Grammy Awards

Mika Newton isn't just using her voice to sing, she's urging folks to step in and help Ukrainians survive the war -- a crisis she says grows more grave each day for her country.

The Ukrainian singer joined "TMZ Live," following her performance Sunday night at the Grammys and shared her thoughts on Putin's ongoing war in Ukraine and what Americans can do to help.

Mika says all help is needed, in whatever form ... whether it's raising awareness or sending donations. She's aware the brutal images from the war can be overwhelming, but she says it's necessary to make sure folks don't forget what is happening every single day.

ICYMI, Mika performed with John Legend and 2 other Ukrainian artists -- Lyuba Yakimchuk and Siuzanna Iglidan. She dedicated her performance to her sister and all soldiers currently fighting in Ukraine.

As we reported, President Volodymyr Zelensky also appeared -- a total surprise to even Mika -- and he urged viewers to "support us in any way you can" and not be silent.

Olivia Rodrigo has one more very cool thing in common with her idol, Taylor Swift -- the teenager's the proud owner of a banged-up Grammy! Hey, it's hard to hold 3 of 'em at once.

The 19-year old performed her hit "Drivers License" during the 64th Grammy Awards ... and then went on to snag 3 golden trophies, and that's where her troubles started.

After the show, Olivia was posing for some pics with her 3 Grammys when one slipped out of her hands and broke in half. The look on her face at the moment of impact was priceless.

It's kinda funny, fans quickly pointed out how similar the moment was to Taylors at the 2010 Grammys. She'd won 4 that night and one went boom during press pics.

The photos and their reactions are pretty damn similar -- and it's no secret Olivia's looked up to Taylor, who's supported Olivia's rising career.

Olivia ended up taking home Grammys for Best Pop Solo Performance for "Drivers License," Best New Artist and Best Pop Vocal Album for "Sour."

The Grammys are on a roll -- but what you don't see on TV is exactly what you can see right here ... Hollywood's biggest artists and musicians hobnobbing behind the scenes.

The stars were out in force Sunday in Sin City, where the award show was being held at the MGM Grand Garden Arena ... and where A-listers flocked to attend the ceremony in person. Of course, once they were in the building -- everyone couldn't help but chit chat and mingle.

As you can see some of the famous faces on hand included Justin and Hailey Bieber, Lady Gaga, Chris Stapleton, Billie Eilish, Megan Thee Stallion, Travis Barker and Kourtney K, Carrie Underwood, Jack Harlow, Lil Nas X, BTS, Halsey and many more.

Everyone seems to be in a really good mood ... which is exactly how last Sunday's Academy Awards were looking -- that is, until things went south after Will Smith smacked Chris Rock.

Some folks have already taken digs at Will -- but so far, it appears to be smooth sailing. Of course, you gotta imagine just about all who are there want to avoid a similar fate and maintain a good vibe.

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky shared a message with the Grammy crowd ... urging everyone in attendance and at home to continue to support his country in their battle with Russia.

Zelensky -- who spoke in English via a pre-taped segment -- intro'd John Legend, who performed "Free" with 3 Ukrainian entertainers. Zelensky took the time to remind everyone of the devastation ... listing the countries hit hardest by Russian forces.

He also pushed a message of freedom, what his people are fighting for, and asked that everyone continue to talk about the devastation.

His strongest message, perhaps, "Support us in any way you can. Any. But not silence. And then peace will come."

The Grammys are underway and their MC, Trevor Noah, was on a roll in avoiding just about every controversy in the biz in his opening remarks ... except Will Smith, of course.

The ceremony kicked off Sunday in Vegas with a performance by Bruno Mars and Anderson .Paak -- after which, things went indoors at the MGM Grand Garden Arena ... where TN popped up again and start delving into his monologue seamlessly.

He intro'd all the big names who were in the building -- going through a list that included the likes of Justin Bieber, Lady Gaga, Billie Eilish, Olivia Rodrigo and more -- and said the night was going to be a smooth ride where they'd be singing, dancing and giving out awards.

Then came the dig ... "We're gonna be keeping people's names out of our mouths." That, he said, would help keep the night chill ... and the audience laughed it up as a result.

