Grammy Awards

None of the Grammy nominees will be going home empty-handed, because the Grammys gift bag is filled with thousands of dollars worth of swag that's perfect for the traveling musician or pop star, especially if they're an animal lover or just lonely and want to talk to someone dead on the phone.

Nominees like Lorde, Kendrick Lamar, Jay-Z, SZA and more will be getting the bags filled by Distinctive Assets. They include a Wi-Fi pet feeder to a phone reading with a dead loved one, valued at $150 for a 45 minute session. The most expensive thing is SmileDirectClub's invisible teeth aligners, which cost $2,170.

Here's some other swag in the bag:

-- Finger companion monkey toy ... $14.99
-- Ear wax removal kit ... $34.29
-- Handbag poncho ... $20
-- Wireless eye massager ... $24.99
-- Handheld steam inhaler ... $179
-- Book of the Month Club .. $150

The white rose movement at the Grammys has florists scrambling to fill TONS of orders ... the demand is so overwhelming they've had to turn away business.

We talked to a bunch of NYC flower shops who tell us they've fielded a crazy number of requests for white roses that Grammy attendees plan to wear Sunday at Madison Square Garden. As you know ... guests are wearing them to show solidarity with the Time's Up movement. It's music's version of the black gowns at the Golden Globes.

Kelly Clarkson, Halsey, Cyndi and Rita Ora are among the many artists who plan to take part. We're told Warner Music Group alone ordered 100 white roses for their Grammy festivities.

Business is so good one shop owner tells us they've sold out. Another shop owner tells us it received a request for a whopping 50k white roses ... but the short notice doomed their ability to fulfill the order.

Fiona Apple insists the movie industry's got nothing on the music biz when it comes to rampant sexual misconduct -- which explains her shocked reaction to us even asking.

We got the singer at LAX Thursday and asked her about the planned protest at the Grammys -- guests wearing white roses to show solidarity with the Time's Up movement. It's music's version of the black gowns at the Golden Globes.

Fiona's all for it, and says it should come as no surprise powerful men wield their power in the music biz the same way they do in Hollywood.

Justin Bieber isn't gonna show his mug at the Grammy Awards again -- or any other award shows for that matter -- until he's got something new to show for it ... HIS NEXT ALBUM!!!

Sources tell us Bieber is skipping the 2018 Grammys -- just like he did last year -- despite the fact a hugely popular song on which he was featured last year is up for a number of awards.

Bieber will not perform alongside Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee Sunday for their performance of "Despacito" -- which has been nominated for 3 Grammys ... Best Pop Duo/Group Performance, Song of the Year and Record of the Year.

We're told Bieber loves Luis and Daddy, but he's passing on the performance because he doesn't want to make appearances until he finishes his new album.

That's big news. We didn't know Bieber had new music in the works, but he does. He'll presumably use award shows like the Grammys to promote the new tracks when they're ready, but not before.

Justin previously was a no-show at the Grammys because he didn't think it was relevant or representative of the music fans really liked. But hey ... business is business.

U2 won't really be performing live from a remote location during the "60th Annual Grammy Awards" ... but it will seem that way thanks to some TV magic.

Sources close to production tell TMZ ... the band is set to record their Grammys performance Friday night on a barge in the Hudson River. When the show airs Sunday night -- live from Madison Square Garden -- cameras will cut away from MSG to U2's pre-recorded performance

It'll look like it's live, but now you won't be fooled. To be clear, the boys from Dublin aren't lip syncing -- just playing live to tape.

It's not uncommon for huge live TV events to prerecord segments, especially when a stunt shot's involved. Remember Lady Gaga's nose dive into the Super Bowl?

Here's how the final product looked for that.

Sir Elton John scored a better view than Miley Cyrus at the Grammys ... scheduled duet be dammed.

Here's a look at the seating chart for Sunday's Grammys at Madison Square Garden in NYC ... where Elton's sitting right in front of Miley. Their duo is one of several scheduled for that night. Bruno Mars and Cardi B are also slated to perform.

Billie Lourd could be shopping for a Grammy night outfit soon ... now that her late mom Carrie Fisher's been posthumously nominated.

We got Billie in Bev Hills Tuesday, hours after Carrie's 2016 memoir, "The Princess Diarist," earned a spoken word nom. She was beaming about the honor, and wouldn't rule out accepting the award for her mom ... if she wins, of course. Use the Force, Billie.

Speaking of which, we tried to get some 'Last Jedi' scoop from Billie, but apparently being Princess Leia's spawn isn't even enough for Disney to risk spoilers getting out.

Q-Tip isn't holding back about what he calls a huge Grammy snub for A Tribe Called Quest, and it sounds like he's partially blaming mega producer 9th Wonder.

Q went off on the Recording Academy for not nominating Tribe's 2016 album "We Got It from Here ... Thank You 4 Your Service." He points out it was good enough for the Grammy folks to invite them to perform at last year's ceremony, but now they're getting stiffed.

While he does give props to the other nominees like Jay-Z and Kendrick Lamar ... Q's calling BS on ATCQ's final album getting left out in the cold.

Taylor Swift's fave director -- who did her latest music video along with her "Bad Blood" vid -- has some bad blood with a former employee who now has to stay 100 yards away and stop harassing him online ... according to new legal docs.

