State Champ Radio Grammys
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The 65th Annual Grammy Awards on Sunday, Feb. 5, will include a star-studded segment celebrating the 50th anniversary of hip-hop. It will include performances by Big Boi, Busta Rhymes with Spliff Star, De La Soul, DJ Drama, DJ Jazzy Jeff, Missy Elliott, Future, GloRilla, Grandmaster Flash, Grandmaster Mele Mel & Scorpio/Ethiopian King, Ice-T, Lil Baby, Lil Wayne, The Lox, Method Man, Nelly, Public Enemy, Queen Latifah, Rahiem, Rakim, RUN-DMC, Salt-N-Pepa and Spinderella, Scarface, Swizz Beatz and Too $hort.
LL Cool J will introduce the segment, perform and give a dedication to hip-hop. Questlove will serve as producer and musical director, The Roots will provide music and Black Thought will narrate.
LL Cool J won two Grammys in rap categories in the 1990s for “Mama Said Knock You Out” and “Hey Lover.” He hosted the Grammy telecast for five consecutive years from 2012 to 2016. Questlove is a six-time Grammy winner, including three awards with The Roots. He won both a Grammy and an Oscar last year for his music documentary Summer of Soul. Black Thought has won two Grammys – one with The Roots and one for best musical theater album for his contribution to Hamilton.
The segment is being produced by Questlove, Jesse Collins, Patrick Menton of Fulwell 73, creative producer Fatima Robinson, and Shawn Gee, Questlove’s manager and president of LNU.
“For five decades, hip-hop has not only been a defining force in music, but a major influence on our culture,” Harvey Mason Jr., CEO of the Recording Academy, said in a statement. “Its contributions to art, fashion, sport, politics, and society cannot be overstated. I’m so proud that we are honoring it in such a spectacular way on the Grammy stage. It is just the beginning of our yearlong celebration of this essential genre of music.”
The Grammys will also honor hip-hop with one of three breakout performances in this year’s In Memoriam segment.
On Wednesday (Feb. 1), the Academy announced that the In Memoriam segment at the 2023 Grammy Awards will include breakout tributes to three diverse artists who died last fall — Loretta Lynn, Christine McVie and Quavo.
Kacey Musgraves will perform Lynn’s 1970 classic “Coal Miner’s Daughter” in tribute to the country legend, who died on Oct. 4 at age 90; Sheryl Crow, Mick Fleetwood and Bonnie Raitt will team to perform “Songbird” from Fleetwood Mac’s album of the year-winning Rumours to honor McVie, who died on Nov. 30 at age 79; and Maverick City Music will join Quavo for Quavo’s sentimental ballad “Without You” to honor Takeoff, who died on Nov. 1 at just 28.
Also, Cardi B, who four years ago became the first female solo artist to win a Grammy for best rap album, will serve as a presenter on the show.
And the Grammys aren’t done celebrating hip-hop’s anniversary. In partnership with the Recording Academy, CBS will broadcast a special hip-hop music event later in 2023.
The 65th Annual Grammy Awards will air live from Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles and will be hosted for the third year in a row by Emmy-winning comedian Trevor Noah. The show will be broadcast live on Sunday, Feb. 5, at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT on CBS and will be available to stream live and on demand on Paramount+.
The Recording Academy made its first performers announcement on Wednesday (Jan. 25), revealing that Lizzo, Bad Bunny, Mary J. Blige, Carlile, Luke Combs, Steve Lacy, and Sam Smith and Kim Petras would take the stage. Harry Styles was announced as an addition to the lineup on Sunday (Jan. 29) during the fourth quarter of the AFC Championship game. The game aired on CBS, the Grammys’ network since 1973.
With LL Cool J’s participation in the show, three past Grammy hosts will be on board. Billy Crystal, who hosted the show from 1987 to 1989, and James Corden, who hosted in 2017-18, are set as presenters.
The 65th Annual Grammy Awards are produced by Fulwell 73 Productions for the Recording Academy. Raj Kapoor serves as showrunner and executive producer, alongside Ben Winston and Jesse Collins as executive producers. Phil Heyes joins the team for the first time as director. Eric Cook is co-executive producer with Tabitha Dumo, Tiana Gandelman, Patrick Menton and David Wild as producers.
