Sunday’s Grammy Awards broadcast is set to begin with a performance by Harry Styles, who was nominated for three awards on the biggest night of the song.
“You don’t want to miss the top of the show,” says Jack Sussman, executive vice president for specials, music and live events at CBS Variety. “It will be a heavy and strong song like you’ve never seen it before. We have Harry Styles, this amazing artist, at the top of the show and we will keep coming to you. “
The hope is that the opening kick-off for the three and a half hour ceremony will calm an audience that has been hungry for live shows for a year and will be a time of renewal for the artists themselves.
Styles is a candidate for the best solo pop performance for “Watermelon Sugar”, best vocal pop album for “Fine Line” and best music video for “Adore You”. In the wake of several successful singles, their latest album has sold 2.5 million units since its release in December 2019, according to Alpha Data, moving more than 20,000 last week, an 11% gain.
For his maiden voyage as a Grammycast executive producer, Ben Winston has been working with artists for months to develop a show that is extremely ambitious in scope and production needs. Cameras will move from spaces for live performances created inside the Los Angeles Convention Center to an outdoor tent in LA Live Square. Some performances will also be recorded.
Says Sussman, a 20-year-old Grammy Awards veteran on the TV broadcast side: “We wanted to do it right for artists. It was a difficult year. This is a time for these artists to go on stage and connect with fans who are hungry for that kind of moment. We have a wonderful group of diverse musical talents – some of the best live artists on the planet. “
Sussman is preparing for seismic activity in downtown LA when the sensations of K-pop BTS take to the stage. He would give no hint about plans for their performance, except to say that fans will not be disappointed.
“It will be what you really love and want to see BTS do,” suggests Sussman. “They will have fun and involve the audience at home. They will put you up in your living room. “
Naturally, the pandemic conditions of the past 12 months have had a major impact on the planning of all aspects of this year’s program. Sussman, who has directed Grammy moments for two decades, adds that he has never seen less stress in attracting talent to the program.
“It has been easier to deal with artists because they know the boat we are on,” he says. “Everyone is trying to row in the same direction.”
A new element for this year’s presentation is a series of short films shot by filmmaker Gibson Hazard for each of the nominees for the record of the year. The films are designed to tell the stories behind the songs and the story of artists who may not be as familiar to viewers. Sussman cites the Black Pumas, nominated for “Colors”, as an act that a few years ago was singing with that song on Santa Monica’s Third Street Promenade.
Doja Cat, nominated for “Say So”, is another example of an “incredibly talented” newcomer, offers Sussman. The films aim to “provide some context around these nominees so that you get a sense of who they are before they go on stage”.
Winston and his team were unfortunate enough to take on an enormous production (after two years of apprenticeship with Grammy executive producer Ken Ehrlich) in extraordinary pandemic circumstances that required much of the program to be reinvented. But, in retrospect, the timing of Ehrlich’s transfer to Winston was timely.
Winston “is coming up with a new way of seeing everything,” says Sussman. “He does not use experiential blinders because ‘this is how we have always done it'”.
Grammy presenter for the first time, Trevor Noah, doing the nightly work of Comedy Central’s “Daily Show”, also brings a freshness to the broadcast. “He’s excited, he can’t wait to get there,” says Sussman. “He is the perfect host for the Grammy in 2021.”
As always, Sussman is consumed in the days leading up to the big night with all the things that need to work out for the team to do 210 minutes of live musical shows.
“For the viewer at home, this is not going to be a remote broadcast from Zoom,” he emphasizes. “You will enjoy yourself as if you were watching Staples with 14,000 other fans.”
The Grammy Awards will be broadcast live on CBS at the Los Angeles Convention Center at 8 pm ET / 5 pm PT on Sunday, March 14.