Kendrick Lamar, Bad Bunny, Lady Gaga Face off at Grammys

Puerto Rican singer Bad Bunny performs during his second show of the "Debi Tirar Mas Fotos" World Tour at Atanasio Girardot Stadium in Medellin, Colombia, 24 January 2026. (EPA)
Puerto Rican singer Bad Bunny performs during his second show of the "Debi Tirar Mas Fotos" World Tour at Atanasio Girardot Stadium in Medellin, Colombia, 24 January 2026. (EPA)
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Kendrick Lamar, Bad Bunny, Lady Gaga Face off at Grammys

Puerto Rican singer Bad Bunny performs during his second show of the "Debi Tirar Mas Fotos" World Tour at Atanasio Girardot Stadium in Medellin, Colombia, 24 January 2026. (EPA)
Puerto Rican singer Bad Bunny performs during his second show of the "Debi Tirar Mas Fotos" World Tour at Atanasio Girardot Stadium in Medellin, Colombia, 24 January 2026. (EPA)

Music's A-listers are set for Sunday's Grammy Awards, the industry's biggest night, with superstars Kendrick Lamar, Bad Bunny and Lady Gaga hoping to make history in Los Angeles.

All three are angling to add to their trophy cabinets by taking home the gala's most coveted award, Album of the Year, for the first time.

Lamar, the Pulitzer Prize-winning rapper, has nine nominations this time around for his album "GNX" -- the most of any artist.

The 38-year-old California native, who won five gramophones last year thanks to his smash diss track "Not Like Us," is also up for Record and Song of the Year for "Luther" featuring R&B artist SZA.

Pop chameleon Lady Gaga and Puerto Rico's Bad Bunny also are competing in all three top categories.

Also nominated for Album of the Year are pop princess Sabrina Carpenter; R&B singer-songwriter Leon Thomas; Tyler, the Creator; hip-hop duo Clipse (Pusha T and Malice); and pop superstar Justin Bieber -- with his first studio effort in four years.

Lady Gaga, Bieber, Carpenter and Bruno Mars are set to lead a starry list of performers that also includes Lauryn Hill and a tribute to late rocker Ozzy Osbourne featuring Post Malone.

- Bad Bunny's hot streak -

Standing in Lamar's way for Album of the Year is Bad Bunny, who is on a world tour in support of his album "Debi Tirar Mas Fotos" (I Should Have Taken More Photos) after a hugely successful residency in San Juan.

"It was a very exciting album," musicologist Lauron Kehrer told AFP.

"It touched on so much in terms of thematic material and musical material," Kehrer said, pointing to the allusions to decolonization and use of traditional Puerto Rican rhythms.

The 31-year-old Latin megastar, born Benito Antonio Martinez Ocasio, will headline the Super Bowl halftime show a week after the Grammys, where he is up for six awards.

His "Un verano sin ti" (2022) was the first Spanish-language album nominated for Album of the Year honors. A win on Sunday would give Bad Bunny another mention in the history books.

Lady Gaga, 39, made a splashy comeback to touring with "Mayhem," her collection of pop bangers with a dark edge that embraces her dramatic side. She has seven nominations.

A win for Album of the Year would complete her hat trick of top awards.

She took Record and Song of the Year honors seven years ago for the soundtrack hit "Shallow," from "A Star is Born" -- which also earned her an Oscar.

This time around, Song of the Year -- which honors songwriting -- is a crowded category that includes Carpenter's "Manchild" and "Golden" from the Netflix animated smash hit "KPop Demon Hunters."

Many pundits believe the energetic K-pop hit will triumph.

Up for best new artist are Alex Warren, girl group Katseye, Britain's Olivia Dean, TikTok dancer-turned-singer Addison Rae, The Marias, sombr, Lola Young and Thomas.

- 'Reactionary' -

For musicologist Kehrer, the infusion of rap, reggaeton and K-pop in the top Grammy categories reflects changes in the composition of the Recording Academy's voting group.

More than 3,800 new members have been admitted. Half of those new members are age 39 or younger, and 58 percent of them are people of color, the academy says.

Invitations were also offered to all members of the Latin Recording Academy.

"The Grammys are more reactionary than anything else," said Kehrer.

"These artists winning those major awards is more of an indication of climate, rather than trying to move or change the climate."

The Grammy Awards will once again be hosted by comedian Trevor Noah.

The main broadcast begins at 5:00 pm (0100 GMT Monday), but many of the 95 awards will be handed out at a pre-gala event.