Prior to the telecast, the Grammy Awards Premiere Ceremony will be broadcast live from the Microsoft Theater at 12:30 p.m. PT and will be streamed live on live.Grammy.com. Randy Rainbow, a first-time Grammy nominee this year for best comedy album for A Little Brains, A Little Talent, is co-hosting the show. His co-host has yet to be named.
The all-star segment on Sunday’s Grammy Awards and the upcoming “event” on CBS are part of Paramount Global’s companywide initiative to honor the 50th anniversary of hip-hop. Paramount announced an extensive slate of new and returning content offerings and initiatives that celebrates the culture across the media and entertainment company’s portfolio of leading broadcast, cable, streaming and digital brands.
“ ‘Love is the bridge between you and everything,’ ” Terius Nash reads aloud, gesturing to the words scrawled in the corner of an art piece. “Ah!” he claps. “I love it. These quotes are completely amazing.”
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The 45-year-old hit songwriter and artist, better known as The-Dream, sighs wistfully as he plops down on a peach-colored velvet love seat, which sits just beneath the artwork. Hung in an ornate gold frame, the piece depicts a group of people intertwined in collective embrace — a painting style reminiscent of Renaissance-era masterpieces — juxtaposed in front of an urban brick wall that’s splattered with various phrases written in technicolor graffiti. The artwork consumes an entire wall of the sitting room in The-Dream’s so-called “creative house” in the upscale Buckhead area of Atlanta. Otherwise, the room is completely bare — nothing but tall ceilings and crisp marble floors.
The-Dream adjusts his powder blue bucket hat and peers around his shoulder, back at the phrase. “I like how the longer you think about it,” he says, “the more you realize you don’t fully know what it means.” Its significance is determined by an individual’s perspective and understanding — just like the artwork itself, which he purchased three years ago at Eden Art Gallery in New York. With its hologram surface, its phrases are obscured when entering the room from the left… but from where The-Dream sits on the far right, the portrait shifts, its words clearly revealed.
The-Dream himself has unlocked some of the defining phrases in 21st century popular music, helping to craft smashes like Beyoncé’s “Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It),” Rihanna’s “Umbrella,” Justin Bieber’s “Baby” and Mariah Carey’s “Obsessed,” among many others. He has been present for studio sessions where the meaning of a word has expanded, then permeated popular culture in a different shape. He laughs when reminiscing about Beyoncé’s 2013 self-love anthem “Flawless,” and how he didn’t realize the full impact those eight letters could carry until he saw them needlepointed in scrolling cursive on a throw pillow following its release. “You don’t realize how many people wanted to capture that [feeling] until you see your lyrics on a pillow!” he says.
“This guy just writes a title that, when you read it, you know you have to listen to the song out of curiosity alone,” explains Christopher “Tricky” Stewart, The-Dream’s longtime writing and production partner. “I think he has an unmatched ability to figure out a unique lyrical perspective that can make an artist not only have a hit song, but a song that defines culture and the artist’s career. Something they can build on for the rest of their lives.”
Though The-Dream has been a behind-the-scenes force for the past two decades, he speaks to Billboard on the precipice of a career pinnacle, as evidenced by his presence at the 2023 Grammy Awards. He’s nominated in three of the Big Four categories — record, song and album of the year — for his work on Beyoncé’s seventh solo full-length, Renaissance, and its smash lead single, “Break My Soul.” The acclaimed album, along with his contributions to Pusha T’s It’s Almost Dry and Brent Faiyaz’s Wasteland, also earned The-Dream a nod in the inaugural songwriter of the year, non-classical category, where he will compete against Amy Allen, Nija Charles, Tobias Jesso Jr. and Laura Veltz.
Pusha T (left) and The-Dream attend The-Dream Listening Party at Gold Bar on December 18, 2018 in New York City.
