Shania Twain hails 65th Grammys as ‘one of the best talent years in a long time’

Shania Twain has hailed the 65th annual Grammy awards as “one of the best talent years in a long time”, as she arrived at the star-studded event.

The Five-time Grammy winner joined other titans of the music industry on the red carpet, wearing a polka dot suit and towering hat.

This year’s ceremony is taking place at the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles.

Twain’s outfit was created by British-American fashion designer Harris Reed, who has dressed Adele, Beyonce and Harry Styles – all of whom are nominated for top awards at the ceremony.

The country music star, who is one of the presenters at the event, said: “This is one of the best talent years in a long time.

“Such a great collection of artists that I am so excited to see perform and also hopefully run into backstage.

“Get a few hugs in of some of my favourites, and just get up there and present best country album. I am here to represent country music and I am excited.”

She added that she wanted to be reunited with Styles, after the singer brought her out onstage at the 2022 Coachella music festival, and was excited to meet Adele for the first time.

Elsewhere, singer and songwriter Anitta said she is “making history” as the first Brazilian artist to be nominated for best new artist at the Grammys in nearly half a century.

Eumir Deodato was nominated in 1974 but lost out to Bette Midler.

Speaking to Entertainment Weekly on the red carpet, Anitta, 29, said: “I am so happy. I have said it a lot but that is because it means a lot. It has been half a century, 50 years, that Brazil was not here in the main category. So for me we are making history.

“My whole country is watching and Brazil is waiting for this. For me, the victory is to be here tonight, to be honest.”

This year’s Grammys features five new categories including songwriter of the year (non-classical), giving the Recording Academy an avenue to honour music’s best composer.

There will also be a special segment, presented by LL Cool J, celebrating 50 years of hip hop in 2023.

Speaking on the red carpet, the rapper said he was looking forward to serving hip hop “on a silver platter” and praised the segment’s producer Questlove for curating “one of the most spectacular line-ups in a long time”.

He added: “It feels like yesterday I was just a little kid in the basement listening to Cold Crush tapes and now here we are all these years later on, on the biggest stage in the world in hundreds of countries around the world, presenting hip hop the way I think it should be seen by the masses.”

He continued: “For a long time hip hop has been served in a brown greasy paper bag but tonight we’re going to serve it on a silver platter, so it feels good.”

Earlier in the evening, Beyonce took further steps toward becoming the most decorated Grammy winner of all time, after scooping two wins.

The Crazy In Love singer won her first award of the night for best dance/electronic recording, presented at the awards’ premiere ceremony ahead of the main event, and best traditional R&B performance.

The wins take Beyonce’s total to 30, just one shy of equalling the all-time record by a solo artist of 31, currently held by Hungarian-British conductor Georg Solti.

The show is due to see Beyonce and Adele reignite their 2017 rivalry, as they go head-to-head for the night’s top awards.

Both stars are nominated in the three major categories for established artists: album of the year; record of the year; and song of the year, as is Styles.

Beyonce is nominated in nine categories, while rapper and 2022 Glastonbury headliner, Kendrick Lamar, has the second-most nominations with eight.

Adele is nominated in seven categories and Styles in six.

The Isle Of Wight-based rock duo Wet Leg also picked up their first ever Grammy awards at the premiere ceremony, scooping two in a row for best alternative music performance and alternative music album.

“This is so funny, thank you so much,” said Rhian Teasdale, accepting the first award, adding: “What are we doing here? I don’t know. But here we are.”

Comedian Trevor Noah is returning as host while James Corden, Cardi B and US First Lady Jill Biden will be on hand to present the awards at the main event.

Styles, Lizzo, Mary J Blige, Sam Smith and Kim Petras are among the performers confirmed for the night.

The 65th annual Grammy Awards is being broadcast live on February 5 on the CBS TV Network and will also be available to stream live and on demand on Paramount+.