Noah Kahan, Gracie Abrams, Ice Spice and More Best New Artist Nominees Kick Off Grammys Weekend at Spotify Party

Ahead of Sunday night’s Grammys, this year’s crop of best new artist nominees took the stage at the annual Spotify party on Thursday.

Held on a soundstage on the Paramount lot, Spotify’s Best New Artist Party was a star-studded affair and featured performances from Ice Spice, Noah Kahan, Gracie Abrams, Victoria Monét, Coco Jones, Jelly Roll, and The War and Treaty; the eighth nominee, Fred again.., was not in attendance.

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Each performer did a short set of two to four songs, which included Monét (who is up for seven awards at the Grammys) breaking out the choreography and wind machine for a rendition of “Jaguar,” Jelly Roll bringing out Lainey Wilson for a duet of their song “Save Me” and following Abrams’ performance, Kahan calling her back to the stage as they sang his hit “Everywhere, Everything” together.

Intermixed between the music, the nominees frequently expressed their appreciation for the attention Spotify has brought to their work as well as the awards recognition, as Jones exclaimed, “This whole week is so surreal, I’m nominated for five Grammys!” Abrams admitted, “This is a weird, scary room to play for” but expressed “I’m such a huge fan of everyone who is playing tonight, I’m honored to share the stage with them.” Kahan joked that he didn’t know how the Grammy Awards process worked but asked the crowd to vote for him, while teasing a Grammy may not be his top priority: “I’ve been trying for that Nick Kids’ Choice Award for a long time, the boys are trying to get slimed.”

After about two and half hours of music — which also included sounds by DJ Politik, Ladies of Leisure, and HoneyLuv — Ice Spice closed out the evening with her songs “Think U The Shit (Fart)” and “Deli.”

On top of the star power on stage, the guest list also included Renée Rapp, Damson Idris, Nicholas Braun, Storm Reid, Finneas, Anthony Ramos, Delevingne, Kesha, Diplo, Dove Cameron and Simu Liu. Drinks flowed throughout the celebration and with Dunkin’ as a sponsor, guests munched on a variety of doughnuts on an outdoor patio.

The Spotify event is one of many parties being thrown in the lead-up to music’s biggest night, as the Grammys take place at the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles on Sunday and air live on CBS and Paramount+.

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