“We share the frequency of the song,” the Grammy winner said Cher’s unforgettable reveal during Sunday’s ceremony.

SZA reacts to Cher’s Record of the Year mix-up at Grammys 2026: ‘She’s not wrong’

"We share the frequency of the song," the Grammy winner said Cher's unforgettable reveal during Sunday's ceremony.

By Mekishana Pierre

Mekishana Pierre

Mekishana Pierre is a news writer at **. She has been working at EW since 2025. Her work has previously appeared on *Entertainment Tonight* and Popsugar.

EW's editorial guidelines

February 2, 2026 12:46 p.m. ET

Leave a Comment

Cher; Sounwave and SZA onstage during the 68th Grammy Awards. Credit:

Christopher Polk/Billboard via Getty; Johnny Nunez/Getty

SZA has no beef with Cher after the latter accidentally declared Luther Vandross as the Record of the Year winner at the 2026 Grammys instead of her and Kendrick Lamar.

In fact, the singer says she totally understands why it happened.

"We share the frequency of the song," SZA told *Entertainment Tonight* after Sunday night's ceremony. "Like, that's his frequency that allowed us to win and that allowed it to be memorable."

Clearly, Cher must have picked up on those vibes, the Grammy winner reasoned. As SZA pointed out, since her and Lamar's Grammy-winning song actually samples Vandross and Cheryl Lynn's cover of "If This World Were Mine," the blunder makes even more sense.

Kendrick Lamar, SZA, Cher, and Scott Bridgeway onstage during the 68th GRAMMY Awards.

Kevin Winter/Getty

"So, she's not wrong, and she's from that era," SZA continued. "She probably really knew Luther Vandross. Of course, her brain and her energy is connecting that energy to the energy that we're sharing. We're mooching off of what Luther already gave us, so we're grateful. It's like, I wish I could speak to him. Thank you, Luther."

***Get your daily dose of entertainment news, celebrity updates, and what to watch with our EW Dispatch newsletter.***

The mix-up was one among a series of flubs made by Cher during her first Grammys appearance in 18 years. The singer was tasked with announcing the penultimate winner of the night after accepting her Lifetime Achievement Award from the Recording Academy, and had already been flustered by initially forgetting to do so and having to be called back by six-time host Trevor Noah.

When the camera returned to her after presenting the nominees for Record of the Year, Cher paused slightly with the winner envelope in her hand, looking into the camera for a few beats before exclaiming, "Oh, they told me it was going to be on the prompter!"

The best and worst moments from the 2026 Grammys

Here's Bad Bunny's Grammys acceptance speech, translated to English from Spanish

She laughed and read out "Luther Grandoss" (which many interpreted as her naming Vandross), before quickly correcting herself and naming the actual winners, Lamar and SZA for their song "Luther."

The moment was met with laughter inside the arena as the camera cut to both Lamar and SZA in the audience, with the singers taking a beat before realizing they had won. Cher even appeared to mouth, "I'm so sorry," as the duo and their producing crew walked onstage before stepping aside.

Cher onstage during the 68th GRAMMY Awards.

Emma McIntyre/Getty

But as SZA noted, the creative team behind the song saw the moment as a humorous connection to Vandross' influence over their Grammy-winning hit, which they made sure to highlight in their acceptance speech.

"This is what music is about. Luther Vandross, this, this is special for me. I gotta take my time," Lamar, 38, said when he got to the mic. "It's one of my favorite artists of all time, and they granted us the privilege to do our version of this. When we got that clearance, I promise you, we definitely all dropped a tear, because we know how much him and Cheryl Lynn poured into that record."

He continued, "And being able to put our vocals on it, it proves that we were somewhat worthy to be just as great as them individuals. And they granted us that, you know, they said, 'No cursing, though — can't curse on it.' That was the only thing, right? And we said, 'You know what we're looking to do just that, no cursing.' We're going to make sure that this song represents love. So I want to appreciate and give thanks to SZA."

*See the complete list of Grammys 2026 winners here.*

- Awards Shows & Events

Original Article on Source

Source: “EW Grammys”