No name-dropping here, but it's obvious what Trevor was referring to ... that is, Will telling Chris Rock to keep Jada Pinkett's name out of his mouth during last weekend's Oscars ceremony -- this after smacking him across the face on stage, live on television.

It's interesting that Trevor went there -- albeit, lightly and not nearly as brutal as he could've been -- because the dude was seen embracing Will at an afterparty last week ... following a long chat they shared.

Seems like he struck a good balance between addressing it and sparing Will further humiliation. Dude's been getting both criticized and ridiculed in the wake of the hit.

It's Grammys Day, and while lots of musicians and artists are getting ready for the big show -- one guy seems more than willing to change the conversation on Twitter ... The Weeknd.

Indeed ... Abel has been VERY active on the bird app Sunday, responding to fans and teasing new video treatments for songs of his on his new album, "Dawn FM," including stills from what he shot for "Out of Time" ... which he says will drop Tuesday.

Now, Weeknd's been chirping up throughout the past few days -- much to his fans' amusement and delight, directly responding to their tweets with humor/wit -- but just hours before showtime ... it seems the dude is extra active, and even has himself trending.

No harm, no foul -- Abe's obviously fired up about his new projects, but the timing of his more-than-usual tweet storm is somewhat curious ... considering his beef with the Recording Academy.

You'll recall ... he was pretty pissed about getting snubbed last year -- so much so that he vowed to never submit again, and so far ... he's stuck to his promise. "Dawn FM" isn't nominated as a result of Abel not putting it up for consideration ... even though it's by far one of the most popular records out this year. It's hit a billion streams on Spotify, and he remains a presence on the charts.

Despite Weeknd's absence from the show -- it would appear the spotlight is fully on him, at least for now ... and something tells us that's not by accident. He's very social media savvy.

It remains to be seen if TW will attend/submit for other music award shows later this year ... much like he did in 2021, where he cleaned up and stuck it to the Academy's voting body.

If he does ... we wouldn't be surprised if 'Dawn' kills it. Fact is -- it's a very good album, it's performing well and it probably sounds great in a live setting. Unfortunately, the Grammys will never get to experience that for themselves ... maybe even forever!

Waka Flocka says Kanye West doesn't care about performing at the Grammys in the slightest ... so Ye's ban shouldn't mean much to an artist Waka considers a genius.

The "No Hands" rapper sat down with Raq on the "It's Tricky With Raquel Harper" podcast ... and offered a strong defense of Kanye, and a scathing review of the music awards show.

Waka says musicians shouldn't put much weight into the Grammys, because they're being judged by a few dozen people ... whereas concerts see crowds with 100,000 fans.

As we reported ... Kanye was yanked from the upcoming Grammys lineup because of his online antics.

Waka's read is along the same lines as Damon Dash's ... who told us hip-hop doesn't need the Recording Academy.

Waka says Kanye is "an unapologetic genius" who is being judged too harshly by most folks ... though he admits Ye should be a little wiser with his choice of words given his celebrity.

Miley Cyrus says she's tested positive for the coronavirus after jet-setting around the globe, playing huge festivals and mingling with fans ... but she says it's not a bad thing.

The singer announced her COVID-19 diagnosis Friday on social media, explaining the positive result like this ... "Traveling around the world, playin for a 100,000 people a night & meeting hundreds of fans a day the chances of getting Covid are pretty high."

Miley says she's feeling fine and "it was definitely worth it."

Just in the last month, Miley played shows in Chile, Colombia, Argentina and most recently, Brazil. It's been a whirlwind tour, in advance of her new album, which dropped Friday too.

Miley had an eventful world tour ... in addition to getting COVID, her plane was struck by lightning and forced to make an emergency landing on her way to Asunción, Paraguay.

She dedicated her Brazil performance to late Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins, who Miley says was the first person she talked to after her plane incident.

Quavo, and presumably Migos, are off the Grammys and onboard with J. Prince's idea to protest the awards by putting on a hip hop concert to compete with it on the same night!!!

We talked to Quavo Wednesday at LAX, and he told us the Grammys don't mean a thing anymore. Take a listen, he says it's time to start "our own awards ... that appreciate the real s**t going on in the streets."

He thinks the way the Recording Academy classifies his genre is out of touch, calling it an "old language" ... especially because rappers like Quavo are the ones doing the creating, not them.

