By Abby Gray, ’18
On February 12, 2017, the 59th Annual Grammy Awards will be held at the Staples Center in Los Angeles and will be hosted by The Late Late Show’s James Corden. CBS will broadcast the event live on cable and their website, cbs.com.
To recap last Grammy’s events, Taylor Swift’s “1989” won album of the year and made indirect comments regarding her feud with Kanye West over lyrics he wrote shading her. Justin Bieber won his first Grammy ever for “Where are Ãœ Now” as Best Dance Recording and Meghan Trainor was awarded Best New Artist. The Weekend gave a performance of his hit song, “Can’t Feel My Face” and a free ticket to see the popular musical, “Hamilton” was given out after the show’s creator Lin-Manuel Miranda accepted Hamilton’s Grammy for Best Musical Theater Album.
This year, nominations were given to big names such as Adele, Justin Bieber and Beyoncé. Each of these artists have released an a “comeback album” to be nominated for this year’s Grammy Awards- Bieber’s previous album was released in 2012, Adele’s in 2011 and Beyoncé’s in 2008.
Albums nominated for Album of the Year include Adele’s “25”, Beyoncé’s “Lemonade”, Bieber’s “Purpose”, Drake’s “Views” and Sturgill Simpson’s “A Sailor’s Guide To Earth”. Junior Elizabeth Aschinger predicts Beyoncé’s album will win the Grammy.
“I think Beyonce will win of course because she is known around the world and she is awesome,” Aschinger said.
This year’s Best New Artist nominations include Kelsea Ballerini, The Chainsmokers, Chance the Rapper, Maren Morris and Anderson .Paak. The Chainsmokers’ hit Roses might make them the most well known of the nominations, but Chance the Rapper has a big following as well. His nomination is especially significant because he refuses to sign to a record label and all of his music is free to stream. Junior Bailey Devine comments her opinion on the Best New Artist nominations.
“I want the Chainsmokers to win because I’ve been a fan of them for a long time, but also Chance is great, I would be happy if he won” Devine said.
The agenda for the awards show also includes performances from Beyonce and Adele, and most likely a tribute to Prince at some point during the event.