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On Sunday, the Grammys Hope to Hit the Right Note

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On Sunday, the Grammys Hope to Hit the Right Note

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The 67th Grammy Awards will be held on Feb. 2 at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles. The ceremony will celebrate some of the year’s biggest artists, including Beyoncé (the top nominee, with 11 nods), Sabrina Carpenter and Taylor Swift, and reportedly pay tribute to the firefighters who worked to contain the wildfires that ravaged Southern California this month.

Ben Sisario, who reports on the music industry for The New York Times, will be in the arena on Sunday to cover the show. In an interview on Thursday, he explained what he’ll be watching, and what may look different this year. This conversation has been edited and condensed.

You reported on the academy’s decision to hold the Grammys despite the wildfires. Can you walk me through your reporting, and any predictions on how the show may look this year?

The fires broke out on Jan. 7. Very quickly, there was chatter in the music industry about what they were going to do with the Grammys.

In the immediate crisis, there were a lot of voices, privately, calling on the Grammys to postpone. People were worried about safety, but also if holding the Grammys would be a bad look for the music business.

The contrary opinion, which was the opinion of the Grammys organization, was that they hoped the show was far enough out, and that there was potential for the Grammys to be a rallying event, a symbol of resilience for Los Angeles.

Less than a week after the fires broke out, they announced they were going forward as planned. But a lot of other events happen around the Grammys: parties, brunches, dinners. Most were canceled, officially, to conserve resources. The money that the big labels and talent agencies would have spent on parties, many said, would be donated to relief efforts. But it was also a way for them to quietly deliver a message that they weren’t pleased about moving forward.

I reached out to the people who produce the Grammys and asked, can I talk to you about your decision making? I had a good interview with Harvey Mason Jr., the head of the Recording Academy, the organization behind the Grammys; and Ben Winston, the main producer of the broadcast show. They were pretty candid, saying basically, There are people who may disagree with us, but we think this is the right thing to do.

The Grammys will still be giving out awards. There will still be performances by big stars. But they want the show to also focus on the relief efforts, on raising money and highlighting what’s happening. Winston was upfront in saying that he wants to find a balance between a serious show that will raise money, and also a fun show that will be entertaining.

The Grammys have been criticized, especially about its failures to award women and Black artists in some of the bigger categories. What changes have you seen, or not seen, in how the Grammys operate?

This has been a huge pressure point for the Grammys in the last decade. Drake, Frank Ocean and Kanye West are some of the big stars who have been outspoken, pointing out that Black artists often get lots of nominations but then lose in the top categories. The most nominated artist of all time is Beyoncé, with 99. She’s lost album of the year four times; she’s up for her fifth nomination in the category with “Cowboy Carter.” She’s perceived as a game-changing artist, so it’s kind of shocking that she’s lost so many times.

The Grammys have also come under a lot of criticism for the way their voting system works. There have been accusations of unfair practices, including descriptions of anonymous committees that would review all of the nominations, and make decisions about who gets on the ballot. They were sometimes overruling the membership, which was viewed as doctoring the process. They’ve become much more conscious since those accusations came out. They got rid of a lot of those committees. They’ve done a lot to try to show, We don’t put a thumb on the scale.

There are some high-stakes contests between artists like Beyoncé, Taylor Swift, Billie Eilish and Chappell Roan. Any predictions?

I don’t like to make predictions. But I think what happens with Beyoncé is what Grammy watchers are paying the most attention to.

It was a really big year for women in pop. Taylor Swift is probably the biggest star in the world, and she had a huge year. But she set a record last year by winning album of the year for the fourth time. Will they give it to her a fifth time? We’ll see. Billie Eilish just a few years ago was a teenage disrupter who came out of nowhere, and now she’s an awards show darling. Her dedication to the craft is very important to Grammy voters.

Chappell Roan is a fascinating, exciting artist. She’s one of those overnight successes that took years to get there. The Grammys like to certify somebody as a breakout success.

How are you covering the event?

For me, Grammy night is very unglamorous. I am in a media room deep in the bowels of Crypto.com Arena, elbow to elbow with dozens of other journalists. We are constantly writing, watching a live feed. And they bring winners in to take questions.

Covering the Grammys is like covering the World Series, or something where there’s a million stats. Is this the first person to win in this category from this country? Is this the youngest person? Did they lose twice, and win once? I usually make a fact sheet to keep on my little corner of a bench in the media room.

Sometimes there’s moments when, if you’re watching at home, you throw the popcorn up in the air. That’s the excitement of live television, of an awards show where there is a lot of unpredictability. Usually, the story of the night happens in the last five minutes, because that’s when album of the year is given out. Its hard, and it’s kind of a rush, but it’s also exciting.