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64th Annual Grammy Awards rescheduled with new date and location

The 64th Annual Grammy Awards have been rescheduled and will now take place on April 3, it has been announced.

The Recording Academy and CBS confirmed that the award show will be broadcast live from MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.

Organisers said they looked forward to holding the “world class event” in Nevada for the first time and were “humbled” by the support they had received following its postponement.

The annual ceremony, which is regarded as music’s biggest night, was originally scheduled to take place on January 31 in Los Angeles but it was pushed back due to concerns over coronavirus.

Comedian Trevor Noah, who is the host of the satirical late-night talkshow The Daily Show, is due to return to host the award show.

Recording Academy CEO Harvey Mason Jr said: “We are excited to take the Grammys to Las Vegas for the very first time, and to put on a world-class show.

“From the moment we announced the postponement  of the original show date, we have been inundated with heartfelt messages of support and solidarity from the artist community.

“We are humbled by their generosity and grateful for their unwavering commitment to the Grammy Awards and the Academy’s mission.

“We appreciate the leadership CBS and our production partners at Fulwell 73 have shown during these challenging weeks and the flexibility of everyone who worked toward this solution”.

He added that further details about the dates and locations of other official Grammy Week events would be announced soon.

Following the announcement, CBS, who will air the 2022 ceremony, tweeted: “new date, new location, still Music’s Biggest Night.”

Earlier in the month, the Recording Academy and CBS released a statement announcing they had made the decision to postpone the 64th awards show after “careful consideration and analysis” with city and state officials, health and safety experts, the artist community and their partners.

The statement continued: “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.”

Musician and Oscar winner Jon Batiste leads the nominations for the 64th award show with 11 nods including album of the year and record of the year.

Other artists nominated in multiple categories include Justin Bieber, Doja Cat, H.E.R. Billie Eilish, Olivia Rodrigo and Lil Nas X.

Earlier this year, the Recording Academy made several major changes to the awards process, including the removal of controversial review committees, following criticism from A-list stars.

The body said nominations for the general and genre fields would now be voted on by a majority of members rather than anonymous groups of experts from within the academy.

Critics had argued it left too much power in the hands of faceless and unaccountable committees and artists of colour have long said the system resulted in them missing out on the more prestigious categories.

Two new categories were also announced in the form of best global music performance, in the global music field, and best musica urbana album in the Latin music field.

The total number of Grammy categories now stands at 86.