Grammys 2021: Taylor Swift, Billie Eilish, BTS, Bad Bunny, Megan Thee Stallion head list of performers

There will be star power galore at the March 14 telecast of the 2021 Grammy Awards telecast, the first edition of the 63-year-old show to be held during a global pandemic and without an audience.

The list of confirmed performers includes last year’s Grammys queen, Billie Eilish, along with BTS, Taylor Swift, Dua Lipa and Bad Bunny. Megan Thee Stallion and Cardi B, whose joint single, “WAP,” was the nation’s most streamed song of 2020 by any female artist with more than 737 million on-demand streams, will also perform, presumably together.

In addition, the lineup incudes Brandi Carlile, Doja Cat, Haim, Brittany Howard and two famous “babies,” rappers Lil Baby and DaBaby.

Also set to take the stage are Maren Morris, Post Malone, Coldplay singer Chris Martin and Roddy Ricch. Two other performers, John Mayer and ex-One Direction mainstay Harry Styles, are both former boyfriends of Swift’s.

Trevor Noah will host the show, which will also air on CBS TV and Paramount+ nationally and KFMB-TV in San Diego.

Swift, Lipa and Ricch each have six Grammy nominations apiece this year, second only to the field-leading Beyoncé, who had nine. In previous years, more Grammy performers have been announced in the days leading up to the telecast. It remains to be seen if that will be the case this year.

Billed as “Music’s Biggest Night,” the telecast will pay tribute to “independent venues, which have been greatly impacted by the pandemic,” according to a statement released Sunday morning by the Recording Academy, under whose auspices the Grammys are presented.

Accordingly, some of the awards categories will be announced by employees, “from bartenders to box office managers” at various indie venues in at least three U.S. cities.

The venues those employees work at include The Troubadour and Hotel Café in Los Angeles, the historic Apollo Theater in New York City and The Station Inn in Nashville.

At least three San Diego-bred artists are also nominated — Anoushka Shankar, Gregory Porter and Alison Brown — will be featured during next Sunday’s noon pre-telecast Premiere Ceremony, which will stream live at grammy.com. Porter and Shankar will perform as part of a tribute performance celebrating the 50th anniversary of the classic Marvin Gaye track “Mercy, Mercy Me (The Ecology).”

Other Premiere Ceremony performers include Burna Boy, Rufus Wainwright, Teri Lyne Carrington & Social Science and Igor Levit. Awards in more than 70 of the 84 Grammy categories will be presented during the Premiere Ceremony.

In addition, on Friday the Grammys’ annual MusiCares fundraising concert, which help musicians and music industry members in need, will be held online for the first time. It will feature new performances by John Legend, BTS, Haim, H.E.R., Jhené Aiko and John Legend, plus archival MusiCares appearances by Bruce Springsteen, Stevie Nicks, Usher, Tom Petty, Carole King, Paul McCartney, Shakira, the Jonas Brothers, Ringo Starr, Lionel Richie, Ledisi and others. DJ D-Nice will host a pre-show set.

63rd annual Grammy Awards

Hosted by: Trevor Noah

When: 5 p.m. Sunday, March 14

Where: KFMB Channel 8, airing live from in and around the Los Angeles Convention Center and on the Paramount Plus subscription streaming service

Grammy Awards Premiere Ceremony

Hosted by: Jhené Aiko

When: Noon Sunday, March 14

Where: Online only at grammy.com

2021 MusiCares Music on A Mission virtual fundraising concert

When: 5 p.m. Friday

With: John Legend, BTS, Haim, H.E.R., Jhené Aiko and John Legend, plus archival MusiCares appearances by Bruce Springsteen, Stevie Nicks, Usher, Tom Petty, Carole King, Paul McCartney, Shakira, the Jonas Brothers, Ringo Starr, Lionel Richie, Ledisi and others. DJ D-Nice will host a pre-show set.

Where: grammy.com/musicares

Tickets: $25 (general admission) and $324 (includes Master & Dynamics MW07 PLUS True Wireless Earphones); available at support.musicares.org/live