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Entertainment

Chaka Khan, Cher, Whitney Houston, Fela Kuti Get Grammys Life Achievement Awards

Chaka Khan arrives at the Recording Academy's Special Merit Awards on Saturday, Jan. 31, 2026, at the Wilshire Ebell Theatre in Los Angeles. (AP)
Chaka Khan arrives at the Recording Academy's Special Merit Awards on Saturday, Jan. 31, 2026, at the Wilshire Ebell Theatre in Los Angeles. (AP)
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Chaka Khan, Cher, Whitney Houston, Fela Kuti Get Grammys Life Achievement Awards

Chaka Khan arrives at the Recording Academy's Special Merit Awards on Saturday, Jan. 31, 2026, at the Wilshire Ebell Theatre in Los Angeles. (AP)
Chaka Khan arrives at the Recording Academy's Special Merit Awards on Saturday, Jan. 31, 2026, at the Wilshire Ebell Theatre in Los Angeles. (AP)

Chaka Khan, Cher, Carlos Santana, Paul Simon, Fela Kuti and Whitney Houston received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Recording Academy at the Grammys Special Merit Awards on Saturday night.

“Music has been my prayer, my healing, my joy, my truth,” Khan said as she accepted the award. “Through it, I saved my life.”

She was the only Lifetime Achievement recipient who appeared at the ceremony at the small Wilshire Ebell Theatre in Los Angeles on the eve of Sunday's main Grammys ceremony.

She was preceded by a short documentary on her career that highlighted her hits as a member of the funk band Rufus and as a solo artist, including 1974's Stevie Wonder-written “Tell Me Something Good,” 1983's “Ain't Nobody,” 1978's “I'm Every Woman” and 1984's Prince-penned “I Feel For You.”

Wearing a shimmering sea green gown, she thanked her many collaborators while admitting not all of them were entirely sane.

“Over 50 years I am blessed to walk alongside extraordinary artists, musicians, writers, producers and creatives,” she said, pausing before adding, “and cuckoos.”

Family accepted the Lifetime Achievement Awards for the Nigerian Afrobeat legend Kuti, who died in 1997, and the singing superstar Houston, who died in 2012.

“Her voice — that voice! — remains eternal,” Pat Houston, Whitney's sister-in-law, close friend and longtime manager, said. “Her legacy will live forever.”

Three of his children accepted the award for Kuti, introduced as a “producer, arranger, political radical, outlaw and the father of Afrobeat.” He's the first African musician to get the award.

“Thank you for bringing our father here,” Femi Kuti said. “It’s so important for us, it’s so important for Africa, it’s so important for world peace and the struggle.”

The audience gave a collective moan of disappointment when academy President Harvey Mason Jr. said Cher wasn't there.

She spoke in a very short video.

“The only thing I ever wanted to be was a singer. When I was 4 years old, I used to run around the house naked, singing into a hairbrush,” she said. “Things haven’t changed all that much.”

Santana also spoke on video, after his son, Salvador, accepted his trophy.

“The world is so infected with fear that we need the music and message of Santana to bring hope, courage and joy to heal the world,” Carlos Santana said.

Elton John's longtime lyricist Bernie Taupin paid tribute to Simon, calling him “the greatest American songwriter alive.”

Taupin was there as one of the recipients of the Grammys Trustees Award, which honors career contributions outside of performing.

Despite co-writing the vast majority of John’s hits, Taupin has somehow never won a competitive Grammy, though he’s nominated for one Sunday.

“I’ve been waiting 57 years for one of these,” he said, looking at his honorary trophy.

Taupin read a list of the songwriting principles he’s always followed. They included “avoid cliches,” “never write songs in cubicles” and “don’t say you’re going to die if she leaves you — because you’re not.”

Eddie Palmieri, a pianist, composer and bandleader who was a great innovator in Latin jazz and rumba, also got a Trustees Award.

Palmieri, who died last year at 88, became the first Latino to win a Grammy Award, in 1975.

Another trustees honoree was Sylvia Rhone, the first Black woman to head a major record label.

John Chowning, whose work as a Stanford professor in the 1960s was essential to the synthesizer sounds that dominated the 1980s, won the Technical Grammy Award.

Jennifer Jimenez, a band director from South Miami Senior High School, won the Grammys Music Educator Award, and “Ice Cream Man” by Raye got the Harry Belafonte Song for Social Change Award.

