The Staples Center in Los Angeles is best known as home to basketball’s glamour side, the Lakers – but it will be the scene of high drama of a different kind when the leading lights of the music industry gather there on Sunday for the Grammy Awards.
Grandly billed as “music’s biggest night”, the US record industry’s annual prize-giving gala spent several decades as a sort of stuffy grandpa to MTV’s fresher, cooler Video Music Awards.
Times have changed: the Grammys are now younger, edgier, and this year’s event is shaping up to be particularly fiery. Despite a big rap/R&B presence at the 59th edition, some of the biggest stars – including Drake, Kanye West, Justin Bieber and Frank Ocean – are threatening a boycott due to a perceived lack of diversity.
And Here’s Your Host
James Corden has baggage when it comes to hosting big music-awards shows. For five years, the London-born talk-show star hosted the United Kingdom's top music bash, the Brit Awards, which sometimes went less than smoothly. In 2012, for example, he made front-page headlines after Adele reacted angrily to him rudely cutting short her acceptance speech. They made up, in part through one of his popular Carpool Karaoke TV spots. Will Corden attempt some karaoke duets on the night with the stars? Or – given his recent viral video berating Donald Trump's Muslim travel ban – will he get political?
Get the Message
Last year two big statements overshadowed the prize-giving: Taylor Swift’s girl-power speech (which also took an angry swipe at these awards, and Kanye West); and Kendrick Lamar’s devastating black history lesson, distilled into a five-minute performance. A year on, with America in even greater political turmoil, it will be fascinating to see how the stars express their outrage, or otherwise. Unlike some shows – notably the Super Bowl – the Grammy organisers are going with it. “People want, or actually have the need, to express their feelings about where we are,” said executive producer Ken Ehrlich. No doubt he will be hovering over the “bleep” button anyway.
The Grammy goes to …
Beyoncé – as ever – will be front and centre. Not only is Mrs Knowles-Carter carrying twins, she could conceivably carry away a mighty new record, too. Nominated for nine awards, she needs eight to become the most-successful female Grammy winner ever, beating Alison Krauss, who has 27. It could be an awkward night if Drake and Kanye do stay home and win big – they are nominated for eight each, as is Rihanna, a no-show last year. All this might help Chance the Rapper’s chances. He’s up for seven awards, taking on the disaffected duo in several rap categories. Will the voting favour the guy in the room?
Song of the Year, or Record of the Year?
Two of the most coveted awards, these categories sound oddly similar, but reward different things: Song of the Year is about the songwriting, while Record of the Year honours production and performance. Adele's Hello is up for both, and she will be hoping for better luck than last year, when sound problems affected her live performance. The ubiquitous single must surely win the song prize, with Beyoncé's bolder Fortune nailing best record – but don't write off a huge outsider: Danish pop band Lukas Graham lurk in both categories with their poignant anthem Seven Years. That really would raise eyebrows.
Any other shocks?
Chance the Rapper might seem a cert for another prestigious award, Best New Artist, but some pundits predict he will lose to country starlet Maren Morris – could it be the birth of a Kanye/Taylor Swift rivalry for the next decade? The usual suspects – Beyoncé, Adele, Bieber, Drake – contest Album of the Year, but don’t write off country outsider Sturgill Simpson. Beck unexpectedly beat Beyoncé to that award in 2015, after all, a result that compelled Kanye to interrupt Beck’s speech, having done something similar to Swift at the 2009 VMAs. This year he may be shouting at the TV.
Who won’t win big?
The Grammies celebrated Bowie last year, shortly after his death, but his final release, Blackstar, was surprisingly ignored on this year's Best Album shortlist. Radiohead missed out, too, in a curiously quiet year for guitar bands. If they beat Bowie to the Best Alternative Album consolation prize, they will probably dedicate it to him. Justin Timberlake's movie anthem, Can't Stop the Feeling, was heavily touted as the sound of last summer, but misses out on big awards here: it's up for the less sexy Best Song Written for Visual Media. And if you wonder why Frank Ocean's album Blonde wasn't nominated, it's because he did not enter it for consideration.
What else to look out for?
There are 84 awards in total, many of which will be presented at a pre-show event, and some seriously niche honours: Best Engineering, Surround Sound, even Liner Notes. You will find many big names competing for less-glamorous Grammies: Amy Schumer in both the Comedy and Spoken Word sections, Cyndi Lauper and Steve Martin in the Musical Theatre category, while Rihanna, Bon Iver and Bowie battle it out for Best Packaging.
As well as honouring excellence, the Grammy Awards is also known for show-stopping performances by an eclectic array of leading artists. Here are some of the musical highlights to look forward to during the evening.
Honouring Prince
The performance side of the Grammys is sure to be emotional again this year. Last year’s ceremony featured a memorable tribute to the recently-departed David Bowie by Lady Gaga and Chic-legend Nile Rodgers. This time we can expect a substantial Prince medley, probably featuring Bruno Mars (even though he’s more of a Michael Jackson guy, really).
Beyoncé
A relatively late addition to the bill, Beyoncé might well show some Prince love, too, as she performed with him back at the 2004 event. And, yes, she is pregnant with twins, but expecting a baby has not stopped Grammy performers in the past. In 2009, for example, M.I.A. took to the stage on her due date.
A Tribe Called Quest
Last year was intense for legendary hip-hoppers A Tribe Called Quest, who released an acclaimed, Grammy-nominated comeback album, We Got It from Here, but also lost founder member Phife Dawg. The void was set to be filled at the Grammys by emerging rapper Anderson .Paak and Foo Fighters' frontman Dave Grohl, but Grohl pulled out saying that he had been announced prematurely. Watch this space.
Alicia Keys and Maren Morris
Rap/R&B and country music figure heavily this year, and those worlds collide in one of the ceremony’s highest-profile hookups, as Alicia Keys (pictured) duets with country starlet Maren Morris. The hefty posse of country acts lined up – Keith Urban, Sturgill Simpson, Carrie Underwood, and the band Little Big Town – suggests a cowboy hat-sporting supergroup, who will probably pay tribute to Merle Haggard who died in April.
Daft Punk and The Weeknd
The most eagerly-awaited performance? Adele, Metallica and John Legend also feature, but the real showstopper is likely to be robot-masked techno wizards Daft Punk teaming up with R&B rebel The Weeknd, in the latest of their fine run of recent collaborations. Given the French duo's insistence on striking visuals, expect the Staples Center to transform into something resembling their cameo in Tron: Legacy.
• The Grammy Awards ceremony starts at 5am on Monday, UAE time. Watch it live on www.live.grammy.com
artslife@thenational.ae
