\n When musicians gather in Los Angeles on Sunday for the annual Grammy Awards, they\u2019ll be dropping into a country in crisis.\n <\/p>\n
\n Actors, athletes and musicians have been speaking<\/a> increasingly loudly about the Trump administration\u2019s actions in Minneapolis, following the killing of ICU nurse Alex Pretti last weekend.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cYou never know how it\u2019s going to play out but the one thing, I think, we have, as an advantage to be honest, is the fact that musicians \u2014 we\u2019re communicators,\u201d said Harvey Mason, Jr., the president and chief executive officer of the Recording Academy, which presents the Grammys.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cYou\u2019re going to hear and feel what\u2019s going on in the world through the music,\u201d he told celebrity.land. \u201cMaybe some people will choose to speak out about it, but you\u2019re definitely going to feel it in the music, in the performance, in the passion that goes into the art.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n The 2026 Grammys are once again led by rap powerhouse Kendrick Lamar with nine nominations. The show is returning to the practice this year of having all the best new artist nominees perform, meaning Addison Rae, Alex Warren, KATSEYE, Leon Thomas, Lola Young, Olivia Dean, sombr, and The Mar\u00edas will take the stage.\n <\/p>\n \n This year\u2019s ceremony also features two new categories: best traditional country album and best album cover.\n <\/p>\n \n Mason hopes the show, set to be hosted by Trevor Noah, will give viewers a feeling of unity and uplift. \u201cI think music has a unique ability, especially in these days, especially at a time when there\u2019s so much division, there\u2019s unrest \u2014 I think music and all the talented artists, Trevor our host, the music community will be used as a tool, as medicine, I think, to bring people together,\u201d he said.\n <\/p>\n \n Mason, who has led the Recording Academy since 2020, has a lot on his hands \u2014 from considering the state of the country to the rise of artificial intelligence and its impact on music to pursuing his stated mission of diversifying the academy\u2019s membership amid a rightwing-led backlash to diversity efforts.\n <\/p>\n \n Mason thinks about diversity from a global perspective as well as a national one. As international genres grow ever bigger \u2014 from Latin music to K-pop \u2014 he has worked to bring in more global members, he said.\n <\/p>\n \n Last year, \u201cmore than 3,800 diverse music creators and professionals\u201d joined<\/a> the Academy as part of its 2025 new member class, of which 58 percent were people of color and 35 percent those who identify as women, according to<\/a> the Academy. \u201cFor the first time ever, invitations were also extended to all Latin Recording Academy Voting Members, helping to build a more globally representative voting body,\u201d it said.\n <\/p>\n
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