Grammy Awards 2021 is all set and in full swing to celebrate the ceremony at last. Delaying from January, the show is finally scheduled to be held on this 14th March, Sunday. As the schedules are finalized, the performers are busy with their preparations in a socially-distanced stage to keep things safe from COVID. While the global audience is waiting for the Sunday Mega event, here is a look through what performances, controversies, and snubs you can expect of.
How will the show look?
Yes, that is the foremost curiosity that has popped into everybody’s mind since this would be different due to the COVID situation. The Recording Academy is trying to keep things safe and soundly with regards to COVID- safe presentation and stage. They said that the artists would “be coming together, while still safely apart, to play music for each other as a community.” In simple words, the gala and grand platform will include a mix of live and digital performances in-person and pre-taped, video-linked appearances.
In a recent interaction with the Rolling Stone, Ben Winston said that the Grammy will be filmed in “an undisclosed building in Los Angeles.” Ben is the executive producer of his first Grammy telecast. He further said that the event will not take place at STAPLES Center, which was last year’s venue. There is a chance that the platform will be consisting four stages for the performers and one for the presenters of the ceremony. Ben said, “People will perform while the other three or four artists watch, applaud, and enjoy”. He further added, “As soon as that one finishes, the next one goes, the next one goes, and the next one goes. Every 45 minutes, you change out those stages, and you bring another four megastars into the room.”
So the audience can expect a series of ground-breaking performances also on a continuous seamless motion like a non-stop musical ballad. Excited enough already? Well, here comes the performer’s list! The show has a huge slate of performers for the evening featuring, Billie Eilish, Cardi B, Taylor Swift, Harry Styles, Doja Cat, Megan Thee Stallion, Bad Bunny, Da Baby, BTS, Post Malone, Chris Martin from Coldplay, John Mayer, Roddy Rich, Brittany Howard, Lil Baby, Dua Lipa, Maren Morris, and the list still continues. Some Of the late additions include Bruno Mars and Anderson.Paak for their unwavering performance in their latest project ‘Silk Sonic’.
It is heard that host Trevor Noah will be introducing workers from different independent venues to present the award in recognition of the financial struggle of the decaying live music industry due to the global pandemic.
Landmark achievements
The 2021 Grammy is making history by including Mickey Guyton. The artist has been nominated as a solo country artist as the first Black Woman. Like the best country solo performance, ‘Black Like Me’ is correcting an unwritten rule. The artist said, women are “only allowed to sing about heartbreak and cute, fun songs, but God forbid we have other feelings.”
Some are suggesting that Beyonce can break some records too if Mickey can. By winning four awards she can break the record of Alison Krauss who is the record holder as the female artist. If she can garner five awards, she will able to beat Quincy Jones who has a record of having most Grammys as a living music artist. The record for most Grammys is occupied by classical conductor Sir Georg Solti. If the artist wants to break that record, she has to win at least eight awards.
There are some unusual entries this year who have never performed in Grammy before, like The Strokes. Travis Scott, Jay Electronica, Freddie Gibbs, and Harry Styles stand alone to get their trophy back home. On the other hand, BTS has doubled its stake with ‘Dynamite’ for the Best Pop Group Performance category. BTS would be the first K-pop group to win a Grammy Award.
Controversies
The nomination of Lukasz “Dr. Luke” Gottwald has generated some deep controversy as the producer was blamed for sexual abuse against Kesha. However, Luke denied Kesha’s allegations and threaten to sue her for defamation. While Kesha was asked whether she wants to smash any award before calling all the ladies on the stage, she replied, “My second thought,” she added, “was I wonder if I can get all these ladies to boycott this shit because of Dr. Luke.”
Deborah Dugan was hired to settle down all the rising controversies as the first woman president and CEO of the Recording Academy. But she ended up filing a complaint against the academy for discrimination. In her complaint letter, she addressed the academy as a “boy’s club” mentality that lacks diversity and sensibility. The protest can be seen in the young people and performers as five of the three children nominations have urged to rescind their nominations and stated, “a process that has—both this year and historically—so overlooked women, performers of color, and most especially Black performers.”
Perhaps Justin Bieber deserves some sympathy as he has been very much disappointed with ‘Changes’ being nominated in the Best Pop Vocal category rather than R&B. He said, “Changes was and is an R&B album. It is not being acknowledged as an R&B album, which is very strange to me.”
Snubbed stories
Since the Superbowl HalfTime show, The Weeknd’s ‘Binding Lights’ have garnered a lot of attention but did not get any nomination for it even after the groundbreaking recognition for his album, ‘After Hours’. Apparently, the artist and Tesfaye have called the ceremony “corrupt”. On the other hand, Bob Dylan was absent from the list of nominees as well. His Billboard top charting track ‘Murder Most Foul’ and critically acclaimed studio album ‘Rough and Rowdy Ways’ could not assure a single nod for this 38-time Grammy nominee.
Other Nominations
Some other notable nominations feature the collaborators, producers, choreographers, songwriters, and many others. Many names have been appearing in the list including Jay-Z for the track ‘BLACK PARADE’ with Beyonce.
Stay tuned to get more coverage on the Grammy Awards 2021.
