MUSIC’S glitterati will sparkle on the red carpet at tomorrow’s Grammy Awards honouring the top hits and artistes of the year.

A scandal at the Recording Academy, which puts on the show, has overwhelmed the lead-up to the glam event, but there are still plenty of musical moments to watch for.

Here is a quick guide to the event, which will take place at the Staples Centre in Los Angeles.

Women poised to lead

Women dominated at last year’s gala and are leading the pack this year as well, with twerking flautist Lizzo and teenage goth-pop phenomenon Billie Eilish expected to battle for the top awards.

The Academy has long come under fire for failing to recognise women and people of colour.

In recent years, it has expanded the nominee field from five to eight in the major four categories: album of the year, song of the year, record of the year and best new artiste.

Both Lizzo and Eilish are nominated for all of the “big four” prizes.

Other female front-runners vying for Grammys gold include Lana Del Rey – whose 2019 album is considered by many critics as the best of the year – and R&B prodigy H.E.R., who is up for five awards, and last year won two.

Pop sensation Ariana Grande is among the top nominees, while flamenco revivalist Rosalia, up for best new artiste, could become a rare Spanish-language winner in the general categories.

Generational shift

Lizzo, Eilish and Lil Nas X are the top three contenders of the night with a combined age of 69 – a figure once closer to the average age of just one veteran star that would dominate the event.

The generational shift could mark a new era for the Academy, which has long favoured older pop and rock mainstays.

Eilish, who first gained fame online, was just 17 when the nominations were announced, making her the youngest artiste ever to be up for all four top Grammy prizes.

Her songwriting partner and brother, Finneas, 22, has five chances at Grammys glory.

Old Town Road all-stars

Lil Nas X, the brains behind last year’s ubiquitous earworm Old Town Road, will take the stage to perform a pumped-up rendition of his country-trap smash.

His Grammy co-nominee for record of the year, Billy Ray Cyrus, who lent the song country street cred when Nashville snubbed it, will join him onstage, as will eclectic DJ Diplo and K-pop sensation BTS.

Video-sharing app TikTok propelled the young rapper to fame – his song went viral and ultimately broke the record for the longest stretch atop the Billboard hot songs chart at 19 weeks.

Barring none

Two artistes who faced major legal troubles last year, Meek Mill and 21 Savage, are up for best rap album.

Mill ended his controversial legal saga in August after pleading guilty to a misdemeanour gun charge dating back more than a decade – a move that lifted the probation he has dealt with for most of his adult life.

The plea deal, which saw additional charges against him dropped, resolved a case that had become a flashpoint in the national debate over the US criminal justice system’s treatment of black people.

Rapper 21 Savage, meanwhile, was arrested just before last year’s Grammys show in his hometown of Atlanta, with immigration agents saying he had been living in the US illegally since overstaying a visa that expired in 2006, when he was a minor.

The shock arrest surprised fans, who discovered that the artiste – strongly associated with the southern capital of hip-hop – was in fact born in Britain.

Nipsey Hussle tribute

Mill, along with fellow musicians DJ Khaled, John Legend and Roddy Ricch, will perform a tribute to the late rapper Nipsey Hussle, who is posthumously up for three awards after losing out on best rap album to Cardi B last year.

The Eritrean American, born Ermias Asghedom, was shot dead last March in broad daylight, triggering an outpouring of grief in Los Angeles and among his superstar peers, who hailed both his musical talents and tireless community organising.

Legend and Khaled are both up for a Grammy with Hussle for Higher, a collaboration released after the 33-year-old’s death.

Long part of the underground rap circuit, Hussle struggled to find fame, but then began selling his own mixtapes.

Hip-hop royalty Jay-Z once bought 100 of them – for US$100 (RM407) each. – AFP, January 25, 2020.