With just a few days until Sunday’s Grammy Awards, the roster of performers continues to grow. Specifically, it’s being loaded with more of the unusual A-list collaborations for which the Grammys have become known. The latest include Beck and Chris Martin, Sam Smith and Mary J. Blige, and Ed Sheeran and a slew of others. Before any of those combos were announced, HuffPost Entertainment chatted with National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences president Neil Portnow, who’s overseen the Grammys since 2003. Here are excerpts from our conversation about how the show’s all-star moments come together:
The Grammys have become known for all-star collaborations. How did that start?
When I got the job, I met with our producers at the time, including Ken Ehrlich, and one of the things I said was that the one thing that always really appeals to me are those moments where you’ve got interesting combinations of artists, whether it be about different generations or different genres or different genders or different biographical backgrounds, and also the fact that there’s an educational component to it because there’s something to be learned about the relationship between some of these things historically. We came to the conclusion that one of the signature elements of the Grammys should be what we call “Grammy moments.” Over the years, obviously we’ve stayed true to the philosophy, and the way that they get put together isn’t cookie-cutter or by any particular book.
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Like the Whitney Houston tribute in 2012.
Exactly right. So on that basis, we try to balance it. Let’s be ready, let’s be buttoned up, but let’s also be able to be nimble and make sure we have the options we need in case we need it.
The interview has been edited and condensed.
