The prode among music lovers will have to wait: the 2021 edition of the Grammy Awards will not take place in January due to the COVID-19 pandemic. According to Variety, the delivery of statuettes will move to March 14, according to an official statement.
According to the publication, "a combination of health concerns and transfers" (to which is added the increase in the rate of coronavirus infections in Los Angeles) led CBS and the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to postpone the delivery of the Grammys. The event, originally planned for January 31, was to be hosted by actor and comedian Trevor Noah.
Shortly after the rumor spread, the Academy published a statement in which it explained: "The deterioration of the COVID situation in Los Angeles, with overwhelmed hospital services, intensive therapies that reached their maximum capacity and the new orientations of the state and local governments, led us to conclude that postponing our show was the right thing to do. "
Calling itself "the greatest night of music", the delivery had to first put aside its ambition to be able to carry out the ceremony in an auditorium of 18 thousand spectators. Although at first it was calculated to hold the Grammys at its now classic Staples Center headquarters with "little or no public," in November the rumor began to circulate that they could be held from various parts of Los Angeles, to also provide support from the industry to independent theaters that were severely affected since the beginning of the pandemic.
In November, Henry Mason Jr., Acting President of the Academy, had promised Variety that the Grammy Awards would take place and that it would "be a show unlike any other award shows that have occurred so far." . The executive assured that it only remained to figure out what to do with the public, but that the recording industry had "very special things" planned.
The record does not appear to be promising. The BET Awards (from Black Entertainment Television) and the MTV VMAs were a succession of montages made with a chroma background or in locations far apart. To make matters worse, the Country Music Association Awards were battered after their ceremony, with a limited number of in-person viewers, as 86-year-old folk star Charley Pride died just under a month after the event, from complications from the coronavirus. Even the Oscars announced that, at least by 2021, they would move the delivery of statuettes from February to April.
It is not the only controversy surrounding the upcoming Grammy ceremony. The Weeknd, who had the most prolific year of her career, received no nominations, while Beyoncé, who released no new music during the period covered by this installment, is up for nine statuettes. The podium of the most nominated artists is completed by Taylor Swift, Roddy Ricch and Dua Lipa (six nominations), Britanny Howard (five) and Billie Eilish, Megan Thee Stallion, DaBaby, Phoebe Bridgers, Justin Bieber, the jazz pianist John Beasley and producer David Frost (all four).