As you'll recall, Rap-A-Lot Records founder J. Prince called for artists like Ye, Drake and Nicki Minaj to put the Grammys on notice with their own Vegas concert on April 3, the night of the award show. The idea is fully in response to the Academy banning Ye from performing due to "concerning online behavior."

Prince says the only way to make change is prove Grammy ratings will drop when hip hop's biggest artists jump ship to do their own show instead.

We also got New Edition's Ronnie DeVoe and he says statements like this are necessary, because traditional award shows aren't exactly known for inclusivity.

Damon Dash isn't here for the Grammys yanking Kanye West from its performance lineup ... insisting the Recording Academy has no place judging him or any other hip-hop artist.

We caught up with the rap mogul Tuesday at LAX, and he's so pissed about the Ye-Grammys situation that he says it's time to kick the whole award show to the curb ... telling us, "We make our own Grammys."

Remember, even though he can't perform, Ye can attend the show -- so, we asked what he thinks would happen if he wins and gets on stage to accept his Grammy. DD says it shouldn't ever come to that, because he's encouraging Ye to skip it altogether.

Damon's embracing the theory the Grammys are outdated and out of touch with hip hop -- and tells us he didn't go either when he was nominated.

He's clearly over Academy execs judging who's hot and who's not in the industry.

As Dame puts it, "They gotta respect our culture."

As we reported, Kanye was barred from performing at this year's award show, due to his "concerning online behavior" ... ya know, his online attacks against ex-wife Kim Kardashian, her new bf Pete Davidson and a slew of others.

Lots of folks have jumped to Ye's defense, including Grammys host Trevor Noah -- at whom Kanye fired some online shots -- saying he wanted the rapper to get counseled, not canceled.

Damon's idea is picking up steam. On Tuesday, J. Prince called on hip-hop artists -- including Ye, Drake and Nicki Minaj -- to protest the award show, and get together to perform an anti-Grammys concert.

He's going for the Recording Academy's neck, too ... he wants to do the concert in Las Vegas on April 3 -- the same night and location of the Grammys.

Kanye West was apparently all set to perform at the Grammys, but his online antics have now gotten him barred ... so says the guy's own team and industry pals.

Ye's rep confirmed the news to Variety Saturday, saying it was true that the rapper wouldn't be hitting the stage in a few weeks. The reason cited ... his "concerning online behavior," which the Recording Academy clearly felt might translate to a fiasco in a live setting.

His involvement with the Grammys was something that hadn't been public until now -- earlier this week, the first round of official performers was announced, but KW wasn't on the list.

His rap buddy, The Game, let the cat out of the bag about this as well -- taking to IG with a lengthy caption decrying the decision to uninvite Ye ... likening it censorship and even invoking slavery.

He writes, in part ... "Time & time again they show us that they only want to STEAL the culture, not allow you to ever be their equals. In a more than obvious move for reasons of minuscule actions."

Game went on to muse about the reasons, including the fact Trevor Noah is hosting and that Kanye's account was suspended for 24 hours this week.

He adds, "Speak your mind in this country for yourself, family or your people & you're ostracized immediately & if you push them hard enough they will stop at no ends to try and put an end to you as a whole."

As you know ... this saga crescendoed when Kanye called Trevor a "k***" for taking him to task on his own show about how he was dealing with the divorce, including publicly airing out the family's business. TN speculated it could lead to real-world violence, or worse.

Spice wants to show women how much can be accomplished on their own, and tells us making Grammy history with her debut album is a big step toward that goal.

The Queen of Dancehall is one of 2 female dancehall artists -- the other being Etana -- to be nominated for Best Reggae Album. That's a first for the Grammys, and on Tuesday's "TMZ Live" she told us about her rags to riches tale ... in life and the industry.

The title of her nominated album is "10" -- fitting because she says, "For the past 10 years I've managed myself. I've been my own record label, my stylist and everything, so I'm just super gleeful and excited."

Spice tells us she wants to show people it is possible to make dreams a reality ... "When one door closes you can open another one," she says.

This has been a huge year for the dancehall artist and "Love & Hip-Hop Atlanta" star.

She released her hit album back in August ... and a large part of that success came from the lead single, "Go Down Deh" ft. Shaggy and Sean Paul.