Johnny Nunez/WireImage
“This means everything,” says Steven Victor — who manages The-Dream in addition to Pusha T, Nigo and others — of the new Grammy category, which he says The-Dream has advocated for for years. To Victor, a great songwriter can embody the points of view of many different types of artists — rap greats like Jay-Z and Pusha T, vocal powerhouses like Carey and Mary J. Blige, pop headliners like Bieber and Britney Spears, four-quadrant superstars like Beyoncé and Rihanna — and shape-shift into them regardless of their genre or personal identity. The-Dream, he vouches, is the best at this in the whole business.
“No one is going to think through these songs more than me,” The-Dream declares. Musical ideas often haunt him through the night, he explains, as more concepts, words and melodies flood his consciousness hours after a studio session ends. His creativity gnaws at him: He recently began attending fashion design classes at the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) and pulls out a collection of expert drawings — a sketch of a clementine, another of a skull.
“I drew a lot as a kid,” The-Dream says with a smile. When asked what he likes to draw most, he shrugs and thinks back to his overall creative approach: “I feel like I’m better when I have an assignment.”
“We had no idea what was happening at the time,” The-Dream says of growing up during the popularization of Atlanta’s music scene in the 1990s, when Southern rap reached the mainstream and acts like TLC and Usher took over pop. “It makes more sense to look back and understand it now.” He recalls watching the success of his neighbor and elementary school classmate T.I. and attending night classes with his pal André 3000 as a teen. “I don’t know what he did or why he was there,” he says with a laugh of the OutKast icon, “but I sure know I was flunking!”
Shortly after some of his acquaintances found musical success in Atlanta, The-Dream signed a publishing deal in 2001 with local mogul Laney Stewart, older brother of Tricky, and scored a writing credit on the B2K song “Everything.” Two years later, The-Dream linked up with Tricky — already producing hits for Mya and Blu Cantrell — and helped create the 2003 Britney Spears-Madonna team-up “Me Against the Music.” “It was explosive to write with him from the very beginning,” says Tricky. The pair complemented each other: Tricky was the perfectionist producer, and The-Dream was the emotive songwriter.
The pair’s brand of rhythmic pop took off in the second half of the decade, with “Umbrella” and “Single Ladies” reaching the top of the Billboard Hot 100 in 2007 and 2008, respectively, and “Baby” making Bieber a teen superstar in 2010. Meanwhile, The-Dream launched his career as an artist, signing with Def Jam and releasing a trio of R&B albums between 2007 and 2010: Love/Hate, Love vs. Money and Love King have earned a combined 2.25 million equivalent album units, according to Luminate.
Tricky Stewart (left) and The-Dream onstage during the 22nd annual ASCAP Rhythm and Soul Awards held at The Beverly Hilton Hotel on June 26, 2009 in Beverly Hills, California.
Lester Cohen/WireImage
His recording career has been sporadic since then, his focus constantly pulled back to creating hits for other artists. The-Dream says it’s difficult to define why he’s able to write so clearly about the experiences of others, “but really it’s my job to understand what the artist is going through, even if they don’t understand it yet,” he explains. “ ‘Umbrella’ is a love story, but for some reason, it feels like there is some misery in there too. Like, why do you need to assure this person they can count on you? Maybe, underneath, you know you haven’t had anyone to count on in your life, so you know what it means to be in that place.”
By 2018, the songwriter had turned that approach into one of the most bankable blueprints in popular music: over 70 Hot 100 entries as a songwriter, including 14 top 10 hits and five No. 1s, with 21 career Grammy nominations and five wins. That year, he sold 75% of his catalog, including his writing credits and solo releases, to Merck Mercuriadis’ Hipgnosis for a reported $23 million. It was the song fund’s first-ever catalog purchase.
“I wanted him to be the Dr. Dre to my Jimmy Iovine, if you like,” says Mercuriadis with a grin. “When we look back on the first 25 years of this millennium, I know his songs are going to be the ones people talk about.”
Throughout the 2010s, The-Dream shared the studio with all kinds of artists, but working with women vocalists was always his penchant. In the past, he has spoken about how the early death of his mother, who died of cancer when he was 15, gave him a “soft spot” when interacting with women. “There’s no such thing as a day with no grieving,” he says now, his eyes softening as he looks down at his sneakers.
