On Thursday, three days earlier than the Grammys, will come one other main fund-raising occasion: FireAid, a profit live performance on the Intuit Dome and the Kia Discussion board, two arenas in Inglewood, Calif., with a packed lineup together with Eilish, Joni Mitchell, Woman Gaga, Stevie Nicks, Sting, Olivia Rodrigo, Stevie Surprise, Lil Child, Alanis Morissette and lots of extra. It was put collectively by Irving Azoff, a longtime expertise supervisor and energy dealer in music, together with Stay Nation and AEG Presents, the 2 largest live performance promoters.
Mason and Azoff each insisted they weren’t competing for expertise and have been in communication about their occasions, although FireAid is unaffiliated with the Grammys.
“This isn’t a contest,” Azoff stated. “Our metropolis is a catastrophe. All fingers on deck. Each greenback raised is required as quickly as potential.”
This yr’s Grammy ceremony has the potential to make main information. The largest query mark is Beyoncé, whose 4 losses in album of the yr, the present’s final prize — to Harry Kinds, Adele, Beck and Swift — has pushed pointed commentary in regards to the Grammys’ fraught historical past with race, and in regards to the perceived conservatism of the academy’s voting members. Now the academy has trumpeted its efforts to revitalize voting with a younger, numerous membership. Might that lastly tip the scales in Beyoncé’s favor?
Different story traces embody Eilish, a former teenage wild card who has turn into a Grammy (and Oscar) darling. She and Finneas, her brother and collaborator, may take their third trophy — greater than any songwriter in Grammy historical past — in tune of the yr for “Birds of a Feather.” Swift may break a seven-time shedding streak in that class with “Fortnight.” (“Birds” and “Fortnight” are additionally up for document of the yr.) Or each may yield to Roan, Carpenter or Charli XCX, who dominated the charts final yr with sassy, intelligent and typically subversive pop.
For the Grammys, success in Sunday’s present could also be a matter of discovering the tough steadiness between the fun of these pop competitions and the solemnity of the event.
