The 64th Grammy Awards scheduled to take place on 31st January has been postponed due to uncertainty surrounding the Omicron variant” of Covid-19 that has ripped through the United States in recent weeks.
The Recording Academy and CBS in a joint statement noted that the music awards will be rescheduled for a future date.
The statement read,
“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 31 simply contains too many risks.”
Nominations for the awards were announced on November 23 and were chosen from projects released between September 1, 2020, and September 30, 2021.
A class of pop stalwarts and newbies including Justin Bieber, Billie Eilish, and Olivia Rodrigo were among the leading nominees for the 64th annual show, with Jon Batiste, the jazz and R&B artist, television personality, and bandleader garnering the most nominations with 11.
Rapper Jay-Z became the most nominated artist in the show’s history, with 83 nods, after getting three nominations.