Cher tries to win Kendrick Lamar’s record of the year

Cher had a moment of levity on stage at the 2026 Grammy Awards after briefly stumbling during the Record of the Year award presentation.

The music icon, fresh off receiving the Recording Academy Lifetime Achievement Award at the 68th Annual Grammy Awards held at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles on Sunday, February 1, returned to the stage to present the award. Cher looked confused for a moment, but at first read “Luther Vandross” (the late singer who inspired the winning song) before quickly correcting herself and naming the actual winner, Kendrick Lamar and SZA’s song “Luther.”

“And then I was told that the Grammy Awards would be broadcast on a teleprompter…ah!” said Cher, 79. “Oh, the Grammy goes to Luther Vandross. Oh, Kendrick, no, Kendrick Lamar!”

At this moment, the camera turned to Kendrick in the audience, and the arena erupted in laughter, and Kendrick appeared to be giggling as he realized he had won. As Kendrick and SZA headed to the stage, Cher mouthed, “I’m so sorry,” before walking away.

“Luther,” from Kendrick’s 2024 album GNX, samples Luther Vandross and Sheryl Lynn’s 1982 duet “If This World Were Mine,” a connection that several members of the creative team mentioned during their acceptance speeches.

“This is music. Luther Vandross, this, this is special to me. I have to take my time,” the 38-year-old rapper began. “This is one of my favorite artists of all time, and they gave us the privilege of playing our version of this. When we got permission, I promise you, we definitely all shed a tear, because we know how much he and Sheryl Lynn put into that record.”

“And being able to express that in our own voice proves that we deserve to be as great as they do,” he continued. “And they admitted to us, ‘You can’t curse, but you can’t curse.’ That was all there was, right? And we said, ‘You know what we’re going to do, don’t curse.’ Make sure this song expresses love. So I would like to thank and thank SZA. ”

The “All the Stars” singer, 36, responded: “I just want to thank Kendrick for lifting me up.” “I’m just a small part of this record. But what I really wanted to say was, please don’t despair. I know these are scary times. I know the algorithms are telling us it’s so scary that all is lost. There’s been a world war, there’s been an epidemic, we’ve continued on. We can move forward, we need each other. We need to trust each other and trust in ourselves. We are not ruled by the government, and that’s all I want to say.

This year’s Record of the Year nominees also included Lady Gaga’s “Abracadabra,” Doechie’s “Anxiety,” Rosé and Bruno Mars’ “APT.,” Bad Bunny’s “DTMF,” Sabrina Carpenter’s “Manchild,” Chapel Lawn’s “The Subway” and Billie Eilish’s “Wildflower.”

According to the Recording Academy, Record of the Year “recognizes single tracks and recognizes the performance of artists and the overall contribution of producers, engineers, mixers and mastering engineers.”

Lamar and SZA’s “Luther” was released in November 2024 and was the third single from the rapper’s GNX album. The song peaked at number one on the Billboard Hot 100.

This year, “Luther” was also nominated for Grammy Awards for Best Song and Best Melodic Rap Performance. In addition, the two artists won the Best Pop Duo/Group Performance award for another GNX collaboration, “30 for 30.”

Lamar further won Album of the Year and Best Rap Album for GNX, Best Rap Performance for both “Chains and Whips” and “TV Off,” and Best Rap Song for “TV Off.” SZA was also nominated for Best Traditional R&B Performance for “Crybaby.”

At the end of the night, Lamar won five awards. He won Record of the Year and Best Melodic Rap Performance for “Luther,” Best Rap Album for GNX, Best Rap Performance for “Chains and Whips,” and Best Rap Song for “TV Off.”