After his mother’s death, he was put under the watchful eye of his grandfather, a hardscrabble cement mason who grew up in the Jim Crow South. The-Dream fondly recalls the days of listening to his grandfather talking “actively about how to make things well, looking at [them] from all different angles,” over games of pinochle with fellow masons. There’s an invisible throughline, he explains, between the ethos of a master builder, that of an artistic genius like da Vinci, and that of a songwriter like himself.
“When thinking about an artist like Beyoncé, I want to try to consider all the different ways this could reach people,” he says. “I want the song to matter to Beyoncé standing onstage, the person in the front row of the show and that person who’s in the rafters, who barely made it in, got a ticket from a friend last minute. I have to write for each one of them.”
The-Dream performs at the 2017 BET Experience on June 24, 2017 in Los Angeles, California.
Harmony Gerber/WireImage
“Single Ladies,” from Beyoncé’s 2008 album, I Am… Sasha Fierce, was the start of a long-term creative partnership and friendship between The-Dream and the superstar, who has tapped the songwriter to help craft at least one song from each of her subsequent albums — “Love on Top” from 2011’s 4, “Partition” from 2013’s Beyoncé and “6 Inch” from 2016’s Lemonade. (“Both Bey and I are Virgos,” The-Dream jokes, alluding to the astrological sign’s association with perfectionism.) For her latest release, Renaissance, The-Dream is one of the architects behind all but two of the album’s 16 tracks.
“Bey wanted to bring everyone together — that was the first thing on the board,” explains The-Dream of Beyoncé’s mission for her first solo album in six years. Following a tumultuous global period, he says, “It doesn’t matter who you are, we all know we were hurting,” and that the bounce, funk, house and all-around maximalist dance of Renaissance was intended as collective therapy.
For the album’s focal point, “Break My Soul,” The-Dream and Tricky teamed up to sketch out the single and then took it to Beyoncé, who “transformed it” into a No. 1 hit, says Tricky. “Dream and Bey’s closeness and attention to detail got us to a place with that song that we couldn’t have gotten [to] without that bond.”
Of course, many other collaborators also helped to finalize each Renaissance track — which songwriter Diane Warren questioned following the album’s July release. She took to Twitter to write, “How can there be 24 writers on a song?… This isn’t meant as shade, I’m just curious.” The-Dream replied in defense, schooling Warren with an explanation of sampling, its ties to Black culture and the lack of economic resources for Black musicians.
“By the way, I think she’s one of the greatest,” says The-Dream of Warren a few months after the exchange. “Sometimes [songwriters] lose that feeling, that connection to what art was all about in the first place. Really, it’s whatever it takes to give the world something good, so if that takes a whole gang of people… so be it.”
The way The-Dream speaks about collectively creating Renaissance mirrors his views on the role of the church as the birthplace of generations of talented Atlanta musicians, some known, many more unknown. “For us Southern Black folks… everybody was musical, everyone singing those hymns from back then,” he says with the fervor of a preacher at the pulpit. “I love hearing the gathering of people, huddled together, humming a song. No time signature. No industry. No three minutes and 30 seconds.”
Incorporating Southern culture’s sense of collectivism is not new for The-Dream and Houston-born Beyoncé, but Renaissance stands as their wholehearted embrace of the principle. “We learned to not be too big to call,” he says, reflecting on the process of inviting others to collaborate on the album. “If you think Grace Jones would sound great on something? Call. Nile Rodgers would be cool on this? Call.”
As a songwriter, The-Dream doesn’t control when artists release the songs he has helped pen — the timing is serendipitous, or “like lightning in a bottle,” as he puts it. So it’s a bit of kismet that, after his years spent fighting for a songwriting category, one of the biggest projects of his career is nominated in the award’s inaugural year.
“I keep thinking, ‘How is this happening?’ ” he asks. Win or lose, The-Dream is basking in the recognition. “It feels good,” he says. “Too good.”
This story will appear in the Feb. 4, 2023, issue of Billboard.
