2026 is NOT the new 2016: We are in the LOVE era now

Welcome to the era of LOVE. In a world that seems ever so full of hate and differences, there's a new movement gaining speed, and it is one that can unites us all.

A Speech to Remember

The GRAMMY Award ceremony, per usual, is all over the news and social media. Finally, it is for the right reasons. A number of awardees, some among the world’s most famous artists, used the ceremony in Los Angeles as a platform to make a statement against the current affairs in the United States, specifically against the actions of the ICE (the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement). Mass arrests and deportations, infringement of human, civil, and political rights, even the killing of civilians have been carried out by ICE since Trump has stepped back into power.

Among a flood of content from the GRAMMY awards, there is one speech to echo them all. One voice that carried the key takeaway, for all of us to remember, hold on to, and act on.

“The only thing that is more powerful than hate, is LOVE… If we fight, we need to do with LOVE.” … these words came from Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio, also known to almost the whole wide world as Bad Bunny. He is not just a superstar. Benito has defined pop music for the last decade, his influence is already considered ever-lasting. He already has six GRAMMY Awards to his name, among many other awards and years as the world’s most-streamed musician.

Most importantly, though, Bad Bunny is Puerto Rican-American and, yesterday, his album became the first Spanish-language project to win the Album of the Year. This award is presented by presented by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States. These are the same United States where the rights and lives of immigrants and citizens alike are under current attack by the country’s own government. Some of those most affected by ICE operations have been exactly Bad Bunny’s compatriots from Puerto Rico.

And yet, one of music’s biggest-ever names focused on LOVE as what makes us all humans. It is the first time, since I can remember, that LOVE takes such a central stage on such a large world-wide platform as the GRAMMYs. Not only thanks to Bad Bunny’s speech, but also because of the words of Billie Eilish, SZA, Justin Vernon (Bon Iver), and Kehlani. The GRAMMY night marked a shift - the beginning of the LOVE era. Where we, humans, focus on what unites us and brings us together.

Diez años de división (2016-2026)

This is where 2016 and 2026 could not be any different. Two large political events defined the year 2016: Donald Trump defeated Hillary Clinton (what a couple to choose from, btw) in the U.S. presidential election, and Brexit took place, as the United Kingdom voted to leave the European Union. 10 years later, we now know how earth-shattering both of these events have been. What we also know is that the “winning” sides were fuelled by hate and fear.

Looking at videos and reading the news from 2016, it is easily noticeable that both the Trump and Leave campaigns focused on what separates humans. The group differentiation, and the political and societal narratives around it, have focused on the most superficial of differences, namely racial and ethnic. Fear of those who seem unlike us has been systematically instilled through speeches, debates, news, ads, and most of all, through social media.

COVID, several new and ongoing wars across the globe, and a recent financial recession only increased the hate-and-fear movement in the last decade. While the average person grew more and more frustrated, the richest increased their wealth and power, all while managing to pit the rest of people against each other. A simple example: immigrants have been blamed for “stealing” jobs, instead of scrutinizing companies and their decision-makers moving supply chains and production abroad to benefit from cheaper labour and material costs.

The Era of LOVE

Before this turns into a solely political post, I want to go back to LOVE. You’ve probably already guessed that I don’t really mean the romantic, also called erotic, kind of love. I mean LOVE that psychoanalyst and philosopher Erich Fromm defines as an art of giving, knowing, committing, caring, and respecting. It is a kind love that we all hold within ourselves, some access it easier, for others it is way deeper waiting to be unlocked. As bell hooks writes, it is a love that is an action: not only towards a lover, or a family member, but towards all humans.

And this is what 2026 and the next years will be about: love as what all humans share. Because it is the one thing that we have in common, it is what can bring us back together after years of division. Of course, the shift towards love won’t just happen by itself. LOVE is a choice, it is a verb that defines an action. LOVE requires commitment and requires us to give. In order to learn loving, first ourselves and then others, we will need to take time and make effort. It becomes apparent: LOVE is more difficult than hate… And that’s what makes it more powerful.

Bad Bunny is not the first famous person to realize the power of loving and the fact that it is love that binds us, humans. Surely, he won’t be the least to echo the powerful message of love across the globe. What made his statement especially meaningful is the bravery to use his global platform to make a stand, for love and against hate. Not all of us have so many eyes and ears fixed on us, yet we can communicate the same message with the same strength to the few humans whom we cross paths with.

Let us all take Benito’s speech as a signal of light on the pitch-dark night sky of the last years. A sign that a major shift is coming and the first seeds are already in place, within each of us. The shift will define generations to come and change our society for good. And in 2026, much unlike what happened in 2016, this transformation is a movement - not fuelled by hate and fear, but inspired by LOVE and humanity.

  by Rashko @uberraschko