Alicia Keys Will Be the First Woman to Host the Grammys in 14 Years

The 61st Grammy awards are happening this Sunday, and we can’t wait! The fashion, the performances, the glamour and oh, yeah … the host! The Grammys 2019 host will be Alicia Keys, and we’re positive she’s going to crush it. Keys herself has won 15 out of the 29 Grammy awards she’s been nominated over her music career, which spans almost 20 years. Talk about a powerhouse. Keys is well-versed in this world, and we’re sure she’ll know exactly what makes a good host. We mean, she’d have to know by now, right? She last won for best R&B Album for Girl on Fire back in 2013.

Selecting Keys as the Grammy host is big this year because she’ll be the first female host since 2005, when Queen Latifah was the master of ceremonies. That is 14 years, people! 2005 might still feel like it was just a couple years ago, but it was well over a decade. The awards show went host-less until 2011. LL Cool J then became the awards’ recurring host from 2012-2016. James Corden hosted both the 2017 and 2018 Grammys. And now Keys is stepping up to the plate. We couldn’t be happier.

It’s an especially fitting choice considering the nominees are largely female. Five of the eight nominees for album of the year are women: rapper Cardi B (Invasion of Privacy), folk-rock singer Brandi Carlile (By the Way, I forgive You), R&B singer H.E.R. (H.E.R.), genre-fluid Janelle Monáe (Dirty Computer) and country singer Kacey Musgraves (Golden Hour).

You go, girls! What we’re wondering is how Keys plans to open the night. We think it’s safe to say that the opener tends to set the vibe and track how the rest of the night will play out. Not to put more pressure on, but we’re hoping for something special.

Funny guy James Corden went for slapstick the first time he hosted the awards in 2017. He pranked the crowd with a fantastic fake fall and then proceeded to roll down the stairs as he made his “grand” entrance. He rapped, he did carpool karaoke … he really got the crowd and viewers at home excited and in the mood for a good night.

Last year’s show began a bit differently—Corden took a step back and let the music take the spotlight. He also began with a political and “socially charged” performance by Kendrick Lamar. Corden then joked, “We don’t have the most diverse group of nominees in Grammys history, we also have, for the second year in a row, the least diverse host in Grammys history.”

We’re pretty sure Corden’s style of entertainment isn’t exactly Keys thing, but hey, you never know! She’s a classy lady, but has a lot of energy and some spunk and soul to her.

Now—everyone has to watch this video of the moment Keys found out she would be hosting the Grammys, and it honestly almost brought us to tears. Look how cute she is! She’s absolutely charming and adorable. We know this means it’s gonna be good. She already has a great sense of humor attitude about the whole thing.

We’re really looking forward to how she owns the stage and honors the musicians on Sunday night. Make sure you tune in at 8 p.m. EST! For details on how checkout our guide to streaming the 2019 Grammy awards.

Source: Instagram