The Recording Academy of the United States has been hosting the Grammy Awards annually since 1959 to celebrate achievements in the music industry. This year, the Grammy Awards will look a little different.
Since the first official ceremony in 1959, the Grammys have grown into a phenomenon much larger than just the televised distribution of awards. Most of the ceremonies have been hosted in the heart of the entertainment industry: Los Angeles. The music community has taken advantage of the publicity surrounding the Grammys and tends to plan their most important events in the week leading up to the ceremony. This series of events is referred to as ‘Grammy Week’ and is considered the most significant seven days of the year for music industry professionals. As the lauded week proceeding the Grammys on Feb. 2 approaches this year, however, the host city happens to be covered in flames.
The wildfires in Los Angeles that erupted across the city on Jan. 7 have had devastating effects on the city. At one point there were close to 200,000 people under evacuation orders from their homes. As of the evening of Tuesday, Jan. 28, all of the fires are at least 88% contained. That being said, over 47,000 acres of land in LA have been burned and over 16,000 structures have been destroyed. While the fires seem to thankfully be mostly under control, LA is still reeling as a city; they are only in the beginning phases of recovering from the devastation.
Since the fires broke out, there have been questions surrounding the upcoming Grammy Awards. This year, despite the wildfires plaguing LA, the Recording Academy announced on Jan. 13 that “the 67th Annual GRAMMY Awards telecast on CBS will continue to be held on Feb. 2.” While this decision may seem insensitive to the natural disaster ruining the lives of so many Los Angeles residents and many members of the music community, the Academy also announced that the ceremony would “carry a renewed sense of purpose: raising additional funds to support wildfire relief efforts and honoring the bravery and dedication of first responders who risk their lives to protect ours.” Further, they took this opportunity to announce that their sponsored events of Grammy Week would be consolidated into only four events, all focused on “using the power of music to help rebuild, uplift, and support those in need.”
In the wake of this announcement, the major labels who usually host revered events during Grammy Week — Universal Music Group, Warner Music Group, Sony Music and BMG — declared that their events preceding the Awards would also be canceled. Each of the labels echoed the Academy’s sentiment towards focusing their energy resources on local relief efforts; each even made multi-million dollar donations to MusiCares, the Academy’s affiliated charity.
Using highly publicized events to raise money seems like a worthy pursuit, but the overall state of LA raises the question – is it appropriate to host an awards ceremony typically associated with glamour and celebration while much of the city is burned? The Awards have been rescheduled twice, in 2021 and 2022, both due to concerns surrounding COVID-19, proving that postponing is not impossible. Further, the ceremony has been held in four cities other than Los Angeles in the past: New York, Nashville, Chicago and Las Vegas. The ceremony could potentially have been relocated to a previous host city while still focusing on raising money for relief in LA.
The Academy has taken on the task of airing an awards show entertaining enough to retain the viewership it has come to expect without seeming insensitive to the ongoing suffering occurring right outside of the arena. Tune into the Grammy Awards on CBS on Feb. 2 to see how the Academy manages to sustain tradition while also “raising additional funds to support wildfire relief efforts and honoring the bravery and dedication of first responders who risk their lives to protect ours.”