Demi Lovato, Sabrina Carpenter and Jimmie Allen each performed intimate sets while celebrating their fellow songwriters at the National Music Publishers’ Association (NMPA) and Billboard Grammy Week Showcase, held at Nightingale Plaza in Los Angeles on Wednesday night (Feb. 1).
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Lovato and Carpenter used the showcase to highlight the work of some of their closest collaborators, with Lovato capping off the evening by performing a pair of Holy Fvck songs — “Feed” and “4 Ever 4 Me” — that Laura Veltz, a key contributor to the album, helped create. Veltz, also a veteran pop and country songwriter, smiled from the front row as Lovato delivered both vocal showcases.
Meanwhile, Carpenter highlighted longtime studio powerhouse Amy Allen, who joined the pop star onstage for a charming duet of their shared song, “Vicious,” from last year’s Emails I Can’t Send. Carpenter then performed an acoustic version of “Nonsense,” her current fast-rising Billboard Hot 100 hit.
And before performing two of his songs — including a rousing new track titled “Small Town Anthem” as well as his hit “Down Home” — Jimmie Allen took the microphone to reflect on his career trajectory and the importance of songwriting in the country music world as a means of sharing different perspectives. “Just being part of the overall music community, it’s been great,” he told the audience. “Thanks to everyone who’s given me a shot.”
In addition to Veltz, Amy Allen and Jimmie Allen receiving songwriting honors at the showcase, Nija Charles earned the Hitmaker trophy for her wide variety of pop, hip-hop and R&B credits, including on smashes by Lady Gaga, Ariana Grande and Cardi B. Charles thanked the NMPA and Billboard for “shedding light on songwriters” as they continue to fight for artistic expression. “I never thought I would win something like this,” Charles added.
And Liz Rose, the veteran country songwriter, was also honored on Wednesday night, as a celebration of her co-write on Taylor Swift’s “All Too Well” roaring back in late 2021 when the 10-minute version of the song topped the Hot 100. Rose thanked the fans for making “All Too Well” such an enduring favorite, as well as Swift for revitalizing the song for Red (Taylor’s Version). As Rose succinctly put it, “She didn’t forget this song.”
In addition to being recognized at the event, Veltz, Amy Allen and Charles are all nominated for the songwriter of the year, non-classical Grammy, along with The-Dream and Tobias Jesso Jr. The inaugural award in the new Grammy category will be presented on Sunday night (Feb. 5).
At the upcoming 65th annual Grammy Awards, legendary rocker Ozzy Osbourne is nominated in four categories for his Patient Number 9 album, including its title track, which features the late Jeff Beck.
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In a recent interview with Billboard, Osbourne discussed his good fortune with collaborations, having worked with most of his heroes. However, he has yet to work with his biggest inspiration: Paul McCartney. A devoted Beatles fan, Osbourne has indeed reached out to McCartney in the past. “I did ask him one time,” he says, “but he came up with the excuse of, ‘Well, I couldn’t beat the bass player that was already on there.’ I went, ‘Maybe you’re right.’”
Patient Number 9 is indeed a star-studded affair. Beck, Mike McCready, Eric Clapton and former Black Sabbath bandmate Tony Iommi, plus many more, all contributed instrumentals. The co-writers are just as impressive, with Osbourne tapping Chad Smith, Ali Tamposi and the late Taylor Hawkins, among others.
“He died literally a week or two after he worked on my album,” Osbourne recalled of the Foo Fighters drummer. He shared with a laugh how Hawkins would repeatedly tell him, “Dave Grohl is my boss.” Says Osbourne, “I didn’t know if he was joking or what.”
He also discussed working with Post Malone and Miss Piggy, who according to the rocker said he “stunk.”
He also touched on what having a hit reality TV show did for his career (and to his family) and most importantly, addressed how his fans have been there for him every step of the way. “That’s the thing I really miss about not doing gigs,” he says. “I’m a hands-on guy. I like talking to my fans, I miss them terribly.”
On Wednesday (Feb. 1), Osbourne posted a note to fans on social media, saying, “This is probably one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to share with my loyal fans…” In it, he announced that his touring days have come to an end and that his scheduled European/UK tour dates have been canceled. “Believe me when I say that the thought of disappointing my fans really f—s me up, more than you will ever know.”
