Afrobeat artist Burna Boy is set to headline the Grammy Awards next month alongside American rapper Travis Scott.
The Grammy Awards will take place on February 4th, and it seems that this year’s ceremony is already one for the books, with the African Giant artiste gracing the stage as a performer for the first time.
The Recording Academy confirmed that Burna will co-headline with Travis Scott, who returns more than two years after the Astroworld tragedy that pushed him into silence. The other artists confirmed to be gracing the stage are Billie Eilish, Dua Lipa, Olivia Rodrigo, and Luke Combs.
This year is particular for Burna Boy as he has been nominated for four categories of awards, the most since his career started, and he has a whopping ten nominations. He was a previous Grammy winner for the Best World Music Album award in 2021 for the ‘Twice as Tall’ album at the 66th Grammy Awards.
His nominations this year are Best Global Music Album for his song “I Told Them,” Best African Music Performance for the banger “City Boys,” which samples Jeremih’s “Birthday Sex,” Best Global Music Performance for “Alone,” and Best Melodic Rap Performance for the Brandy sample “Sittin’ on Top of the World.”
To commemorate the Afrobeat artist’s performance, the Grammys released a video celebrating the artist; however, a video announcing Burna Boy drew backlash. In the video, the Grammys apparently misnamed another artist as Burna Boy.
The video was later deleted and replaced.
In the meantime, Burna Boy fans celebrated the visibility of African artists on the American platform. “Burna Boy will be the first African artist to EVER perform at the Grammys,” one person wrote. “The Recording Academy affirms Burna Boy is the FIRST Nigerian artist in the history of mankind to ever win a #GRAMMYs award for HIS project!” another fan wrote.
“This same Grammys with Burna boy announcement this morning this people had to put their pain somewhere cos man is well ahead of everyone else,” another said.
