"From Bedroom Beats in Canada to Grammy Glory: Cirkut Wins Non-Classical Producer of the Year at the 2026 Awards"] - Guitar | Technique

Canadian producer Henry Russell Walter, better known as Cirkut, has been awarded Producer of the Year, Non-Classical at the 2026 Grammy Awards.

Cirkut was nominated for his work on Lady Gaga’s Mayhem, Bruno Mars and Rosé’s APT and The Weeknd’s Hurry Up Tomorrow. Gaga’s song Abracadabra – which was written and produced by the artist alongside Cirkut and Andrew Watt – earned the award for Best Dance Pop Recording and Mayhem won Best Pop Vocal Album.

Cirkut’s 2026 wins are his first since 2018, which saw the Canadian producer share a Best Contemporary Urban Album trophy for The Weeknd’s Starboy, but he has worked on slate of Grammy-nominated projects since then, including Kanye West’s Donda, Disclosure’s Higher Than Ever Before, and Charli XCX’s BRAT, which was a strong contender for Album Of The Year in 2025.

Cirkut was nominated for the award alongside Dan Auerbach of the Black Keys, Blake Mills, Sounwave and Dijon. Auerbach took home Producer of the Year in 2013 for his work on The Black Keys album El Camino, and has since been nominated five times. Mills has been nominated once before but never won, though he did pick up the award for Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical for his 2025 Pino Palladino collaboration That Wasn’t a Dream.

Despite losing out to Cirkut, Sounwave already has a fairly stacked trophy cabinet, having shared wins for Best Rap Song, Song Of The Year and Record Of The Year in 2025 for Kendrick Lamar’s Not Like Us. This year, Sounwave was recognized for his work on Lamar’s Luther and TV Off, which won Record Of The Year and Best Rap Song respectively.

This year’s nomination was a first for Dijon, who is best known as an alt-R&B artist and a collaborator of Mk.gee and Bon Iver. Dijon took a detour into production work in 2025, contributing to four tracks from Justin Bieber’s latest project SWAG, which was up for both Best Pop Vocal Album and Album Of The Year. Two tracks Dijon worked on, Yukon and Daisies, received nominations for Best R&B Performance and Best Pop Solo performance.

Born in Ottawa, Canada, Cirkut’s career as a professional producer began after an instrumental track he wrote was picked up by Britney Spears, becoming the basis of her 2008 song Mmm Papi.

Cirkut went on to work alongside producers Dr Luke and Max Martin, contributing to music from Katy Perry, Rihanna, Nicki Minaj and Maroon 5, among others. He has since become one of modern pop music’s most successful producer/songwriters, working on No 1 hits such as Miley Cyrus’ Wrecking Ball, Katy Perry’s Roar, and The Weeknd’s Starboy.

In Cirkut’s acceptance speech at last night’s Grammy Awards, Cirkut was presented the award by Jimmy Jam of Jam & Lewis. “It doesn’t get much better than that,” he said. “I just want to thank all of my co-writers, co-producers, engineers, musicians, this is a team sport and no-one can do it alone. I’m so thankful for them.”

“I want to thank Gaga, Bruno, Rosé, all the incredible artists I’ve had the privilege of working with this past year. You trusted me with your vision, you could have worked with anyone, but you chose me. I’m so grateful for that. Once upon a time I was a kid from Canada making beats in my bedroom, and now here I am. I can’t believe I’m here.”