“My team is currently coming up with ideas for where I will be able to perform without having to travel from city to city or country to country,” he continued in the note, which echoes a hope he shared during his Billboard interview.
“My goal is to get back onstage as soon as possible.”
Watch the full interview in the video above.
The 2023 Grammys is just days away, which means music fans will soon find out who’s walking away with new golden gramophones on music’s biggest night.
Of course, part of the fun is getting to predict the winners, and today, Billboard is honing in on one question: Whose song do you think should win the Grammy for record of the year?
It’s been a few years now since the Recording Academy widened the field of its top prizes to 10 nominees, and this year’s pack of hopefuls are heavyweights across multiple genres — from pop to R&B, hip-hop and more.
As one of the Big Four categories, the race for record of the year will once again pit Beyoncé against Adele in a hotly anticipated rematch of their epic face-off back in 2017. At the time, 25 memorably — and the Beyhive would certainly say controversially — beat out Lemonade for album of the year, and Adele gave Queen Bey a teary apology during her modest acceptance speech. But which do you think deserves record of the year in 2023: Adele’s “Easy on Me” or Beyoncé’s “Break My Soul”?
The two superstars are hardly the only contenders, though. Harry Styles had one of the biggest smashes of the year with “As It Was,” which dominated the Billboard Hot 100 for 16 non-consecutive weeks — a streak that was eventually broken by first-time nominee Steve Lacy‘s No. 1 hit “Bad Habit.” Or maybe you think it’s about damn time for Lizzo to walk away with the trophy for, well, “About Damn Time.”
And don’t count out the dark horses of the field: ABBA scored its first-ever nomination last year in the same category thanks to “I Still Have Faith in You,” but could the Swedish pop pioneers clinch their first win with “Don’t Shut Me Down”? There’s also Mary J. Blige‘s “Good Morning Gorgeous,” Kendrick Lamar‘s “The Heart Part 5,” Doja Cat‘s “Woman” and Brandi Carlile‘s Lucius-assisted “You and Me on the Rock” to consider.
The 2023 Grammys will air Sunday (Feb. 5) on CBS. Vote for who you think should win record of the year below.
The In Memoriam segment at the 2023 Grammy Awards on Sunday, Feb. 5, will include breakout tributes to three diverse artists who died last fall — Loretta Lynn, Christine McVie and Takeoff.
Kacey Musgraves will perform Lynn’s 1970 classic “Coal Miner’s Daughter” in tribute to the country music legend, who died on Oct. 4 at age 90; Sheryl Crow, Mick Fleetwood and Bonnie Raitt will team to perform “Songbird” from Fleetwood Mac’s album of the year-winning Rumours to honor McVie, who died on Nov. 30 at age 79; and Maverick City Music will join Quavo for Quavo’s tender ballad “Without You” to honor his Migos colleague Takeoff, who died on Nov. 1 at just 28.
Lynn won three Grammy Awards and also received a lifetime achievement award from the Recording Academy in 2010. McVie won two Grammys as a member of Fleetwood Mac. In 2018, the band became the first group or duo to be honored at the MusiCares’ Person of the Year gala. Takeoff received two Grammy nominations as a member of Migos.
The CMA Awards on Nov. 9, 2022, opened with a tribute to Lynn by Reba McEntire, Miranda Lambert and Carrie Underwood. The segment included “Coal Miner’s Daughter” as well as “You Ain’t Woman Enough,” “Don’t Come Home A’Drinkin’ (With Lovin’ on Your Mind)” and “You’re Lookin’ at Country.”
Musgraves and Lynn teamed to perform “You’re Lookin’ at Country,” a 1971 Lynn hit, at the CMA awards in 2014.
Other performers set to appear on the Grammy telecast are Harry Styles, Lizzo, Bad Bunny, Mary J. Blige, Brandi Carlile, Luke Combs, Steve Lacy, and Sam Smith and Kim Petras.
This year’s four leading nominees – Beyoncé, Kendrick Lamar, Adele and Brandi Carlile – have yet to be announced as performers, but the Academy may be holding some big names back to build last-minute buzz.
