The Grammies from 2025 would be a lively celebration of a vibrant music year: the year of Chappell, Charli and Sabrina; from Taylor, Beyoncé and Billie; from ‘Brat’, ‘Tipsy’ and ‘Not Like US’.
But on Wednesday, January 8, everything changed when forest fires raged in Los Angeles, the hometown of the Grammies. For the third time in five years – after the shows of 2021 and 2022 changed by COVID – the Grammy’s had to make a turn and which is usually an extravagant, glamorous celebration, convert into something more serious and sometimes gloomy. “I have to admit that I looked forward to a simple show,” says Harvey Mason Jr., CEO of Recording Academy. “But on that Wednesday morning everything was turned upside down.”
Although many people called for the show of 2 February-and almost every Grammy Week party was quickly canceled-there was no doubt for Mason and Ben Winston, the executive producer of the show, to continue. About 6,500 people from the LA region work at large prize -giving ceremonies such as the Grammies, which is estimated to be an impact on the local economy of around $ 200 million.
“On the one hand there is the good thing we can do with our platform,” says Mason. “But if we were to cancel or postpone the show, what consequences would that have for the thousands of people who work on it or around it?”
Winston adds: “After Covid, Post-Covid, two [Hollywood industry] Strikes and everything else, try those Stagehands, customers, make -up artists, drivers, caterers, PAs and all those working people who tell the Grammy’s life that we don’t do the show.
Ben Winston, Left, and Harvey Mason Jr. (Photo by emma mcintyre/getty images for the recording academy)
Getty images for recording a
So in what has become a well -known scenario, the Recording Academy, temporary partner CBS and Winstons Team started. “That Wednesday I started with the phone calls,” Mason recalls. “I met state leaders, local leaders, fire brigade officials, heads of tourism, managers of many hotels – and someone said to someone the same: ‘You have to do the show – because the city, for the people, for the image of our city open that open Is for business. You to have To do it. ” And of course the music community also needed it, because of the money that the Musicares event will yield. ”
Musicares, the charity department of the Recording Academy-who paid more than $ 30 million to COVID help to the music community during the Pandemie-also immediately came into action. Not only rezag his annual benefit concert of Person of the Year (this year in honor of the Grateful Dead) for fire fighting, but also immediately started to collect money: at the time of publication it had collected almost $ 4 million so far and Divided under a minimum of 2.2 million dollars.
Although many people were initially worried about the fact that Grammy visitors would take away hotel rooms from locals who lost their house, local hotels had only an occupancy rate of 30%last week, according to the head of the Tourism of the Marketing District and The CEO of the city. The Convention and Visitor Office. This was probably due to the fall in tourism caused by the fire and the fact that hotels in the long term were not a feasible option for the local residents.
On January 13, the Academy officially announced that the show continued. Mason says: “The only reason we would have canceled or postponed if it was physical and logistics impossible to keep the show – if the fire brigade said it was not safe, or the police said we have their infrastructure or the local population would overload. government said not to do that. “
Yet he is just as clear about what the show will do not BE: It is neither a collection campaign nor a benefit, but “a show that collects money,” he emphasizes. ‘It will not be a telethon, and you will not see a telethon [chyron with a] Walking total over the bottom of the screen; It is not such a kind of event. It is an opportunity for us to use our platform – and luckily our partners at CBS are helpful – to recruit money and consciousness, but it will still produce performance and prices.
“It will be different, but I wouldn’t say that dramatic Otherwise, “he continues. “We will have a different tone. There will be discussions and segments around the fire and fundraising components. We will still have performances, we will still have prizes and honor music. But you know something has happened, and you know we use music to do something good. “
Balancing gravity and festive spirit is a well-known challenge for these teams and recurring presenter Trevor Noah, and the Grammies from the Covid era introduced various elements that have remained, such as the tables filled with celebrities at the front of the Arena, which started with the intimate, 2021 show, partly at a social distance, by invitation; There will also be relatively long, commercial parts of the ceremony. Nevertheless, Winston notes that this year’s pivot has not led to a complete revision.
“It’s not a completely new show,” he says. “We have not canceled any performances, although there are a few new ones and a few artists have changed their songs. But I think it is our job to set the tone, not that of the artists. They are still the grammies, we still have incredible performances and reward the people who have made the music that has moved us in the past year, and I think it has a lot of value to bring some joy, frivolity and music to the world . now. But we are very aware of the devastation that took place in LA and of what is going on in the rest of the world, and we will reflect that. ”
However, the Academy decided to ‘condense’ the usual dozens of Grammy Week events and instead concentrate on four, all of which added a fire recovery element: Musicares, the Clive Davis Pre-Grammy Gala, the Special Merit Awards, and the show yourself. A small number of non-Academy Grammy Week events, such as the two All-Star Fireaid concerts that will take place on Thursday in the Forum and the Intuit Arena and a few others, will contain fire relief elements.
“No event was more important or less important than others,” says Mason, “but we are aware that some of the same people go to many of these events, and instead of organizing eight or nine fundraising events, it might yield more. It is wise to focus our efforts on those areas where many people can come together to do the most good. ”
Winston emphasizes that he understands why most usual parties, brunches and dinners of the week have been canceled. “I think A party Is different, “he says. ‘Considering Hors d’Oeuvres and Champagne while there are people on the way confronted with destruction, can be a tondrum. But I think the Grammy show itself is very different and can make a difference.
Mason concludes: ‘When I see people and friends who have lost their studio, their home, their instruments and their ability to provide for their livelihood, after all the struggle and struggle that people in this community have happened to me recently, me, me Say that in the last five years we have to do everything to be helpful. That means raising money, increasing awareness and hopefully giving musicares the financial resources needed to support the thousands and thousands of people who will need help – not only this week or next week, but for the next few years. . ”
But while the fires keep raging in La County, a grim reality continues to exist: the situation can become dire again at any time. “Every time I say something, I always use that as a warning,” says Mason. “If it gets worse, all bets are excluded.”
To see Musiccares.org For ways in which you can help the music community with help with natural fires.