Entertainment

Macaulay Culkin, Meryl Streep and More Pay Tribute to Catherine O'Hara, who Died at 71

FILE PHOTO: 24th Critics Choice Awards - Arrivals - Santa Monica, California, US, January 13, 2019 - Catherine O'Hara. REUTERS/Danny Moloshok/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: 24th Critics Choice Awards - Arrivals - Santa Monica, California, US, January 13, 2019 - Catherine O'Hara. REUTERS/Danny Moloshok/File Photo
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Macaulay Culkin, Meryl Streep and More Pay Tribute to Catherine O'Hara, who Died at 71

FILE PHOTO: 24th Critics Choice Awards - Arrivals - Santa Monica, California, US, January 13, 2019 - Catherine O'Hara. REUTERS/Danny Moloshok/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: 24th Critics Choice Awards - Arrivals - Santa Monica, California, US, January 13, 2019 - Catherine O'Hara. REUTERS/Danny Moloshok/File Photo

The death of Catherine O'Hara at 71 prompted an outpouring from the actor's co-stars and friends over the decades.

O'Hara, whose legendary comic skills were on display in “Home Alone,” “Schitt's Creek,” “Beetlejuice" and much more, died Friday in Los Angeles after a brief illness, The Associated Press reported.

Macaulay Culkin “Mama. I thought we had time. I wanted more. I wanted to sit in a chair next to you. I heard you. But I had so much more to say. I love you. I’ll see you later” — the actor, who played O’Hara’s son in two “Home Alone” movies, on Instagram.

Dan Levy “What a gift to have gotten to dance in the warm glow of Catherine O’Hara’s brilliance for all those years. Having spent over fifty years collaborating with my Dad, Catherine was extended family before she ever played my family. It’s hard to imagine a world without her in it. I will cherish every funny memory I was fortunate enough to make with her.” — “Schitt's Creek” star and co-creator Dan Levy, on Instagram.

Meryl Streep “Catherine O’Hara brought love and light to our world, through whipsmart compassion for the collection of eccentrics she portrayed...such a loss for her family and friends, and the audience she graced as friends.” — the actor, who co-starred with O'Hara in “Heartburn,” in a statement.

Michael Keaton “We go back before the first Beetlejuice. She’s been my pretend wife, my pretend nemesis and my real life, true friend. This one hurts. Man am I gonna miss her.” — the actor, on Instagram.

Seth Rogen “Really don’t know what to say... I told O’Hara when I first met her I thought she was the funniest person I’d ever had the pleasure of watching on screen. Home Alone was the movie that made me want to make movies.

Getting to work with her was a true honor. She was hysterical, kind, intuitive, generous... she made me want to make our show good enough to be worthy of her presence in it. This is just devastating. We’re all lucky we got to live in a world with her in it.” — “The Studio” creator and star, on Instagram.

Andrea Martin “Catherine. She is and will always be the greatest. It is an honor to have called her my friend." — the actor, a fellow original “SCTV” cast member, in a statement.

Mark Carney “Over 5 decades of work, Catherine earned her place in the canon of Canadian comedy — from SCTV to Schitt’s Creek. Canada has lost a legend. My thoughts are with her family, friends, and all.” — the Canadian prime minister, on social media.

Mike Myers “It is a very sad day for comedy and for Canada. She was one of the greatest comedy artists in history, an inspiration for millions and above all a very elegant lady” — the comedian, in a statement.

Pedro Pascal “Oh, genius to be near you. Eternally grateful. There is less light in my world, this lucky world that had you, will keep you, always. Always” — the actor, who worked with O’Hara on the second season of “The Last of Us,” on Instagram.

Kevin Nealon “Catherine O’Hara changed how so many of us understand comedy and humanity. From the chaos and heart of Home Alone to the unforgettable precision of Moira Rose in Schitt’s Creek, she created characters we’ll rewatch again and again.” — the comedian and actor, on social media.

Craig Mazin “I think she would prefer that we keep laughing somehow, or at the very least not cry. Not possible at the moment. As brutal as this feels for anyone who knew or worked with her, I know it is far more painful for her husband and sons and close family. I’m thinking about them right now too. It all hurts terribly. Goodbye, you legend... you wonderful, brilliant, kind, beautiful human being. We were lucky to have had you at all.” — the “The Last of Us” showrunner, on Instagram.

Christopher Guest “I am devastated. We have lost one of the comic giants of our age. I send my love to her family.” — the actor and director, who collaborated with O’Hara on four films, in a statement.

Sarah Polley “She was the kindest and the classiest. How could she also have been the funniest person in the world? And she was at the very top of her game. There won't be another like her.” - The Canadian director and actor, on Instagram.

Ron Howard "This is shattering news. What a wonderful person, artist and collaborator. I was lucky enough to direct, produce and act in projects with her and she was simply growing more brilliant with each year. My heart goes out to Bo & family." — the actor and director, on X.

