Let the music play! Here’s how to watch the 2021 Grammys on TV and online
The pandemic-delayed 63rd Grammy Awards are coming to television Sunday evening, complete with a red-carpet preshow and musical guests performing — according to the Recording Academy — “together, while still safely apart.”
The academy’s annual ceremony, which typically happens at the end of January or early February and was originally set for Jan. 31 this year, will honor music released between Sept. 1, 2019, and Aug. 31, 2020. Last year’s show escaped the pandemic, airing Jan. 26, 2020.
In addition to honoring performers, the event will turn a spotlight on the personnel who work at independent venues hit hard by the pandemic, including the Troubador and Hotel Café in L.A., the Apollo Theater in New York City and the Station Inn in Nashville. Those employees will present more than half of the night’s awards, the academy said.
Ben Winston, first-time producer of the Grammys, must deal with the pandemic, declining ratings and the absence of Beyoncé: ‘I like the challenge.’
“This has been an extraordinarily challenging year for everyone and the music world in particular. So many of us have endured disruptions to our lives and livelihoods, as well as concerns about our health and the health of the people close to us,” Harvey Mason Jr., interim president and CEO of the Recording Academy, said in the digital Grammys program for 2021.
The 2021 Grammys will be broadcast from “in and around” the Los Angeles Convention Center within walking distance of Staples Center, the event’s traditional site. There will be no in-person guests at the show, which will be hosted by Trevor Noah of “The Daily Show.”
Here’s what viewers can expect.
Our experts forecast wins for Beyoncé’s ‘Black Parade’ and Taylor Swift’s ‘Folklore,’ and that the odds may be stacked against Megan Thee Stallion.
What time is the ceremony? And where can I watch?
CBS will broadcast the Grammys live for 3 and 1/2 hours, starting at 5 p.m. Pacific. The show will also stream live on the new Paramount+ streaming service, CBS.com and the CBS app. The latter two are free with a TV provider sign-in.
Starting at noon Pacific, CBS will stream the “63rd Grammy Awards Premiere Ceremony” live at Grammy.com. Performers on the academy’s digital preshow include Burna Boy, Terri Lyne Carrington + Social Science, Jimmy “Duck” Holmes, Igor Levit, Lido Pimienta, Poppy and Rufus Wainwright. It’ll also feature an all-nominee performance of Marvin Gaye’s “Mercy, Mercy Me (The Ecology).”
Separately, “Grammy Live” will go behind the scenes with backstage experiences, pre-show interviews and post-show highlights, streaming all day Sunday via Facebook Live and on Grammy.com.
Also ahead of the awards, E! will air four hours of programming: “E! Countdown to the Red Carpet” at 1 p.m. Pacific and “E! Live From the Red Carpet” at 3 p.m. Pacific.
And the nominees are...?
Beyoncé leads the field with nine nominations, including song and record of the year for “Black Parade”; Taylor Swift is close behind with six, including song of the year for “Cardigan” and album of the year for “Folklore.” Tunes performed by Roddy Ricch, Post Malone, Dua Lipa, Billie Eilish, H.E.R. and JP Saxe round out the nominees for song of the year, which honors songwriters.
Best new artist nominees are Ingrid Andress, Phoebe Bridgers, Chika, Noah Cyrus, D Smoke, Doja Cat, Kaytranada and Megan Thee Stallion.
See the full list of nominees here.
Taylor Swift, Phoebe Bridgers, Harry Styles, Jacob Collier and BTS are just some of the Grammy-nominated artists who have performed on NPR’s Tiny Desk Concert.
Who’s performing?
The Grammys are known for pairing unexpected acts for live performances. This year’s players include Bad Bunny, Black Pumas, Cardi B, BTS, Brandi Carlile, DaBaby, Doja Cat, Billie Eilish, Mickey Guyton, Haim, Brittany Howard, Miranda Lambert, Lil Baby, Dua Lipa, Chris Martin, John Mayer, Megan Thee Stallion, Maren Morris, Post Malone, Roddy Ricch and Harry Styles.
BTS, the mega-popular Korean-pop group, is leading a poll on the Grammys website that asked who people were most excited about seeing perform Sunday. Styles was second and Eilish was third. BTS also performed Friday at the “Music on a Mission” virtual concert to raise money for the academy’s MusiCares charity.
Dua Lipa is nominated for six Grammy Awards, second only to Beyoncé. But unlike the music of many of her chart peers, her songs resist a closely personal read.
Swift will also perform, along with collaborators Aaron Dessner of the National and producer-musician Jack Antonoff. The three singer-songwriters, who have met in person only once this past year despite working together on two albums, “Folklore” and “Evermore,” are quarantining together this week in the same house, Swift said.
Will anyone be watching?
At this point, nobody has a clue — but if the Golden Globes broadcast bust from two weeks ago is any indication, it could be another disaster. Maybe the lure of music played live will save the day? Tune in to find out.
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