On Thursday (Feb. 1), Spotify’s annual Best New Artist Grammy week party took over Paramount’s Stage 14 in Hollywood — the site of productions for Top Gun, Star Trek, Glee and more.
The evening featured performances from seven of this year’s Best New Artist nominees: Gracie Abrams, Ice Spice, Jelly Roll, Coco Jones, Noah Kahan, Victoria Monét and The War and Treaty (Fred Again is notably out of the country for his first Grammys week).
As guests pulled up to the lot, they were greeted by a larger-than-life size sign featuring all of the nominees. And upon entrance, they were engulfed in a Dunkin’ dream (the event’s only party sponsor) complete with custom cocktails and donut flavors, exclusive merch and more.
The performance space itself was packed with guests including Renee Rapp, Kesha, FINNEAS, Becky G, Conan Gray and more, all tuning in to see their peers perform 15-minute sets of their most-loved songs. For his impassioned set, Jelly Roll welcomed surprise guest Lainey Wilson to the stage to duet on “Save Me.” And after Abrams performed her own set, she later reappeared to perform “Everywhere, Everything” alongside fellow nominee Kahan. “I’d die for this Spotify Best New Artist party,” said Kahan, riffing on the lyrics to his hit “Dial Drunk.” He later quipped: “We’re Mumford & Sons,” clearly enjoying himself.
Ice Spice closed out the night with a two-song set that fittingly opened with her latest single, “Think U The S–t (Fart).” Despite it’s eyebrow-raising title, the packed room quickly filled up with phones in the air to record the track’s live debut — a humorous moment that will surely be worth recalling for attendees.
