Go ahead and add award show host to the list of career accomplishments of singer-songwriter Jhene Aiko and actress Niecy Nash.
On Tuesday (Mar. 2), Aiko was announced as the host of the official Grammy Awards’ pre-show, Grammy Premiere Ceremony, set live stream on Sunday, March 14. Not only will this be the Los Angeles bred artist’s first major gig as a host, but she’ll also be the first host to also be nominated for Album of the Year on the same night.
Aiko’s third studio Chilombo album is also nominated for Best Progressive R&B Album, while her John Legend-assisted single “Lightning & Thunder” is one of fives songs up for a Grammy for Best R&B Performance.
But Women’s History Month doesn’t end there.
Claws star Niecy Nash—who revealed her marriage to musician and long-time friend, Jessica Betts last year—will serve as the host of this year’s 32nd Annual GLAAD Media Awards, set to air virtually on Hulu and YouTube on Thursday, April 8.
“I was not suppressing my sexuality my whole life. I love who I love,” she told People after her surprise announcement. “At one point in my life, I married twice and I love those people. And today I love this person. I’ve done everything I wanted to do on my own terms and my own way.”
This isn’t Nash’s first rodeo as a host. Nash stepped in as guest host of Season 5 of FOX’s hit show, The Masked Singer after the current host, Nick Cannon, was diagnosed with COVID-19. It’s also been revealed that Nash may serve as the host of an upcoming daytime talk show which will air on CBS if given the green light.
The Grammy Awards’ Premiere Ceremony kicks off at 12 pm PT on Sunday, March 14 on Grammy.com while the 63rd Annual Grammy Awards’ live telecast—hosted by comedian and Daily Show‘s Trevor Noah—starts at 8 pm ET on CBS.
As for the Nash-hosted GLAAD Awards—which “recognizes and honors media for their fair, accurate and inclusive representations of the LGBTQ+ community and the issues that affect their lives”—you can tune into the stream on YouTube at 8 pm ET and then at 10 pm ET on Hulu.
Congratulations to both ladies!
NEWS
Say what you will about the UMG defamation lawsuit over "Not Like Us," but it hasn't been difficult for Drake to stay on top in any case. Whether you think the industry is trying to take him down or people dismissed him as their champion, you're probably missing the big picture.
According to Hip Hop All Day on Twitter, the Toronto superstar became the first rapper to surpass 5 billion streams on Spotify in 2025, continuing his stretch this year as the most streamed rapper on the platform. Others aren't too far behind, but these continually impressive commercial numbers are hard to knock off.
Of course, there are a few reasons for this. One of them is the OVO mogul's recent collab album with PARTYNEXTDOOR, $ome $exy $ongs 4 U. Both the Billboard Hot 100 success of the solo cut "NOKIA" plus rapid sales for the project as a whole translate to a whole lot of engagement on the digital streaming platform.
Another driving factor behind Drake's numbers is the anticipation for his next album (albeit with no release date), which he recently confirmed he's working on during a gambling livestream with Adin Ross. As such, we imagine a lot of die-hards are probably coming back to their favorite catalog material to prepare for their wildest dreams – if they weren't already bumping The Boy nonstop to begin with.
Even Kanye West is giving the 6ix God his props these days, even though his long-standing beef with Drizzy is constantly a subject of his flip-flopping tendencies. "This is the biggest victory in music history, right here," Ye said of the UMG lawsuit. "I'm never finna call Drake out of his name. I'm Team Drake, 100 percent. And Team Kendrick, and Team All Of Us... Kendrick needs to be going at UMG at this point. [...] Like, let's stop aiming all this at each other. You have no idea. Everything is worth everything for a moment like this. Where we stop going at each other and we go at the slave masters."
Will Drake be successful and impactful with this? That's up to the court to decide, and up to the industry and its artists to reckon with following their decision. But in the meantime, that Spotify revenue is looking beefy.