Ike Barinholtz “I never in a million years thought I would get to work with Catherine O’Hara let alone become friends with her. So profoundly sad she’s somewhere else now, So incredibly grateful I got to spend the time I did with her. Thank you Catherine I love you.” — the actor, a co-star in “The Studio,” on Instagram.

Rita Wilson "Catherine O’Hara — a woman who was authentic and truthful in all she did. You saw it in her work, if you knew her you saw it in her life, and you saw it in her family. Bo, Luke and Matthew, our deepest sympathies. May Catherine rest in peace. May her memory be eternal. — the actor, director and producer, on Instagram.

Alec Baldwin “Catherine O’Hara was one of the greatest comic talents in the movie business. She had a quality that was all her own and my sympathy goes out to Bo and their family.” — the actor, her “Beetlejuice” co-star, in a statement.

Entertainment

Montreal Studio Rises from Dark Basement Office to 'Stranger Things'

Visual effects artists work at their stations at Rodeo FX offices in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, January 29, 2026. (Photo by Sebastien ST-JEAN / AFP)
Visual effects artists work at their stations at Rodeo FX offices in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, January 29, 2026. (Photo by Sebastien ST-JEAN / AFP)
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Montreal Studio Rises from Dark Basement Office to 'Stranger Things'

Visual effects artists work at their stations at Rodeo FX offices in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, January 29, 2026. (Photo by Sebastien ST-JEAN / AFP)
Visual effects artists work at their stations at Rodeo FX offices in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, January 29, 2026. (Photo by Sebastien ST-JEAN / AFP)

The visual effects studio that worked on the hit Netflix show "Stranger Things" was born 20 years ago in a dim basement in Old Montreal.

"Over time, it grew. We've seen really strong growth through the years," Ara Khanikian, who supervises visual effects at Rodeo FX, told AFP at the studio's current home, a modern office with elegant wood paneling.

But it all "really started in the basement of the building next door," he said with a grin.

Though still headquartered in the Canadian city far from the action in Hollywood, Rodeo FX now has offices in Los Angeles, Paris and Toronto -- establishing itself as a force in an industry dominated by studios tied to behemoths like Disney and Warner Bros.

The studio's list of past projects includes major hits, including titles from Tom Cruise's "Mission Impossible" franchise.

But "Stranger Things," the science fiction and horror series that has shattered streaming records since it debuted in 2016, is a highlight.

Rodeo FX worked on seasons four and five of the Netflix show that follows a group of teenagers in small town America as they take on supernatural creatures and a parallel universe.

Philip Harris-Genois, a 3D modeler at Rodeo FX, worked tirelessly for a year to perfect Demogorgon, the monster whose petaled face opens to reveal rows of menacing teeth.

Harris-Genois said part of his job was to make the beast "even more imposing."

Demonstrating the work, he added a scar to its chest with a deft mouse click.
Shaping Demogorgon, detail by detail, was like "making a clay sculpture," he said.

Harris-Genois said he took inspiration from a lion when creating Demogorgon's threatening posture -- toes perched, ready to pounce.

- 'A lot of love' -

For Julien Hery, a supervisor on projects including "Stranger Things," extraordinary visual effects "often draw inspiration from nature."

For the first season of "Dune: Prophecy," the HBO Max series released in 2024, the imperial palace was inspired by the Mediterranean coastline.

"We researched the vegetation. We looked for what kinds of trees grow along the Mediterranean coast, what kinds of rock," so viewers will be convinced by the visual effects, he said.

Turning a concept into a finished product is time consuming work that involves animation, simulation, lighting and integrating the effects in a sequence filmed with live actors.

The fight sequence between Demogorgon and Jim Hopper (played by David Harbour) in a Soviet prison in Season 4 of Stranger Things -- a scene of less than seven minutes -- took up to a year of work, from conceptualization to final cut, Hery said.

"We obviously spend a lot of time on our projects," he said.

"Season 4 was more than two years of work...It becomes very personal. We put a lot of love into it."

- Critical acclaim -

That process appears to be paying off.

Among the studio's major achievements is its work on the 2014 Best Picture "Birdman," where visual effects created the impression of the film being shot in a single take.

It also contributed to the dream-like world in "Dune: Part 2," which won the Oscar for Best Visual Effects last year.

Rodeo FX has also earned four nominations at the VES Awards, which honor the visual effects industry in a ceremony set for February 25.

And 2026 should include more high-profile work, said Hery.

"There are plenty of projects we can't really reveal," he told AFP, but confirmed the studio will be working on the Marvel blockbuster "Avengers: Doomsday" and the second season of "Monarch."