"Look What You Made Me Do" director Joseph Kahn got a temporary restraining order against a man who he claims has been sending him disturbing emails and tagging him on angry posts off and on since 2009. According to the docs, the man briefly worked for Kahn but was let go in 2008 because he found him "unstable and unreliable."

Kahn claims the man began relentlessly harassing him afterward via email by talking to him like a dog, making comments about his penis, insulting his character, and sending "pornographic emails depicting [the man] being sodomized."

Kahn says the emails started up again in September, with a creepy message saying "Now sit and wait for your treat" followed by explanation/apology a couple days later saying ... "I am insanely chemically unbalanced even when sober."

The music vid director asked the judge for the restraining order because he feared for his safety, and the judge agreed.

Joseph won a Grammy in 2015 for "Bad Blood" and also 2003 for Eminem's "Without Me." He's also worked with artists like Mariah Carey, Britney Spears, Chris Brown and U2.

4:00 PM PT -- The Recording Academy tells us it has no "secret committees," and adds there's plenty of info regarding the Nominations Review Committees (to which our post refers) on its website.

A spokesperson says members of the Review Committee "are not disclosed to ensure fairness and neutrality." This prevents them from being lobbied.

A secret committee for the Grammys is in place to undermine the rank-and-file voters if they choose to give plum awards to black artists like Beyonce ... so claims the original lead singer of Village People.

Victor Willis sent a

to the President of the Recording Academy, demanding he "come clean" over the existence of a clandestine group that was supposedly formed after Lionel Richie beat Bruce Springsteen for the 1985 Album of the Year.

According to Willis, the committee's purpose is to "override the decision of Grammy voters in the event the select committee does not like who the Grammy voter has chosen" for the 4 top awards.

He goes on to strongly suggest a racial element, saying, "The question is how many African Americans are on that committee?" He says in the letter, "If certain people at the Grammys don't like who the voters have chosen, a Grammy committee will simply override the voters and subsequently select who they think should win. Like Adele, maybe?"

CeeLo Green says he was nowhere in sight at the Grammys ... even though we all could have sworn that was him in the gold martian suit.

We got CeeLo Tuesday night leaving Delilah in WeHo, where he denied being the little gold man turning heads on the red carpet Sunday.

He is known to rock alter egos every now and then ... sounds like this could be his latest.

Lil Yachty paid more to put a fresh grill in his mouth on Grammy night than most women spend on designer gowns for the event.

Icebox Diamonds & Watches tells us Yachty reached out last Tuesday and requested a grill to match his vibrant personality. That's exactly what he got. We're told each tooth is a different jewel -- white, blue and yellow diamonds, red rubies, and green emeralds.

It was $35,000 for the pair of grills ... and yes, that includes delivery. Icebox says a rep flew to L.A. on Sunday to hand off the rainbow-colored grill to Yachty just a few hours before the show.

He was nominated for Best Rap/Sung Performance but lost to Drake.

It wasn't a Grammy, but he still got some nice hardware out of the evening.

The Metallica duet with Lady Gaga at the Grammys was doomed by a stagehand who got reckless with James Hetfield's mic ... seconds before they went live.

Sources connected to the production tell us everything was fine right before the "Moth Into Flame" collab was about to begin. Gaga and the band's line check, right before the performance, went off without a hitch.

However, between the mic check and their act ... a wire under the stage got unplugged. We're told a stagehand did it by accident, but the damage was done -- Hetfield's mic was dead through most of the performance. They eventually fixed the unplugged wire with seconds left in the song. We reached out the Grammys, but no word back yet.

James handled it all like a pro, 'cause that's rock 'n' roll.

Insult to injury? Laverne Cox forgot to mention Metallica in her intro.

The Weeknd and Selena Gomez didn't let a little thing like ZERO Grammy Awards stop 'em from hitting the post Grammy party scene.

The couple hooked up to hit Rihanna's party at 1 OAK on the Sunset Strip. He performed during the award show, one of the night's highlights, but it appears his gf was a no-show. Selena wasn't nominated, and neither was The Weeknd -- "Starboy" was released after the cutoff date.

His hit record did get a shout-out Sunday night, with a heaping side of SHADE, from Justin Bieber.

As we told you ... Justin bailed on the Grammys this year, but during the ceremony he went live on Instagram and took a shot at his ex-gf and her new man.

Ice cold.

You'd think Ed Sheeran -- a 2 time Grammy winner with 9 more nominations -- would breeze into a Grammys after-party but NOOOOO!

Ed hit up Milk Studios in L.A. for the shindig but the front door proved elusive, and not just for him. Adrien Brody and super DJ Pete Tong also got the cold shoulder.

NeNe Leakes had trouble making her entrance but managed to make it in later in the evening.

Watching Beyonce and Adele go head-to-head at the Grammys is like watching Roger Federer play Novak Djokovic, Muhammad Ali vs. Joe Frazier ... at least that's the way The Game sees it.

The Game skipped the Grammys -- he wasn't nominated -- but he did weigh in on Adele beating Queen Bey for the night's top 3 honors Sunday on his way into Playhouse in Hollywood.