The 66th annual Grammy Awards kicked off on a rainy and windy Sunday afternoon at L.A. Live in downtown Los Angeles.
Trevor Noah is no stranger to hosting, having helmed “The Daily Show” from 2015-2022, and this is the fourth consecutive year he’s hosted what they like to call Music’s Biggest Night.
His opening, which followed Dua Lipa’s rousing kickoff with “Houdini,” was light and funny. He worked the crowd, calling out some of the biggest names in the room including Ed Sheeran, 21 Savage, Billie Eilish, Mark Ronson and Ronson’s mother-in-law, actress Meryl Streep.
“These people write the soundtrack to our lives,” Noah said.
He pointed out how diverse the evening was, including all styles of music, as he made his way throughout the room, shouting out nominees.
There’s also a significant number of female artists nominated this year, including seven of the eight album of the year nominees. Just as he was speaking about that category, Taylor Swift entered the room. She’s up for album of the year and will make history if “Midnights” snags the honor, as she’ll be the first artist to win in that category four times. Noah also talked about how Swift is being treated by some NFL fans upset she’s shown during football games cheering on her Kansas City Chiefs beau Travis Kelce.
Noah also addressed the AI phenomenon, acknowledging its positive possibilities while also noting that he heard an AI version of Andrea Bocelli doing “My Neck, My Back.” “It was beautiful, but it was wrong,” he said.
Earlier this week, Universal Music Group removed all of its artists from the TikTok social media platform. Noah talked about that, too.
“Shame on you for ripping off all these artists,” he said about TikTok. “That’s Spotify’s job.”
Noah’s opening fared better than comedian and actor Jo Koy’s first time hosting the Golden Globes last month. As many other comedians and actors said after Koy received some backlash, the gig ain’t easy.
