The coronavirus pandemic has forced the Grammy Awards to be rescheduled for the second year in succession.
According to a joint statement from CBS and the Recording Academy, the 64th annual ceremony, originally scheduled for January 31 in Los Angeles, will now be rescheduled. This is because of the Omicron variant which has seen a surge in Omicron cases across the country. The new date will be announced soon, the statement said, noting, “The health and safety of those in our music community, the live audience, and the hundreds of people who work tirelessly to produce our show remains our top priority.”
Last year’s show was postponed by six weeks as cases spiked, and before vaccinations were widely available. Last week, Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, President Biden’s chief medical adviser, predicted that the latest wave of the pandemic may reach its peak in the United States by the end of January.
Jon Batiste, a composer and bandleader, has received 11 Grammy nominations for this year. This is more than any other artist. He will be competing for album and record best of the year. Doja Cat, Billie Eilish, Justin Bieber and Olivia Rodrigo are other top nominees. No performers have yet been announced.
The Recording Academy, which is behind the awards, made an unusual change to the nominations process in November. Just 24 hours before the nominations were announced, the group voted to expand the ballot in the top four categories — album, record and song of the year, and best new artist — to 10 spots, from eight, a move that benefited Taylor Swift, Kanye West, Lil Nas X and others. Drake, who had been nominated for two Grammys, but had long expressed his ambivalence about the awards’ existence, pulled out of the competition two weeks later.
Source: NY Times
