Last updated on December 17th, 2022 at 02:01 pm
Grammy Awards 2022 Las Vegas: The Grammys will be broadcast live for the first time in history on Sunday, one year after the coronavirus pandemic forced organizers to revamp the broadcast with a cabaret-style show centered on performances.
The music industry’s most prestigious awards show comes just a week after a shocking twist at the Oscars, which saw Will Smith slap Chris Rock onstage over a bad joke.
The incident is sure to result in tighter stage security and script vetting in Sin City, but there’s always room for things to get weird at the Grammys.
Here’s a rundown of the event, which will be hosted by comedian Trevor Noah:
Here are five things to look out in Grammy Awards 2022
– Presidential hat trick? –
Barack Obama has a strong chance of winning his third Grammy in the ever-eclectic Best Spoken Word Album category, which includes poetry, audio books, and storytelling.
Former President Barack Obama is up for an award for his autobiography “A Promised Land,” two years after his wife Michelle won an award for the audiobook of her memoir “Becoming.”
Dave Chappelle, Don Cheadle, poet J. Ivy, and LeVar Burton, who will host the pre-broadcast ceremony, will compete with Obama, who won the award in both 2006 and 2008.
–Will the Carters show? –
With 83 nominations, rap mogul Jay Z became the most nominated artist in Grammy history when the nominees were announced in November.
He was previously tied for 80th place with legendary producer Quincy Jones.
Jay Z’s wife Beyonce became the show’s most decorated singer in history with 28 career wins at last year’s ceremony.
So far, the Brooklyn rap billionaire has amassed a total of 23 gramophones.
However, he has never won in a major category, a problem shared by Beyonce, who, despite having the most Grammy wins, has only won once in the “big four” categories.
The Recording Academy is frequently chastised for being too white and male, and for relegating Black artists to rap and R&B categories while refusing to give them top honors.
With eight nominations, Jay Z was the frontrunner in 2018, but he didn’t win a single award.
Needless to say, the couple did not attend the 2019 ceremony, but they did win one award: Best Urban Contemporary Album.
It’s unclear whether Jay and Bey will make the trip to Vegas on Sunday.
Tony and Lady Gaga –
Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga are riding high on the success of their second duet album, “Love For Sale,” which received six Grammy nominations.
Bennett’s career ended with this album, which was his 61st and final studio album.
Through a different collection of duets with Gaga, who became his friend and touring companion, the now 95-year-old became the oldest person ever to reach number one on the US album sales chart in 2014.
The legendary singer recently revealed that he has been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease, a diagnosis he had kept hidden for years.
Bennett has stopped touring, but it’s not out of the question that he’ll show up at Gaga’s side on Sunday.
The 36-year-old pop sensation closed last week’s Oscars ceremony alongside Liza Minnelli, another 20th-century icon Gaga is said to be friends with.
– Kanye antics –
Kanye West, whose legal name is now Ye, released an album this year and last, but it’s his questionable behavior that has cemented his status as music’s chaos agent at-large.
He received five nominations this year, the majority for his album “Donda,” and will compete in the best album category with longtime rival Taylor Swift, who has her only chance at Grammy gold for “evermore” in 2022.
Neither is a clear favorite to take home the prize.
But since West’s infamous “I’mma let you finish” stunt at the MTV Video Music Awards in 2009, when he walked onstage and interrupted the then-19-year-old as she accepted the award for Best Female Video, the entire world has been Ye’s stage.
West has been launching personal attacks on comedian Pete Davidson, who is dating West’s ex-wife Kim Kardashian, for weeks.
West was reportedly removed from the performance lineup by the Recording Academy due to his sometimes troubling behavior, but some sources said he could still be added at the last minute.
He’s still invited to the ceremony, in any case. If the Oscars taught us anything, it’s that anything can happen, even with seven-second broadcast delays and bleeps.
Will Olivia Rodrigo win?
Billie Eilish won the “big four” awards — Album of the Year, Song of the Year, Record of the Year, and Best New Artist — two years ago, and viral pop sensation Olivia Rodrigo has a chance to do it again.
The former Disney channel actress has a total of seven nominations, including all four of the most prestigious categories. During her meteoric rise to pop’s upper echelons last year, she set streaming records.
Rodrigo, 19, is one of a slew of pop stars nominated this year, including Justin Bieber and Doja Cat.
The “drivers license” singer, as well as BTS, Billie Eilish, Lil Nas X, H.E.R., and nominations frontrunner Jon Batiste, are all set to perform.
Read also: Will Smith Resigns From The Academy Following Backlash Over Chris Rock’s Slap Oscars 2022
