Due to the widespread coronavirus variant Omicron and the rise of COVID cases in the U.S. and the world, this year’s edition of the Grammy Awards is officially postponed. According to Variety, the news was confirmed by a U.S. Recording Academy spokesperson, with no new date set for the award ceremony to happen.
The 2022 edition of the Grammy Awards was set to happen this January 31 at its traditional venue in downtown Los Angeles. However, a new wave of the pandemic raised concerns about public safety, which led the Academy to postpone the awards ceremony indefinitely. Although the event is yet to find a new date to happen, everything else remains the same, with The Daily Show’s Trevor Noah still scheduled to return as host this year. The Grammy Week events, though, should also be relocated to the week before the new date, once the Academy sets it. For the 2022 edition of the Grammy Awards, the Academy had scheduled a MusiCares Person of the Year concert honoring Joni Mitchell and the Clive Davis Pre-Grammy Gala featuring Sony Music chief Rob Stringer.
The Grammy Awards were created to honor outstanding achievements in the music industry. The Grammys are internationally recognized as one of the most important celebrations of media culture, and the awards reach their 64th edition this year. The 64th Grammy’s nominations include many of last year’s biggest hits on theaters and TV, reunited in the “Music For Visual Media” category.
For example, this year, the compilation of Cruella’s impressive 33 needle drops was nominated for Best Compilation for Soundtrack For Visual Media, together with the songs from In the Heights. As for Best Score Soundtrack For Visual Media, the award recognizes the work of single composers, and, of course, Hans Zimmer was nominated for his fantastic Dune soundtrack. Finally, the Best Song Written For Visual Media awards individual tracks explicitly written for movies and TV shows, such as Judas And The Black Messiah’s “Fight For You”, WandaVision’s fan-favorite “Agatha All Along”, and Bo Burnham: Inside’s heartbreaking “All Eyes on Me.”
The Grammys are not the only event announcing last-minute changes due to the new Omicron variant. All over Hollywood, TV and film productions have been affected by positive tests of celebrities, including the Late Night’s Seth Meyers, Lupita Nyong’o, and Whoopi Goldberg. While trying to contain the spread of the virus, the Sundance Film Festival also announced it will happen entirely virtually in 2022.
As news about the 64th Grammy arises, you can expect to read all about it here at Collider.