The 2024 Grammys are almost upon us, which will provide the answer to this year’s biggest Grammy-related question — and we don’t mean whether Taylor Swift will make history as the first artist to win album of the year four times. We mean: Can you make it through the whole thing?
The telecast is scheduled to run three and a half hours, from 8 p.m. to 11:30 p.m. ET, but veteran Grammy watchers know that the day actually begins at 3:30 p.m. ET with what the Recording Academy rather grandly calls the Premiere Ceremony, but what you probably call the pre-telecast awards. More than 80 of the 94 Grammy categories are announced on that show, which will stream on the Recording Academy’s YouTube channel and on live.GRAMMY.com.
If you manage to make it through both shows, that’s eight hours – assuming the telecast doesn’t run over (which it often does). So, it’s not only Music’s Biggest Night, it’s Music’s Longest Day and Night.
As always, the telecast will have something for everybody. Performers range from 20-year-old superstar Olivia Rodrigo to music legend Joni Mitchell, who is still adding to her considerable legacy at 80.
The show will be held at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles, where it has been held for 21 of the past 25 years. U2 is set to take the stage from Sphere just outside Las Vegas, where the band’s acclaimed U2:UV Achtung Baby Live at Sphere show is playing. It will be the first live broadcast from the venue.
Billy Joel will perform his just-released single “Turn the Lights Back On.”
Luke Combs and Tracy Chapman will team to perform “Fast Car,” which Combs revived last year. His version, a pop and country smash, is nominated for best country solo vocal performance. Chapman’s original version won 35 years ago for best pop vocal performance, female. Chapman performed the song to close the 1989 telecast.
Other expected collaborations are Burna Boy (with 21 Savage and Brandy) and Mitchell (with Brandi Carlile).
Trevor Noah will host the Grammys for the fourth consecutive year. He received a nod for best comedy album for I Wish You Would, and is vying to become only the second Grammy host to win a Grammy that same night. The first was Kenny Rogers, who won best country vocal performance, male for “The Gambler” in 1980, when he hosted the show for the first of two times.
It is unknown whether Taylor Swift will perform, though CBS has promoted the fact that she will be “in the building” to accept any awards she may win. Any additional performers will be added to this report as they are announced.
Songwriter Justin Tranter will host the Premiere Ceremony live from Peacock Theater, which is adjacent to Crypto. Tranter is nominated for songwriter of the year, non-classical in recognition of their work with such artists as Miley Cyrus, Måneskin and Reneé Rapp. This is just the second year that that award has been presented and the first since the category was bumped up to the General Field, which also includes the Big Four categories – album, record and song of the year plus best new artist.
Producer of the year, non-classical was also bumped up to the General Field this year. Jack Antonoff is vying to become the first producer to take that award three years running since Babyface, who won it three in a row from 1996 to 1998.
Presenters on the main telecast include Samara Joy, last year’s surprise winner for best new artist, and Meryl Streep, who is nominated for best audio book, narration and storytelling recording for Big Tree. If she wins, it will be her first Grammy, after seven nominations. Streep has won three Oscars and three Primetime Emmys.
Performers on the Premiere Ceremony will include Harvey Mason (not the CEO of the Recording Academy – that’s Harvey Mason Jr.). The elder Mason, a highly regarded drummer, amassed 10 Grammy nominations between 1975 and 2009.
The 66th annual Grammy Awards will be held on Sunday, Feb. 4, live on both coasts beginning at 8 p.m. ET on CBS, and will stream live and on-demand on Paramount+. The show will be produced by Fulwell 73 Productions for the Recording Academy for the fourth consecutive year. Ben Winston, Raj Kapoor and Jesse Collins are executive producers.
The Premiere Ceremony will stream live that same day, beginning at 3:30 p.m. ET on the Recording Academy’s YouTube channel and on live.GRAMMY.com. This year’s Premiere Ceremony is produced by Branden Chapman, Ruby Marchand, Chantel Sausedo, and Rex Supa on behalf of the Recording Academy. Greg V. Fera is executive producer and Cheche Alara is music producer and music director.
Main Telecast
Host
Trevor Noah
Performers
Burna Boy (with 21 Savage and Brandy)
Luke Combs (with Tracy Chapman)
Billie Eilish
Billy Joel
Dua Lipa
Joni Mitchell (with Brandi Carlile)
Olivia Rodrigo
Travis Scott
SZA
U2
Presenters
Christina Aguilera
Samara Joy
Lenny Kravitz
Maluma
Lionel Richie
Mark Ronson
Meryl Streep
Taylor Tomlinson
Oprah Winfrey
Premiere Ceremony (pre-telecast awards)
Host
Justin Tranter
Performers
Adam Blackstone
Brandy Clark
Bob James
Gaby Moreno
Harvey Mason
J. Ivy, Larkin Poe, Pentatonix, Sheila E., Jordin Sparks (opening number)
Kirk Franklin
Laufey
Robert Glasper
Terrace Martin
Presenters
Carly Pearce
Jimmy Jam
Molly Tuttle
Natalia Lafourcade
Patti Austin
Rufus Wainwright