The 65th Annual Grammy Awards will air live from Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles and will be hosted for the third year in a row by Emmy-winning comedian Trevor Noah. The show will be broadcast live on Sunday, Feb. 5, at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT on CBS. and will be available to stream live and on demand on Paramount+.
The 65th Annual Grammy Awards are produced by Fulwell 73 Productions for the Recording Academy. Raj Kapoor serves as showrunner and executive producer, alongside Ben Winston and Jesse Collins as executive producers. Phil Heyes joins the team for the first time as director. Eric Cook is co-executive producer with Tabitha Dumo, Tiana Gandelman, Patrick Menton. David Wild is producer.
As previously announced on Wednesday (Feb. 1), first lady Jill Biden and past Grammy Awards hosts James Corden and Billy Crystal will help hand out awards. Other presenters are past Grammy winners Cardi B, Olivia Rodrigo and Shania Twain; current Grammy nominee Viola Davis; and actor Dwayne Johnson.
First lady Jill Biden and past Grammy Awards hosts James Corden and Billy Crystal will help hand out awards at the 65th annual Grammy Awards on Sunday, Feb. 5.
Other presenters announced on Wednesday (Feb. 1) are current Grammy nominee Viola Davis, past Grammy winners Cardi B, Olivia Rodrigo and Shania Twain, and actor Dwayne Johnson. Davis will become an EGOT if she wins in her category, best audio book, narration, and storytelling recording, on Sunday.
Corden hosted the Grammy telecast in 2017-18. Crystal hosted from 1987-89 (after which he went on to host the Oscars nine times.) He won a Primetime Emmy for hosting the 1989 Grammy telecast.
Performers set to appear on the show are Harry Styles, Lizzo, Bad Bunny, Mary J. Blige, Brandi Carlile, Luke Combs, Steve Lacy and Sam Smith & Kim Petras.
The Recording Academy made its first performers announcement a week ago. It added a big name – Styles – on Sunday, Jan. 29. The announcement was made during the fourth quarter of the AFC Championship game between the Cincinnati Bengals and the Kansas City Chiefs. The game aired on CBS, the Grammys’ network since 1973.
This year’s four leading nominees – Beyoncé, Kendrick Lamar, Adele and Brandi Carlile – have yet to be announced as performers, but the Academy may be holding some big names back to build last-minute buzz. The Academy is expected to announce additional performers in the remaining days before the big show.
The 65th Annual Grammy Awards will air live from Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles and will be hosted for the third year in a row by Emmy-winning comedian Trevor Noah. The show will be broadcast live on Sunday, Feb. 5, at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT on CBS, and will be available to stream live and on demand on Paramount+.
The 65th Annual Grammy Awards are produced by Fulwell 73 Productions for the Recording Academy. Raj Kapoor serves as showrunner and executive producer, alongside Ben Winston and Jesse Collins as executive producers. Phil Heyes joins the team for the first time as director. Eric Cook is co-executive producer with Tabitha Dumo, Tiana Gandelman, Patrick Menton. David Wild is producer.
Prior to the telecast, the Grammy Awards Premiere Ceremony will be broadcast live from the Microsoft Theater at 12:30 p.m. PT, and it will be streamed live on live.Grammy.com. Randy Rainbow, a first-time Grammy nominee this year for best comedy album for A Little Brains, A Little Talent, is co-hosting the show. His co-host has yet to be named.
Performers at the Premiere Ceremony include Arroj Aftab, Madison Cunningham, Samara Joy, Anoushka Shankar, Carlos Vives and The Blind Boys of Alabama with La Santa Cecilia.
Presenters at the Premiere Ceremony include Babyface, Domi and JD Beck, Myles Frost, Arturo O’Farrill, Malcolm-Jamal Warner and Jimmy Jam.
Ahead of the Grammys this weekend, best new artist nominee Anitta is back for part two of her Billboard interview, sharing more of the backstory along with her plans for the next phase of her career.
