2022 Grammy Awards Postponed Due to Omicron COVID-19 Spike
The 64th annual Grammy Awards have been postponed due to concerns over the surge in cases of the COVID-19 Omicron variant.
Rolling Stone reports that the Recording Academy released a statement on Wednesday (Jan. 5), revealing that the awards show will be postponed due to concerns over infection levels that have not been seen since prior to the availability of vaccines.
“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.”
No new date has been announced for the awards show.
The 2022 Grammy Awards were set to take place on Jan. 31, but as Billboard reported in early January, a source close to the Recording Academy said it was "looking likely" that the Grammys would be postponed due to increasing concerns surrounding the COVID-19 Omicron variant.
The 2021 Grammy Awards also got pushed back from the original date of Jan. 31, 2021, to March 14 of that year, with showrunners citing "the deteriorating COVID situation in Los Angeles" as the reason for the postponement. The rescheduled date also involved a venue change from Staples Center to the Los Angeles Convention Center, in a move to cut down on crowds at the show.
The 2022 Grammy Awards have some exciting country nominations in the mix. Mickey Guyton and Chris Stapleton each snagged three nods this year, making them the most-nominated country artists at the Grammys in 2022.
Kacey Musgraves scored two nominations, both of which are for her song, "Camera Roll," though her Star-Crossed album was deemed ineligible for consideration in country categories, due to the Academy's screening committee's decision that the project doesn't sufficiently fit into the country genre. Conversely, three of country's legends netted mentions in out-of-genre categories this year, with Willie Nelson and Dolly Parton placing albums in the Best Traditional Pop Vocal category and Carrie Underwood earning a nod for Best Roots Gospel Album.
Brothers Osborne, Miranda Lambert and Sturgill Simpson all picked up two nominations apiece, and a couple of country acts turned up in the all-genre categories, too. Jimmie Allen is in the running for Best New Artist, and Brandi Carlile got a nod for Record of the Year.