A Grammys Overview From the Recording Academy Chief Neil Portnow (excerpts below)

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"What led to the about-face on broadcasting live in all time zones? I know this has been an ongoing conversation with CBS, but who brought it up this time and said maybe it’s time?

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CBS, being in the business of TV, is constantly evaluating what works and what doesn’t. They came back fairly recently with the latest analytics, and they came to the conclusion that this would be a good year to try this. It made sense to me that we go ahead and give it a shot—so that’s exactly what we’re doing. I was not unhappy with where we were at. It has worked quite well for us, but I’m always up for trying things. This will probably tell us quite a bit.

Will the Latin Grammys also be broadcast live in all time zones?

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That’s a wholly separate organization. And that’s Univision, not CBS. They would take their own view on what makes sense in terms of their viewership and their marketplace.

Several A-list stars died in the space of five weeks. How do you deal with that?

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It’s a very challenging proposition. We had over 500 folks in our community pass this year. That’s quite a bit more than we’ve had in years past. We don’t, from a TV standpoint, have the ability to effectively or elegantly include even 10% of those people in the In Memoriam sequence. So we have a longer list in our program book and online, which includes everybody.

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It’s sort of a ghoulish task, but we keep a running list of obituaries all year round. When we get close to telecast time, we have a process by which we review those names and make a decision about which ones will go in the telecast portion. All of that gets thrown a bit upside down when you have the kind of a year that we’ve had this year, when you have so many losses, and so close to the broadcast. It’s a fluid process. We have to evaluate each one as it happens and try not to have a knee-jerk reaction, because things tend to take a little time to settle.

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Figuring out who is going to be a stand-alone tribute or part of a compilation tribute or part of the In Memoriam sequence has a lot to do with who those people were, what did they represent and who do we have that we think would be appropriate to salute them. So it winds up, if not thought through properly, to be kind of contrived or opportunistic. We’re looking for authenticity and to have people involved who are appropriate and heartfelt and genuine.

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You can see why Lady Gaga is a logical way to go for David Bowie. She was a huge fan and part of her career had certain parallels. As for B.B. King, our conversations with Chris Stapleton about how much the blues have influenced him turned into a conversation about how that’s what he wanted to do with his performance.

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Do you always try to leave one or two performance slots open until close to the show so you have some flexibility to react to late-breaking events?

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Sometimes things present themselves that are interesting that you might not be contemplating in December, when we first get the nominations, so we always make it a point to not completely book and lock up the show too early, because we want to have some flexibility. That said, there’s a certain point in terms of the physics of laying out a show that you have to lock it in. You just can’t at the whim of any individual turn all that upside down, so by this point we’re pretty close to being locked on what we can and can’t do.

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I’d like to talk about the #Oscarssowhite controversy. What message do you take from it as far as the Grammys are concerned? I assume you look at it and say, “Are we at all vulnerable here? Should we try and learn from what they’ve gone through?”

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I wouldn’t wait to see what happens with another organization to be self-monitoring and to be reviewing and evaluating our own circumstances when it comes to membership, qualifications, diversity, etc. We have for many years reviewed and implemented programs to ensure that we don’t have that particular kind of issue. I’m grateful that we don’t, but it’s not an accident...."

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getxxxx said:

Gtfoh no Natalie Cole tribute, her project was a huge Grammy winner. Adele really doesn't need to perform her project came out after deadline.

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You know they don't care about that. She may not be nominated for anything because of the deadline, but they weren't going to pass up the opportunity to air the hottest selling artist out right now.

Natalie like Donna and Teena before getting very little love after their passing. Based on the list of performers I don't find this ceremony worth the 3 hour commitment.

Musicslave said:

getxxxx said:

Musicslave said:

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You know they don't care about that. She may not be nominated for anything because of the deadline, but they weren't going to pass up the opportunity to air the hottest selling artist out right now.

