Surprise playlists fill Spotify’s party
LOS ANGELES – Though the eight contenders for new artist at the 2024 Grammy Awards were to be pitted against each other over the weekend, there was no sense of competition among the Grammy nominees as they congregated Thursday night at Spotify’s Best New Artist Party.
Before they head inside the venue to perform short sets, several of the nominees – including Jelly Roll and Noah Kahan, as well as Victoria Monét and Coco Jones – mingle on the red carpet and gamely pose for photos together.
The mood of the night for these nominees – a list of up-and-comers that also includes Ice Spice, Gracie Abrams, Fred again.. and The War And Treaty – as they’re on the precipice of potentially being lauded with a prestigious award? Excited, and grateful to be here.
“I woke up a little hung over,” Jelly Roll confesses during his set.
“But … it’s Grammy week, baby! I’m a two-time nominee for the first time.”
Inside a soundstage on the Paramount Pictures lot, the concert venue for the evening, hundreds of bodies are crammed together with nary a breath of space between them as guests struggle to navigate.
“I hope you don’t get trampled,” one guest tells a friend who bravely announces they’re making a trip to the bar.
VIP guests including “Mean Girls” star Reneé Rapp, “Barbie” star Simu Liu, singer Becky G and “Succession” star Nicholas Braun luckily have a lounge where they can avoid the masses.
These were some of the night’s highlights as all eight new artist nominees took their turns on stage.
Jelly Roll blows the roof off the place, duets with Lainey Wilson
To find out what comprises Jelly Roll’s setlist for this event, look no further than the “popular” tracks listed on his Spotify page.
The leather jacket-clad country/ rock/hip-hop singer might be hung over, but his energy and excitement over being in LA for the Grammys are contagious.
“There’s a lot of people out there saying, ‘I didn’t expect this dude to be that good,’” he jokes in between songs.
In his rock tracks (including “Halfway to Hell”), the band’s drums and bass cause the entire soundstage to tremble along with the melody.
If the San Andreas Faultline decides to give us a jolt at this point, all of us would be none the wiser.
When Jelly Roll reaches his final song of the night, he brings out a surprise guest to help him through a track that the artist has acknowledged is one of the more difficult ones to sing.
Lainey Wilson steps out onto the stage and goes on to deliver a duet of “Save Me.”
Jones nails a mashup of ‘Crazy for Me’ and ‘Crazy in Love’
Five-time Grammy nominee Jones and her backup dancers whip out some remarkable choreography (including an eye-boggling backbend move) as they perform tracks off her album, “What I Didn’t Tell You.”
In “Double Back,” Jones lets loose an impressive vocal run as she sings about second-guessing going back to an old flame.
Her set concludes with a mashup that Beyoncé herself likely would approve: Jones’ lead track from her album, “Crazy for Me” and “Crazy in Love.”
The latter earned Beyoncé two Grammys 20 years ago.
In the mashup, which Jones has performed live, she confidently intermixes the two tracks while showing off her vocal prowess.
Songwriter to the stars Monét proves she was made for the stage
Monét, who racked up seven Grammy nominations this year, makes her presence known the moment she steps on the stage.
As a wind machine blows her wavy strands that then artfully frame her face, Monét looks back at the audience over her shoulder as she delivers the opening lines of “Jaguar,” from her 2020 album.
As she moves into her hit song “On My Mama,” from her latest album, Monét delivers immaculate choreography in perfect sync along with her backup dancers.
Even as she and the group don glittery snapbacks, they do so in tandem.
After spending years writing hit songs for Ariana Grande, Blackpink and Nas, Monét has more than proved that she belongs in her own spotlight.