LOS ANGELES — This year’s awards season is shaping up to be unlike any other, with the long arm of COVID reaching into Hollywood mainstays like the Golden Globes and now the Grammys. When the Recording Academy presents the 63rd Annual Grammy Awards Sunday, it will happen with BTS, Billie Eilish, Cardi B, Dua Lipa, and 19 other artists performing live at the Staples Center. They’ll just be doing it without an audience.
“This is a Grammys ceremony that is going to look very similar in some ways with superstars Beyonce and Taylor Swift competing for the big prizes, and very different in other ways given the times we are living in,” said entertainment journalist Sandro Monetti, who has been covering the Grammys for 20 years. “In contrast to the virtually unwatchable virtual awards shows we’ve endured recently, I’m confident this one will entertain.”
Ben Winston is producing the show. The co-executive producer of The Late Late Show with James Corden and one of the masterminds behind “Carpool Karaoke,” he “is no stranger to creating memorable TV moments,” Monetti said.
So what else can we expect from this year’s Grammys? Monetti weighs in with his picks.
Nominees: Chilombo by Jhené Aiko, Black Pumas (Deluxe Edition) by Black Pumas, Everyday Life by Coldplay, Djesse Vol. 3 by Jacob Collier, Women In Music Pt. III by Haim, Future Nostalgia by Dua Lipa, Hollywood’s Bleeding by Post Malone, Folklore by Taylor Swift
Taylor Swift will make history and become the first female artist to have three albums win album of the year at the Grammy Awards. The winner here will be Folklore, which was her very different, more introspective album made and released during the pandemic. Folklore broke the record for the biggest opening day on Spotify for an album by a female act, but the critics loved it too, not just the public. Swift won some of the best reviews of her career for this folk-leaning album and showed real advances in her songwriting and real progress as an artist. She’s still at the top, and I think she’s going to stay there with a win in album of the year.
(Photo by Charles Sykes/Invision/AP)
Nominees: “Black Parade” by Beyoncé, “Colors” by Black Pumas, “Rockstar” by DaBaby featuring Roddy Ricch, “Say So” by Doja Cat, “Everything I Wanted” by Billie Eilish, “Don’t Start Now” by Dua Lipa, “Circles” by Post Malone, “Savage” by Megan Thee Stallion featuring Beyoncé
It’s going to go to the dance track that I was dancing around my kitchen to and so were millions of others during the pandemic. That’s Dua Lipa and her record "Don’t Start Now." It was almost like disco is back. She sampled Gloria Gaynor’s "I Will Survive" on this track, so she reached back to the past but somehow created something new and very 21st century. Dua Lipa won best new artist at the Grammys last year, and she’s really shown her progression. I think she’ll take record of the year this year.
(Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP, file)
Nominees: “Black Parade” by Denisia Andrews, Beyoncé, Stephen Bray, Shawn Carter, Brittany Coney, Derek James Dixie, Akil King, Kim “Kaydence” Krysiuk & Rickie “Caso” Tice, songwriters (Beyoncé); “The Box” by Samuel Gloade & Rodrick Moore, songwriters (Roddy Ricch); “Cardigan” by Aaron Dessner & Taylor Swift, songwriters (Taylor Swift); “Circles” by Louis Bell, Adam Feeney, Kaan Gunesberk, Austin Post & Billy Walsh, songwriters (Post Malone); “Don’t Start Now” by Caroline Ailin, Ian Kirkpatrick, Dua Lipa & Emily Warren, songwriters (Dua Lipa); “Everything I Wanted” by Billie Eilish O’Connell & Finneas O’Connell, songwriters (Billie Eilish); “I Can’t Breathe” by Dernst Emile II, H.E.R. & Tiara Thomas, songwriters (H.E.R.); “If The World Was Ending” by Julia Michaels & JP Saxe, songwriters (JP Saxe Featuring Julia Michaels)
I can’t see anything else but a win for Beyonce with "Black Parade." This was not only a very powerful and superb release, it was a timely one. It was released on Juneteenth, and it celebrated Black people during the most racially divided period for many decades. It came out in the wake of the deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and others. Something else to admire beyond the wonderful music and message here is the proceeds from that record were donated to over 200 Black-owned businesses. With "Black Parade," Beyonce starts her victory parade. "Black Parade" is also going to win best R&B song pretty certainly as well.
(AP Photo/Ben Margot, File)
Nominees: Ingrid Andress, Phoebe Bridgers, Chika, Noah Cyrus, D Smoke, Doja Cat, Kaytranada, Megan Thee Stallion
I’m absolutely certain 100%, and I’ll probably risk my credibility as a showbiz reporter saying this, but Megan Thee Stallion is going to cap off her superb breakthrough by winning the best new artist award. She, of course, teamed up with Beyonce, one of her idols, on "Savage," and I think that will also win best rap song.
(Photo by Victoria Will /Invision/AP)
Nominees: “Yummy” by Justin Bieber, “Say So” by Doja Cat, “Don’t Start Now” by Dua Lipa, “Everything I Wanted” by Billie Eilish, “Watermelon Sugar” by Harry Styles, “Cardigan” by Taylor Swift
This is a hard one to predict. Harry Styles could very well take the win with "Watermelon Sugar," but I feel last year’s big winner at the Grammys, Billie Eilish, will return to the victory circle here for the single “Everything I Wanted.” Being the darling of the Grammys in 2020, I can see her winning at least one again this year, and her best chance is best pop solo.
(AP Photo/John Locher)
Nominees: “Shameika” by Fiona Apple, “Not” by Big Thief, “Kyoto” by Phoebe Bridgers, “The Steps” by Haim, “Stay High” by Brittany Howard, “Daylight” by Grace Potter
It’s really interesting and a huge credit to the Recording Academy that it’s an all-female lineup. Rock has been seen as such a male-dominated genre for so many years, but 2020 was finally the year that women ruled the rock genre. All the performances here are so critically acclaimed, and it’s a hard choice, but my prediction is Fiona Apple for "Shameika." She has charted in four successive decades, and she’s been Grammy-nominated 11 times, but she's only ever won once. I think she makes it two here and gets her second Grammy. She’s the survivor of rock from Lilith Fair to Los Angeles in the ‘90s to the Grammys stage in 2021. She’s awesome, she’s inspiring, and wow, can she rock.
(AP Photo/Jack Plunkett, file)