The Recording Academy commenced Grammy Week on Jan. 28 with a Best New Artist Spotlight. This event featured seven of the eight nominees for the 2026 Best New Artist category: Leon Thomas III, Lola Young, Olivia Dean, KATSEYE, The Marías, Alex Warren and Sombr. Each artist offered insight into their career journeys and what the Best New Artist nomination means to them.
Interviewed by songwriter Jimmy Jam, Thomas, Young and Dean were vocal about finding their sound, career longevity, and the importance of uplifting new artists.
Thomas kicked off the interviews and said that, despite having 22 years of experience behind the scenes as a songwriter and producer, he truly feels like a new artist because of the recent re-imagination of his artist persona. Thomas spent the majority of his music career as a songwriter-producer for a variety of artists including: Ariana Grande, SZA, Drake, and JAY-Z. Since the release of his Grammy nominated album “Mutt,” he has redefined his personal sound and stepped into the spotlight as a singer and captivating live performer.
Next, Young spoke about why she believes it is so important to support and uplift new artists, and referenced the impact of the support she received from Elton John and SZA. It can be difficult to pour so much into making music without much gratification, so it meant a lot for Young to receive support from musicians she looks up to. As an artist with a larger platform now, she always tries to pay it forward by reaching out to up-and-coming artists.
Then, Dean acknowledged that the word “artist” holds a much wider scope than just herself.
“I think the word artist is representative not just of me, but my whole team and all the people you don’t see that help me be an artist. My band, the people I write with, I think it’s representative of the whole thing. The world that we’ve created, the visuals we create, just the artistry, so it feels really special,” Dean said.
When asked how this nomination fits into her long-term career plan, Dean emphasizes that she truly never thought this would happen to her, so she is approaching it from a place of immense gratitude.
Following the first three interviews, songwriter Justin Tranter stepped on stage to interview KATSEYE, The Marías, Warren and Sombr.
All six members of KATSEYE took the stage to discuss how they hoped for a nomination this year, but never imagined being in the running for a Grammy — especially since they debuted only two years ago.
KATSEYE believes one of the factors of their success is having such diverse influences within their music and choreography. Apart from being K-Pop inspired, they have incorporated Lara Raj’s traditional Indian dance style into live performances. Additionally, in their song “Gabriella,” they incorporated Daniela Avanzini’s Latin roots.
After working with each other for 10 years, Josh Conway, Jesse Perlman and Edward James from The Marías mentioned their recent influx of success illustrated the benefit of taking risks rather than catering to what they think people want to hear. Additionally, they attributed this nomination to being so musically in tune with each other, including having singer María Zardoya to bounce song ideas off of and trusting her ear.
Warren said that he has faced backlash about his artistry for the majority of his life. As a kid, he was heavily bullied for his singing voice, and was even told by his teacher he should quit the chorus. When he was told his hit song “Ordinary” was not good enough to be released, he advocated for it.
For Warren, a nomination for Best New Artist represents proving those who did not believe in him wrong and is a landmark of his success. One of Warren’s most notable remarks was that there is true friendship between each of the nominees. In fact, as soon as he found out about the nomination, he contacted his fellow nominees.
Warren also emphasized how harmful internet discourse is — that many fans think the best way to support their favorite artist is to put down other nominees. In reality, each nominee has spent the past few months uplifting each other. When Tranter asked him what he thinks of when he hears the word Grammy, he quipped, “Olivia Dean.”
The last artist to take the stage, Sombr, shared the same humble disposition as his fellow nominees.
“I think in music and in art in general, there’s no such thing as ‘best,’ you can like something, or you can dislike it,” Sombr said.
For Sombr, artistic integrity takes priority over awards. Similar to Warren, Sombr commended his fellow nominees by emphasizing how great this group of artists is. He concluded that he is “just happy to be there,” having already won by being a Grammy-nominated artist and upcoming performer.
