64th Annual GRAMMY AWARDS Officially Postponed Due To COVID-19-Related Concerns

BLABBERMOUTH.NET

The 64th annual Grammy Awards, which was originally set to take place January 31 at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles, has been officially postponed to an as-yet-unspecified later date due to the omicron variant. A joint statement from the Recording Academy and its television partner, CBS, issued on Wednesday (January 5), reads as follows: "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 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." Last year, the 63rd annual Grammy Awards was also postponed due to concerns over the spread of COVID-19. The show eventually happened on March 14, 2021 at the Los Angeles Convention Center (moved from Staples Center, the former name of Crypto.com Arena). This year's Grammy nominations were announced on November 23, 2021. The nominations were announced during a livestream from the Grammy Museum in Los Angeles, which featured Recording Academy CEO Harvey Mason Jr. and Board Of Trustees chair Tammy Hurt, as well as some special guests. Up for the the "Best Metal Performance" award at the 64th annual Grammy Awards are DEFTONES, DREAM THEATER, GOJIRA, MASTODON and ROB ZOMBIE. The eligibility period for the 64th annual Grammy Awards was September 1, 2020, through September 30, 2021. The 2022 ceremony will be the first since The Recording Academy announced that it has made significant changes to its awards process to ensure that the Grammy Awards rules and guidelines are transparent and equitable. The show no longer uses anonymous review committees to determine its nominees. Now, all nominees are based solely on thousands of votes from the Academy's voting members. They also changed the number of categories in which Academy members can vote and added two new awards. In January 2020, former Recording Academy CEO Deborah Dugan filed a discrimination charge against the Recording Academy of Arts & Sciences, alleging she was being retaliated against for reporting misconduct within the Academy. In the 46-page complaint, Dugan further alleged that "the Grammy voting process is ripe with corruption," detailing secret committees the group used to "push forward artists with whom it has relationships." She said that as many as 30 artists who were not selected by the 12,000 voting members were added to the possible nomination list.