It's almost time for music's biggest night!
When the recording industry's biggest and brightest gather at the Staples Center in Los Angeles for the live broadcast of the 61st Grammy Awards, there's no telling what might happen. After all, this is the one night when your faves across all genres of music are under one roof. Where else will you see Cardi B rub elbows with Dolly Parton? Or possibly catch Drake chatting up Flea from the Red Hot Chili Peppers?
And that's just the expected audience interaction, saying nothing about those patented Grammy moments the broadcast is known for, wherein two artists with little to no connection get mashed up for one surprisingly killer performance. Think: Last year's killer opener with Kendrick Lamar and U2 or Alicia Keys and Maren Morris teaming up on the latter's "Once" the year before that. With a stellar list of announced performers on tap for this year's ceremony, there's no doubt that we're in for quite a show.
And then, of course, there's the hardware that'll be handed out. After last year's #GrammysSoMale controversy, which stemmed out of the lack of female representation among nominees in most major categories and only one woman winning a major award on the night of, followed by Recording Academy President Neil Portnow massively stepping in it by suggesting that women need to "step up" in order to alleviate the gender disparity, this year's crop of nominations is much more diverse across the board, with five women among the eight nominees for both Album of the Year (compared to last's year one in five) and Record of the Year (compared to last year's total shut-out among the five nominees).
Before we tune in and see who comes out on top this year, let's brush up on the key players in the mix!
Don't miss all the fun when The 61st Grammys broadcast live on Sunday, Feb. 10 at 8 p.m. ET / 5 p.m. PT on CBS.