SZA to Perform on 2024 Grammy Awards

SZA, who is the nominations leader for the 2024 Grammy Awards, is set to perform on the telecast, CBS announced on Monday (Jan. 29). This will be SZA’s second performance on the Grammy telecast. She first performed six years ago, when she was a best new artist nominee. She sang “Broken Clocks,” a song from her debut studio album, Ctrl.

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The 66th annual Grammy Awards are set for Sunday, Feb. 4, at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles.

The nominations leader generally performs on the telecast, but not always. Beyoncé, who led the nominations last year, opted not to perform. She also declined to perform three years ago, when she led the nominations. Jay-Z and Kendrick Lamar also did not perform when they were the nominations leaders in 2018 and 2019, respectively. Most famously, Michael Jackson did not perform in 1984 when he became the first artist to sweep eight awards in one night.

SZA received nine nods, including each of the Big Three awards – album, record and song of the year. Her album SOS is seen as being in a tight race with Taylor Swift’s Midnights and BoygeniusThe Record for album of the year. Neither Swift nor Boygenius has yet been confirmed to perform on the show.

SZA is the 10th performer to be announced for this year’s telecast. These performers range in age from three in their 20s (Olivia Rodrigo, 20; Billie Eilish, 22; and Dua Lipa, 28) to three who are 60-plus – the four members of U2, who are in their early 60s; Billy Joel, 74; and Mitchell, 80). Also booked for the show are four performers in their 30s: Burna Boy and Travis Scott, both 32; Luke Combs, 33; and SZA, 34.

U2 will perform from Sphere in Las Vegas, home of the band’s acclaimed U2:UV Achtung Baby Live at Sphere show.

Additional performers for the Grammy telecast will be announced. The big question is whether Swift, who was last year’s hottest music star by a wide margin, will perform.

The other album of the year nominees, not already named, are Janelle Monáe’s The Age of Pleasure, Lana Del Rey’s Did You Know That There’s a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd, Miley Cyrus’ Endless Summer Vacation, Rodrigo’s Guts and Jon Batiste’s World Music Radio.

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Trevor Noah will host the Grammys for the fourth consecutive year. He, too, is a Grammy nominee. He is up for best comedy album for I Wish You Would. He’s the first Grammy host to be nominated for a Grammy that same year since Queen Latifah in 2005. Noah won a Primetime Emmy on Jan. 15 for outstanding talk series for The Daily Show With Trevor Noah.

The 66th annual Grammy Awards will be held on Sunday, Feb. 4, from 8 to 11:30 p.m. live ET/5 to 8:30 p.m. live PT on CBS, and will stream live and on-demand on Paramount+ (live and on demand for Paramount+ with Showtime subscribers, or on demand for Paramount+ Essential subscribers the day after the special airs).

The telecast will be produced by Fulwell 73 Productions for the Recording Academy for the fourth consecutive year. Ben Winston, Raj Kapoor and Jesse Collins are executive producers.

Paul Grein

Billboard