Alex Warren opens up about 'horrifying' Grammy Awards mishap

Edward Segarra, USA TODAYWed, March 11, 2026 at 5:42 PM UTC

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Unfortunately for Alex Warren, his Grammy debut hit a sour note.

The rising pop singer, whose performance at the Grammy Awards in February was plagued by technical difficulties, reflected on the experience during an interview on the "Call Her Daddy" podcast, released Wednesday, March 11.

"It was horrifying," Warren, 25, told host Alex Cooper. "We had rehearsed it all week. It was perfect. To this day, I don't know exactly what happened."

Warren, who was nominated for best new artist at the Grammys, performed as part of the ceremony's best new artist medley, which featured numbers from fellow nominees Olivia Dean, Leon Thomas, Addison Rae, Sombr and others.

The "Ordinary" singer got off to a rocky start, lagging behind the music for the first half of his performance. Despite his consistent vocals, Warren struggled with what appeared to be audio issues, at one point reaching behind his suit to adjust his earpieces and then ripping both out.

Alex Warren performs onstage during the 68th annual Grammy Awards at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles on Feb. 1, 2026.

According to Warren, the sound from his in-ear monitors "cut out" moments before he took the stage.

"They're [counting down] 30 seconds. I said, 'I can't hear anything. I can't hear myself,'" Warren recalled. "The guy's like, 'It's live TV. Twenty-five seconds.' I go, 'Guys, something's wrong.'"

He added: "In my head, I look up [at] the sky, and I go, 'This is meant to happen.' And I just go, 'Let's do it.'"

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Warren soldiered through the glitchy performance, which required him to walk from a hallway and through a crowd of award show attendees before finishing the song onstage. He said his audio issues may have been due to interference caused by the large number of cell phones in the venue.

"I truthfully was just trying to find the count, so I did not think, 'Should we stop?'" Warren said. "The time is slotted; it's live. [The thought] went through my brain as I left the tunnel, but then I thought, this would be the most awkward social moment in the world, where it's just a camera on me standing there."

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Following his Grammys performance, Warren got a morale boost from a fellow best new artist alum: Chappell Roan.

During his appearance on "Call Her Daddy," Warren said the "Pink Pony Club" songstress, who won best new artist in 2025, approached him and offered some encouragement after his challenging musical number.

"The whole entire Grammys, my head was on my wife's shoulder," said Warren, who felt "destroyed" after the performance. "I did not want to look up. I did not want to talk to anybody."

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But Warren said Roan noticed that he was feeling "distraught" because of the performance's malfunction.

"She was like, 'Dude, if anyone understands, it's the people in this room, and you sounded amazing,'" Warren said. "I will never forget how sweet she was because of that."

Contributing: Patrick Ryan and Anna Kaufman, USA TODAY

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Alex Warren says Grammy Awards mishap was 'horrifying'

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