UPDATED: 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, Harry Styles and Taylor Swift will perform at the Grammy Awards on Sunday, March 14, the Recording Academy announced.
Almost all artists are nominated, and several – including Styles, Megan Thee Stallion, Bad Bunny, DaBaby, Doja Cat and Guyton – will make their Grammy debut.
The ceremony takes place “in and around” the Los Angeles Convention Center, under strict COVID protocol. “The artists will be coming together, although still safe apart, to play music for each other as a community and celebrate the music that unites us all,” according to the announcement. The audience will be limited to artists, nominees and a small number of their guests.
In an interview with Variety, Grammy debuting executive producer Ben Winston said that some performances will be pre-recorded. And while the honorees will gather in a room – a really big one in the cavernous convention center – there will be four stages, each set up for the round with a small number of artists, nominees and guests grouped around it.
“We designed a scenario that you could argue that makes it an even more exciting show,” says Winston. “The artists and nominees are each other’s audiences, so it’s a room of incredible musicians, all safely separated from each other, and every 45 minutes new groups arrive and the [previous] four come out. “
In addition, the show will pay homage to the independent music venues in the country, which were greatly affected by the pandemic. Workers at New York’s Apollo Theater, Nashville Station Inn and Troubadour and Hotel Café (both in Los Angeles) will present the awards in various categories overnight.
Winston said: “Venues are an integral part of the music community – some of the best shows we’ve seen have been at Troubadour or my favorite little London venue. So we decided that this year, the majority of the awards will be given by great characters who work in these places – bartenders, security guards, porters – and I love the idea that the album of the year can be distributed to people. It is the people who make these places historic, and this allows us to highlight the great work they do and the fact that they have been unemployed for so long – and show that we have not forgotten them in ‘Music’s Biggest Night’, and remind our audience that when all this is over, they go back to their favorite place. “
Winston also explained the reason behind announcing all the artists at once, instead of the traditional slow drip in the weeks leading up to the show. “Yes, we go ahead at once, all at the same time, so there is no hierarchy. We are doing a lot of things differently this year, so we can start with how we advertise the artists. I think when you advertise two at a time, four at a time, people say, ‘There’s not enough of this or that’ or ‘Where’s so and so?’ We have a really impressive group, and that way you see the breadth and variety of the artists that we have on the show. “
Presented by Trevor Noah, CBS and the Recording Academy present the 63rd Grammy Awards, broadcast live on Sunday, March 14, 2021, at 8:00 pm ET / 5:00 pm PT on the CBS Television Network and also available for live broadcast and under demand at Paramount +.
Grammys are produced by Fulwell 73 Productions for the Recording Academy. Winston is the executive producer, Jesse Collins and Raj Kapoor are executive co-producers, Fatima Robinson, Josie Cliff and David Wild are the producers, Patrick Menton is the talent producer and Hamish Hamilton is the director.