Folks in the music scene aren't the only ones who agree either. Just last month, the song even made it to former Prez Obama's 2021 playlist.

Spice says her slogan is "from homeless to greatness," and indeed she is living that out ... she told us she just bought a home in ATL and she has been doing extremely well for herself.

Drake won't be partaking in the upcoming Grammy Awards -- despite being nominated -- because the guy just pulled his submissions ... TMZ has confirmed.

The rapper has withdrawn his 2 Grammy nominations -- one for Best Rap Album in "Certified Lover Boy" and another for Best Rap Performance in "Way 2 Sexy" -- after having gotten nods about two weeks ago.

A source close to Drake tells us the decision was made by Drake and his management team,  and the Grammys board respected it. Variety was first to report Drake's withdraw.

He's obviously no stranger to the award ceremony -- having racked up multiple wins over the years, including one in 2019 -- but Drake has also publicly noted he isn't a fan of accolades like this ... saying they're virtually meaningless.

He was also one of the first to speak up after The Weeknd was snubbed by the ceremony, saying, "I think we should stop allowing ourselves to be shocked every year by the disconnect between impactful music and these awards."

Of course, this move might have more to do with his involvement in Astroworld Fest than his stance on awards -- the guy's been relatively low-key since the tragedy, especially since he's been named in a few of the lawsuits that have surfaced thus far.

Cedric the Entertainer is in Bill Maher's corner when it comes to cancel culture, as in he thinks it's gotten ridiculous.

We got Cedric out Wednesday in L.A., and asked about Dave Chappelle and Louis C.K. both getting Grammy noms, despite calls for their cancellation. Cedric is clearly pleased the folks over at the Grammys paid homage to both.

Cedric says things have gotten so out of hand it's unclear what people get canceled for, but he lays it on groups on social media ... all of whom think they embrace the truth with a capital T.

He never uses the word "mob," but that's certainly the sentiment as he talks about gaggles of outraged folks who band together on Twitter to zero in on their perceived enemies.

Cedric also seems to think the majority of folks have had it up to HERE with cancel culture.

Louis C.K. and Dave Chappelle both grabbed Grammy noms -- despite their individual battles with "cancel culture" -- a signal maybe "canceling" people is on the wane.

The Academy announced its picks Tuesday ... Louis received a nom for Best Comedy Album and Chappelle for Best Spoken Word Album. Of course, Twitter was quick to react, mostly full of people who have had it up to HERE with C.C.

One user wrote, "Louis CK just got nominated for a Grammy, in case people wanted to keep clutching their pearls about the long-term effects of cancel culture." Another said, "only one grammy nom each for dave chappelle, kevin hart, and louis CK!! cancel culture strikes again!!"

It was back in 2017 when Louis C.K. admitted to exposing himself and masturbating in front of women or during phone convos. We saw a glimpse that things were turning around for him when he got a standing ovation at a show in 2019 before COVID closed venues across the country.

As we reported ... Dave's had his recent share of controversy as well -- especially from some in the LGBTQ+ community -- after his most recent Netflix special, "The Closer" almost entirely was centered around transgender and gay people.

Britney Spears went after fellow former Mousketeer Christina Aguilera Friday for refusing to open up about Britney's struggles over her conservatorship.

Christina was on a red carpet for the Latin Grammys when she was asked if she had any communications with Britney. It was a true Hollywood moment ... Christina and her publicist clearly did not want to open that door, so he hijacked the interview with this -- "No, I'm sorry, we're not doing that tonight, thank you though, bye." For her part, when the question was asked, Aguilera eyed her publicist and gave one big nothing of a statement -- "I can't, but I'm happy for her."

Fact is ... Christina actually did answer the question over her publicist's objection, saying she had not spoken to Britney.  That was what was asked, and she answered.

Nevertheless, Britney clearly feels Christina should have said more, saying, “I love and adore everyone who supported me … but refusing to speak when you know the truth, is equivalent to a lie!!!”

Britney wasn't done ... “13 years being in a corrupt abusive system yet why is such a hard topic for people to talk about???”

Now, Aguilera was actually supportive of Britney back in June, before the conservatorship ended, saying, "It is unacceptable that any woman, or human, wanting to be in control of their own destiny might not be allowed to live life as they wish."