Trevor Noah will return as host of the Grammy Awards in February, the Recording Academy announced on Thursday, making his third consecutive appearance as the emcee of music’s proverbially biggest night.
“One of my favorite things about the Grammys as a whole is it is one of the few places where you get to experience artists in their rawest element, which is performing their music live,” Noah said in an interview with Billboard. “Brandi Carlile performing a song live and you’re hearing her voice and listening to her play her instruments — there’s nothing like it. You develop a deep appreciation for what these people are doing beyond just the music that they make.”
Nominees for the awards, which take place at the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles on Feb. 5, are led by Beyoncé with nine nods, Kendrick Lamar close behind with eight, and Adele and Brandi Carlile tied with seven. Four contenders enter the race with six nominations apiece: Future, Harry Styles, Mary J. Blige, DJ Khaled and Randy Merrill.
Beyoncé, Adele, Styles, Lamar and Lizzo being the five contenders who were each nominated in the top three all-genre catories: record, album and song of the year. Among the artists who did better than predicted in those top categories are Mary J. Blige and ABBA, who both got put up for record of the year and album of the year, but not song. For Blige, it has been 16 years since she last landed nods for record and album.
Newcomer Steve Lacy also landed in two of those three categories, being put into contention for both record and song for the recently chart-topping “Bad Habit.”