Trevor Noah at THE 63rd ANNUAL GRAMMY AWARDS, broadcast live from the STAPLES Center in Los Angeles, Sunday, March 14, 2021 on the CBS Television Network and Paramount+.
Cliff Lipson/CBS ©2021 CBS Broadcasting, Inc. All Rights ReservedThe Recording Academy is likely to postpone the 64th annual Grammy Awards, originally set for Jan. 31 at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles, to a later date due to the omicron variant, according to multiple sources. A source with direct knowledge says it’s “looking likely.”
This would be the second year in a row that the Grammys have been postponed due to COVID-19. Last year’s show was originally set for Jan. 31, 2021, but on Jan. 5, 2021, it was delayed to March 14 due to a spike in COVID-19 cases in Los Angeles. At that time, the show was also relocated from Staples Center (the former name of Crypto.com Arena) to the nearby Los Angeles Convention Center, which allowed for less crowding.
Trevor Noah, host of Comedy Central’s The Daily Show With Trevor Noah, hosted last year’s show and is also set to host this year’s show.
The Recording Academy is known to prefer to hold the show in an arena at full capacity since they get considerable ticket revenue. They would lose that if they hold a scaled-back show like they did last year.
The MusiCares gala, set for Jan. 29 at the Los Angeles Convention Center, and Clive Davis and the Recording Academy’s Pre-Grammy Gala, set Jan. 30 at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, Calif., would also move under this scenario. Joni Mitchell is set to be Person of the Year at the MusiCares gala. Rob Stringer, Sony Music Group chairman, is set to receive the 2022 Grammy Salute to Industry Icons award at the Pre-Grammy Gala.
A Recording Academy spokesman emphasized that no decision has been made and urged caution against speculation set off by an unnamed source.
The telecast will be produced by Fulwell 73 Productions for the Recording Academy. Ben Winston, Jesse Collins and Raj Kapoor are executive producers; Kapoor also serves as showrunner. Jeannae Rouzan Clay joins the team as co-executive producer.
Hamish Hamilton, who succeeded Louis J. Horvitz as director last year, is set to return as director for the second year.
This year’s Grammy nominations were announced on Nov. 23, 2021. Jon Batiste is the top nominee with 11 nods, followed by Doja Cat, H.E.R., and Justin Bieber with eight nods each. This year marks the first time that the Grammys have had 10 nominees in each of their so-called Big Four categories — album, record and song of the year plus best new artist.
This story is developing.
NEWS
Brad Paisley has called Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce’s wedding “one of the least pretentious weddings he’s ever seen”.
The country star attended the ceremony alongside his actress wife, Kimberly Williams-Paisley. They joined around 1,000 guests at New York City’s Madison Square Garden earlier this month as the global pop icon married the American football star.
Although the celebration attracted enormous attention and involved tight security and a stunning makeover of the famous arena, Paisley said the occasion never came across as excessive.
“Ironically, (it) was one of the least pretentious weddings that I've ever seen or ever will see,” Paisley told The Associated Press during an interview. “It meant a lot to be (invited). It was, kind of, a big thank you from her to invite us.”
Paisley, who chose Swift as an opening performer for his tour when she was a teenager in 2007, said he was delighted to be included in what many considered the biggest celebrity wedding of the year.
“They were very clear with the invite, and I took this personally when I got the invite, because in the invite, it said, ‘If you're getting this, you mean a lot to us,’” he revealed.
The musician also explained that guests were not told the wedding’s exact location until the date drew nearer.
“It was really fun to watch the cat and mouse game of, like, ‘We can tell you roughly where it's going to be, we're not gonna say what building... and here's the date. If you're in, we'll tell you more,’” he continued. “I went to my wife, I said, ‘Want to go?’ and she said, ‘Absolutely, we gotta be there!’ So, we did it, it was RSVP yes.”
Other famous attendees included Brad Pitt, Gigi Hadid, Bradley Cooper, Ed Sheeran, Sabrina Carpenter, Hugh Grant, Haim and Tom Hanks.
