A new date has been announced for this year’s edition of the Grammy Awards. The Recording Academy, organizers of the ceremony dubbed ‘Music Biggest
A new date has been announced for this year’s edition of the Grammy Awards.
The Recording Academy, organizers of the ceremony dubbed ‘Music Biggest Night’ have announced the new date to be March 14.
“After thoughtful conversations with health experts, our host and artists scheduled to appear, we are rescheduling the 63rd Annual GRAMMY Awards to be broadcast Sunday, March 14, 2021,” the organizers said.
“ The deteriorating COVID situation in Los Angeles, with hospital services being overwhelmed, ICUs having reached capacity, and new guidance from state and local governments have all led us to conclude that postponing our show was the right thing to do.
“Nothing is more important than the health and safety of those in our music community and the hundreds of people who work tirelessly on producing the show. We want to thank all of the talented artists, the staff, our vendors and especially this year’s nominees for their understanding, patience and willingness to work with us as we navigate these unprecedented times.”
The Grammy Awards which was supposed to take place later this month, January 31 precisely, at the Staples Center, got postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic which has claimed over 1.8m lives worldwide.
Comedian and talk show host, Trevor Noah will still host the event which may likely be held virtually.
The Grammys ceremony, which usually draws about 18,000 people to L.A.’s Staples Center, had been planned as a largely audience-free show where only presenters and performers would be allowed on-site. Winners were expected to accept their awards remotely, as was done with the Emmy Awards which held in September last year.
Voting for this year’s Grammy categories closed Monday at 6 p.m. Pacific.
For months, the Grammys have been contending with the countless complications involved in staging a major awards show
While interim Grammy Chief, Harvey Mason jr Variety that the initial general plan was to hold the event at its longtime home of the Staples Center in Los Angeles, with either a limited or no audience, he later said that the show would be held in and around Downtown Los Angeles, opening the possibility that performances could be staged from multiple venues in that area.
New Grammys executive producer, Ben Winston said he was“looking to do something quite exciting with independent venues either in or around the 2021 show.
The show which has been plagued by controversies in past three to four years — ranging from a lack of gender and racial diversity to the sudden ouster of Mason’s predecessor, Deborah Dugan, just days before the 2020 show — stirred up another when nominations were announced late in November.
In an unprecedented snub, The Weeknd, one of the year’s most commercially and critically successful artists, received no nominations. Beyoncé leads the contenders with nine — an unexpectedly high profile, given that the superstar didn’t even release a new album during the eligibility period — followed by six apiece for Taylor Swift, Roddy Ricch and Dua Lipa.
