By Lisa Richwine
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – The Grammy Awards take center stage in Los Angeles on Sunday at a celebration that will honor the best of music while acknowledging the deadly wildfires that scarred a hub of the industry.
Beyonce will compete for the top Grammy prize of album of the year with her country record “Cowboy Carter.” The superstar singer has never won the album trophy despite winning 32 career Grammys, more than any other musician.
Also in the running for album of the year are megastar Taylor Swift for “The Tortured Poets Department” and Billie Eilish for “Hit Me Hard and Soft.”
The ceremony will be broadcast live on CBS starting at 8 p.m. ET (0100 GMT on Monday) from the Crypto.com Arena in downtown Los Angeles. Comedian Trevor Noah returns to host the telecast, which will be part awards show, part fundraiser for musicians and others impacted by the recent fires. Hundreds of people in the music business were among those who lost homes in the disaster.
“It will be a little tricky to pull off, but I’m starting to think they’re going to be able to do it,” said Paul Grein, awards editor at music publication Billboard. With the fires under control, “people can take a breather and express gratitude and relief that we made it through that.”
Eilish and best new artist nominees Chappell Roan, Sabrina Carpenter, Benson Boone and Teddy Swims are among the night’s scheduled performers. The show will feature a tribute to Quincy Jones, the prolific music producer who died in November.
At last year’s Grammys, Beyonce’s husband and rapper Jay-Z argued that voters had not given proper recognition to Black artists including his wife. Grammy winners are chosen by the 13,000 singers, songwriters, producers, engineers and others who make up the Recording Academy.
“I don’t want to embarrass this young lady, but she has more Grammys than anyone and never won album of the year. So even by your own metrics, that doesn’t work,” Jay-Z said on stage.
“Cowboy Carter” was viewed by experts and fans as a reclamation and homage to an overlooked legacy of Black Americans within country music and culture. It became the first album by a Black woman to land at No. 1 on the Billboard Top Country Albums chart when it was released last spring.
The Beyonce album was snubbed, however, by voters for the Country Music Awards in their nominations in September.
The “Cowboy Carter” nomination is Beyonce’s fifth entry in the album of the year category. Swift has won the honor a record four times, including last year for “Midnights.”
Beyonce leads all Grammy nominees this year with 11 nods, followed by Eilish, Charli XCX, Kendrick Lamar and Post Malone with seven nominations each. Swift landed six nominations and will present one of the night’s awards.
Beyonce’s other Grammy nods include record and song of the year for single “Texas Hold ‘Em.”
Competitors for song of the year, an award for songwriters, are Eilish for “Birds of a Feather,” Carpenter for “Please Please Please” and Roan for “Good Luck, Babe!”
In record of the year, nominees include Carpenter’s “Espresso” and Swift’s duet with Post Malone, “Fortnight.”
(Reporting by Lisa Richwine; Editing by Mary Milliken and Diane Craft)
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