The first group of music artists to grace the stage at the 2017 Grammy Awards were announced on Wednesday. Fans can look forward to the performances of Metallica, John Legend, Keith Urban and Carrie Underwood on the 59th Grammys.
This year, Metallica’s new track ‘Hardwired’ is nominated for Best Rock Song while Underwood’s ‘Church Bells’ received a nod for Best Country Solo Performance. Urban received two nominations- Best Country Album for ‘Ripcord’ and Best Country Solo Performance for ‘Blue Ain’t Your Color.’
Legend, however, released his album ‘Darkness & Light’ in December after nominations for the 2017 Grammys were already made and did not make it to this year’s awards event.
Meanwhile, the full 2017 Grammy nominations list has been released, and Album of the Year could be awarded to Adele, Beyonce, Drake, Justin Bieber or Sturgill Simpson.
The ‘Hello’ crooner and the ‘Hold Up’ songstress are also up for Record of the Year against Lukas Graham, Twenty One Pilots and Rihanna. These two highest paid female singers will compete once more with Graham, Bieber and Mike Posner for Song of the Year. Beyonce is the most nominated artist with nine nods this year, while Drake and Rihanna have been nominated eight times. Chance the Rapper and Adele are up for seven and five awards each, respectively.
The 2017 Grammy nominations list has been criticized by some for failing to recognize David Bowie for Album of the Year or Kanye West for not being acknowledged in key categories, such as Best Rap Song or Best Rap Performance. Special Merit Awards are up for The Velvet Underground,
Sly Stone and Nina Simone whose achievements will be honored as part of the pre-Grammy Awards event in February. TV personality James Corden is set to host the 2017 Grammy Awards, which will air at 8 p.m. ET on CBS.