She will be there in 2017 so we got an Eagles tribute but no Natalie...shrug

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Oh I understand where you're coming from. Trust. I was just making the comment about Adele's inclusion, you know its all about ratings for them and CBS. And yes, they'll probably have her back next year as she racks up for "25" in 2017 too.

getxxxx said:

mjscarousal said:

Miguel is suppose to be giving a special tribute to MJ in honor of Off The Wall documentary/anniversary. He betta not screw it up.

so not needed.

Agree.

Its gross that they are not tributing Maurice White or Natalie Cole.

mjscarousal said:

lastdecember said:

mjscarousal said:

Agree.

Its gross that they are not tributing Maurice White or Natalie Cole.

Honestly I dont like when things are hastily thrown together for this reason. Also I dont like artists of now doing tributes of artists they dont even know, they may idolize but that is totally different. Gaga doing Bowie is a nightmare, or Miguel doing MJ please.

Agree.

I rather see artists that actually INCORPORATE elements of their influences in their music give tribute to them. For example, if Prince were to ever have a tribute they should have artists like D Angelo or Janelle Monae tributing him.

I rather see someone like Janelle Monae give a tribute to MJ since she actually covers J5 songs and is heavily inspired musically by Off The Wall/Thriller.

For David Bowie, they should have asked someone like Prince to do it or from that era. Nonetheless, Laga Gaga is a very good performer so we will see.

[Edited 2/14/16 15:21pm]

I just really hope Prince stays home this year.

Full performers list:

• Adele
• Alabama Shakes
• Joey Alexander
• James Bay and Tori Kelly
• Justin Bieber and Jack Ü (Diplo and Skrillex)
• Luke Bryan, John Legend, Demi Lovato, and Meghan Trainor with Lionel Richie
• Andra Day and Ellie Goulding
• Eagles (Don Henley, Bernie Leadon, Timothy B. Schmit, and Joe Walsh) with Jackson Browne, paying tribute to Glenn Frey
• The cast of Hamilton
• Hollywood Vampires (Alice Cooper, Johnny Depp, and Joe Perry)
• Sam Hunt and Carrie Underwood
• Lady Gaga, paying tribute to David Bowie
• Kendrick Lamar
• Little Big Town
• Miguel
• Pitbull, Travis Barker, and Robin Thicke
• Rihanna
• Chris Stapleton, Gary Clark Jr., and Bonnie Raitt, paying tribute to B.B. King
• Taylor Swift
• The Weeknd

^^^^This year's lineup appears to be way better than last...(a LIVE Performance from the Broadway cast of Hamilton is a very weird Gamble, but maybe it'll work)..Even adding Justin Bubble gum Bieber is a better Gamble than having a repeat of Last Years 3hr Funeral Service....The LIVE crowd & TV audience don't wanna be put to sleep 2 years in a row...the GRAMMYS better bring it this year or start firing people...My DVR is set...

LAURYN HILL IS PERFORMING WITH THE WEEKND

THAT is exciting/terrifying! I can't wait to hear about it tomorrow, hope L shows 'em.

CynicKill said:

I just really hope Prince stays home this year.

Prince is in Australia for concert performances right now.

Am I the only one excited to see Joey Alexander?

Literally all I care about tonight on the Grammys:

1. THIS

2. Anything else.

A BB King tribute.... But no Natalie or Maurice..

getxxxx said:

A BB King tribute.... But no Natalie or Maurice..

B.B.'s first record came out in the late 1940s before Natalie was even born, and Maurice was a little kid. He is also the main person who popularized blues music in other countries. So he should get priorty over them.

Why on monday?

I'll pass on this show.

getxxxx said:

The eight minutes tribute to David Howie should have been shorten.

getxxxx said:

jayaredee said:

getxxxx said:

The eight minutes tribute to David Howie should have been shorten.

David Bowie deserves a 2 hour tribute from the Grammys after being snubbed by them his entire career.

I won't be watching but I agree.