The 2025 Grammys have been shaping as much as be a energetic celebration of a vibrant yr in music: the yr of Chappell, Charli and Sabrina; of Taylor, Beyonce and Billie; of “Brat,” “Tipsy” and “Not Like Us.”
However on Wednesday, January 8, the whole lot modified as wildfires raged throughout the Grammys’ house metropolis of Los Angeles. For the third time in 5 years — following the COVID-altered reveals of 2021 and 2022 — the Grammys needed to pivot and rework what’s often an extravagant, glamorous celebration into one thing extra critical and, at instances, somber. “I’ll admit I used to be trying ahead to a simple present,” says Recording Academy CEO Harvey Mason Jr. “However on that Wednesday morning, all of it simply flipped upside-down.”
Though many individuals referred to as for the Feb. 2 present to be postponed — and almost each Grammy Week celebration was shortly canceled — for Mason and Ben Winston, the present’s govt producer, there was no query about transferring ahead. Roughly 6,500 L.A.-area individuals work on main awards reveals just like the Grammys, which has an estimated impression on the native economic system of round $200 million.
“On the one hand, there’s the nice we are able to do with our platform,” Mason says. “But when we have been to cancel or postpone the present, how would that have an effect on the hundreds of people that work on it or round it?”
Winston provides, “After COVID, post-COVID, two [Hollywood industry] strikes and the whole lot else, attempt to inform these stagehands, costumers, make-up artists, drivers, caterers, PAs and all these working individuals who make a residing from the Grammys that we’re not doing the present.”
Ben Winston, left, and Harvey Mason Jr. (Photograph by Emma McIntyre/Getty Pictures for The Recording Academy)
Getty Pictures for The Recording A
So, in what has turn into a well-known situation, the Recording Academy, broadcast associate CBS and Winston’s workforce set to work. “On that Wednesday, I began the cellphone calls,” Mason remembers. “I used to be assembly or zooming with state management, native management, hearth division officers, heads of tourism, managers of a variety of the motels — and to an individual, all of them mentioned the identical factor: ‘You need to do the present — for town, for the individuals, for the picture of our metropolis being open for enterprise. You need to do it.’ And likewise, in fact, the music group wanted it, for the cash the MusiCares occasion will elevate.”
MusiCares, the Recording Academy’s charitable wing — which paid out greater than $30 million in COVID reduction to the music group in the course of the pandemic — instantly leaped into motion as effectively. It not solely revised its annual Particular person of the Yr profit live performance (this yr honoring the Grateful Lifeless) to be for hearth reduction, nevertheless it started elevating cash instantly: On the time of publication, it had raised almost $4 million up to now and distributed at the very least $2.2 million.
Whereas many individuals initially have been involved about Grammy attendees taking resort rooms from locals who’d misplaced their houses, as of final week, native motels have been at simply 30% occupancy, based on town’s head of tourism for the Advertising and marketing District and the CEO of the Conference and Guests Bureau. This was seemingly because of the fire-induced drop in tourism and motels not being a viable long-term choice for native residents.
On Jan. 13, the Academy formally introduced that the present was transferring ahead. Mason says, “The one motive we’d have canceled or postponed is that if it was bodily and logistically unimaginable to carry the present — if the fireplace division mentioned it’s not protected, or the police division mentioned we’d be overtaxing their infrastructure, or the native authorities mentioned to not.”
But he’s simply as clear about what the present is not going to be: It’s neither a fundraiser nor a profit, however “a present that raises funds,” he emphasizes. “It is not going to be a telethon, and also you’re not going to see a [chyron with a] operating whole throughout the underside of the display screen; it’s not that kind of an occasion. It’s an opportunity for us to make use of our platform — and, fortunately, our companions at CBS are useful with this — to boost cash and consciousness, however it would nonetheless have efficiency and awards.
“It’s going to be completely different, however I wouldn’t say dramatically completely different,” he continues. “We’ll have a distinct tone. There’ll be dialogue and segments across the hearth and fundraising elements. We’ll nonetheless have performances, we’ll nonetheless have awards and honor music. However you’ll know that one thing’s occurred, and also you’ll know that we’re utilizing music to do good.”
Balancing gravitas with celebration is a well-known problem for these groups and returning host Trevor Noah, and the COVID-era Grammys launched a number of components which have remained, such because the celebrity-filled tables on the entrance of the sector, which began with the intimate, invite-only, partially socially distanced 2021 present; there can even be comparatively lengthy, commercial-less segments of the ceremony. But Winston notes that this yr’s pivot has not led to a full-scale overhaul.
“It isn’t a wholly new present,” he says. “We haven’t canceled any performances, though there’s a few new ones, and a few artists modified their songs. However I feel it’s our job to set the tone, not the artists’. It’s nonetheless the Grammys, we’re nonetheless having unbelievable performances and awarding the individuals who have created the music that’s moved us over the previous yr, and I feel there’s a variety of worth in bringing some pleasure and levity and music to the world proper now. However we’re very conscious of the devastation that’s occurred in in L.A. and what’s occurring within the wider world, and we are going to replicate that.”
Nevertheless, the Academy did resolve to “condense” its typical dozen-plus Grammy Week occasions and as an alternative deal with 4, all of which added a fire-recovery aspect: MusiCares, the Clive Davis Pre-Grammy Gala, the Particular Benefit Awards, and the present itself. A small variety of non-Academy Grammy Week occasions, corresponding to the 2 all-star FireAid live shows happening on the Discussion board and Intuit Enviornment on Thursday and a few others, will incorporate fire-relief components.
“No occasion was extra vital or much less vital than others,” Mason says, “however we’re conscious that among the similar persons are going to a variety of these occasions, and reasonably than have eight or 9 fundraising occasions, it would make extra sense to focus our efforts on those the place lots of people can come collectively to do essentially the most good.”
Winston emphasizes that he understands why many of the week’s typical events, brunches, and dinners have been canceled. “I feel a celebration is completely different,” he says. “Having hors d’oeuvres and champagne when there’s individuals down the highway going through devastation may very well be tone deaf. However I feel the Grammy present itself could be very completely different, and might make a distinction.”
Certainly, Mason concludes, “After I see individuals and buddies who’ve misplaced their studio, misplaced their home, misplaced their devices, misplaced their potential to make a residing, after all of the strife and wrestle that has occurred to individuals on this group over the past 5 years, I say we have now to do the whole lot we are able to to be useful. That includes elevating cash, elevating consciousness and hopefully permitting MusiCares to have the monetary assets that it’s going to take to assist the hundreds and hundreds of individuals which might be going to want assist — not simply this week or subsequent week, however for the following few years.”
However as fires proceed to rage throughout L.A. County, a stark actuality stays: The scenario may turn into dire once more at any second. “Any time I converse, I at all times use that as a caveat,” Mason says. “If issues worsen, all bets are off.”
See MusiCares.org for tactics you may assist the music group with wildfire reduction.
