The AV Club: Taylor Swift, BTS, Cardi B, Harry Styles, Billie Eilish and more will perform at The Grammys

The Grammys are coming up next week, giving awards show-deprived Americans a chance to see what famous people look like again after being deprived of so many of the usual ceremonies that happen at the beginning of the year—aside from the Golden Globes, which did happen, but they are unfortunately… the Golden Globes. Today, CBS and the Recording Academy announced who will be performing at the 2021 Grammys, and despite the ongoing pandemic (or maybe because of it, more on that later), it’s a pretty long list with some pretty big names: Bad Bunny, Black Pumas, Cardi B, BTS, Brandi Carlile, DaBaby, Doja Cat, Billie Eilish, Mickey Guyton, Haim, Brittany Howard, Miranda Lambert, Lil Baby, Dua Lipa, Chris Martin, John Mayer, Megan Thee Stallion, Maren Morris, Post Malone, Roddy Ricch, Harry Styles, and Taylor Swift.

The COVID-necessitated structure of this year’s show sounds like a big factor in giving the Grammys enough room for all of those people, with a Variety report explaining that the ceremony will include pre-taped segments and live stuff spread out across four separate stages with separate audiences at the Los Angeles Convention Center. Grammys producer Ben Winston says this will make for a “more exciting show” where “the performers and nominees are each other’s audience” based on the way groups of people are cycled in and out.

In addition to all of the famous performers watching each other, the Grammys show will acknowledge the way independent music venues have suffered during the pandemic by featuring segments filmed at New York’s Apollo Theater, Nashville’s Station Inn, and the Troubadour and Hotel Café in Los Angeles where employees present some of the awards. One could argue that the decision to showcase famous venues from famous music towns isn’t going to do much to help the vast majority of independent venues that aren’t in New York, Nashville, and Los Angeles, but an awards show like this acknowledging the existence of two cities that aren’t in California is already a pretty big step.

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