News January 6, 2022

2022 Grammy Awards have been postponed indefinitely

The 2022 Grammy Awards have been postponed indefinitely by The Recording Academy as a result of the troubling Omicron variant.

As reported by Billboard earlier this week, multiple sources stated that postponement to a later date was almost an inevitability. The 64th Grammys were due to take place on Monday, January 31st in Los Angeles.

The cancellation has now come to fruition, as explained by a statement released by The Recording Academy on Wednesday (as per SPIN). This is the second consecutive year that the ceremony has been impacted by COVID-19. Last year’s show was pushed back from January 31st to March 14th due to an increase in COVID figures in L.A.. It was also moved from Staples Center to the Los Angeles Convention Center to allow for less crowding.

“After careful consideration and analysis with city and state officials, health and safety experts, the artist community and our many partners, the Recording Academy and CBS have postponed the 64th Annual GRAMMY Awards Show,” the statement reads. “The health and safety of those in our music community, the live audience, and the hundreds of people who work tirelessly to produce our show remains our top priority.

Given the uncertainty surrounding the Omicron variant, holding the show on January 31st simply contains too many risks. We look forward to celebrating Music’s Biggest Night on a future date, which will be announced soon.”

The nominations for the 2022 Grammys were announced back in November. The Late Show with Stephen Colbert bandleader Jon Batiste led the way with 11 nominations, followed closely by Doja Cat, H.E.R., and Justin Bieber with eight nods apiece. Australia was also well-represented in the nominations list.

This year’s nominees list was notable for having a huge 10 nominees in each of the Big Four categories – Album, Record, and Song of the Year, as well as Best New Artist. According to a newly published report from the New York Times, the Grammys made the decision to expand the number of nominees in the main categories a mere 24 hours before the nominations lists for the 2022 ceremony were set to be announced.

The show was due to be hosted by The Daily Show host Trevor Noah, who also hosted last year’s show. Hamish Hamilton, who succeeded Louis J. Horvitz as director last year, was also set to return as director for the second year.