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“I really wanted this because I heard so many times that it was impossible, and I wanted to prove that it was not, someone can do this,” Anitta says of the days she spent hustling in her native Brazil to make her career happen. When she was faced with the argument that Brazilians couldn’t cross over in the States, she says she simply “could not accept it.”
She tracks her hustling days, recalling the era when she’d perform in Brazil on Friday, Saturday and Sunday then fly to the States to network during the week, before flying back to Brazil to play shows on the weekend, all while taking English lessons and doing studio sessions in English to get used to recording in the language. “It was crazy,” she says, adding that she was “so tired.”
But of course, the work paid off, with Anitta crossing over in the States, particularly upon the release of her 2022 album, Versions of Me, and its big single “Envolver.” Of this success, Anitta says fans in her home country “are super happy and very supportive of me, whenever ‘Envolver’ was starting to get really really big on the charts out of Brazil, the Brazilians, they saw it and were like, ‘If you love your nation, you’ve gotta play this song.’ … When it was No. 1 global, it was a holiday.”
Anitta also reveals that she “for sure, definitely” will end her singing career in the next five or six years, saying that she loves “change, challenges and trying news things” and is eager to develop her acting career. (She notes that she’s already been invited to appear in a number of films.)
Given her penchant for both hustle and success, money is on Anitta achieving anything she sets out to get. Watch the complete interview above, and tune in to the 65th annual Grammy Awards on Sunday night at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT on CBS to see if Anitta wins for best new artist.
Following her three Grammy nominations, Muni Long is feeling… well, she’s not so sure yet.
“I think everything that’s happening right now is surreal,” she shared with Billboard R&B/hip-hop reporter Neena Rouhani in a new Billboard News video interview. “I definitely have a delayed reaction.”
The “Hrs & Hrs” singer is up for three Grammys, including best new artist, best R&B song and best R&B performance for her breakout hit. “Watching the Grammys nominations on YouTube, I was like ‘yes!’” she exclaimed. “I was like, ‘I wonder when it’s gonna hit me?’ And then I just burst out crying for like five minutes.”
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The 34-year-old artist saw great success with her 2021 viral hit “Hrs & Hrs,” following an already robust career as a songwriter for massive singers including Rihanna, Ariana Grande and Chris Brown. “Hrs & Hrs” spent three weeks atop Billboard‘s Hot R&B Songs chart, while her latest album Public Displays of Affection: The Album peaked at No. 5 on the Billboard 200.
Long also set the record straight regarding the common mispronunciation of her moniker, which Olivia Rodrigo pronounced as “mooney” during the Grammys nominee announcement stream. “I tend not to correct people when they get it wrong because once they find out how you actually pronounce it, they’ll never do it again,” she told Billboard. “They mispronounced Beyoncé at first and now everyone knows who she is.”
Long expressed special excitement for her “coveted four” best new artist nomination, noting it was the one she really wanted. She says she was a little nervous, considering that everyone doesn’t consider the longtime songwriter to be new. “In this iteration of myself as Muni Long — it is a character, a persona that I’ve created, but it’s also the real me,” she said. “As a songwriter, you have to be a certain way in order to be invited back. You can’t take up too much space. I spent the first 15 years of my career trying to be liked and not really being myself.
“To be acknowledged by my peers as one of the best new presences,” she went on, “It was just like, ‘Wow.’”
Watch the full video interview with Long above.
The Grammy Awards are taking over Los Angeles’ Crypto.com Arena on Sunday (Feb. 5), and some of the biggest names in music are going head-to-head for the song of the year award.
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GAYLE’s “abcdefu,” Lizzo’s “About Damn Time,” Taylor Swift’s “All Too Well (10 Minute Version) (The Short Film),” Harry Styles’ “As It Was,” Steve Lacy’s “Bad Habit,” Beyoncé’s “Break My Soul,” Adele’s “Easy on Me,” Kendrick Lamar’s “The Heart Part 5,” Bonnie Raitt’s “Just Like That” and DJ Khaled’s “God Did” featuring Rick Ross, Lil Wayne, Jay-Z, John Legend and Fridayy are all up for the Big Four category win.
Despite the outcome, we at Billboard want to know who you’d like to see take home the award. Let us know by voting below.
