--- title: "Kehlani and Pharrell Williams to help announce 2027 Grammy nominations on Nov. 16, with a new R&B category" url: https://badiyaa.com/kehlani-pharrell-2027-grammy-nominations-presenters-new-rnb-category/ published: 2026-11-09T06:15:00+00:00 modified: 2026-11-09T06:15:00+00:00 section: Entertainment publisher: Badiyaa --- # Kehlani and Pharrell Williams to help announce 2027 Grammy nominations on Nov. 16, with a new R&B category The Recording Academy listed 15 presenter slots on Friday for the 7:45 a.m. Eastern stream; the R&B, rap and spoken word field now holds 11 awards, and the ceremony follows in Los Angeles on February 7. Kehlani, Pharrell Williams and Herbie Hancock are among the artists who will read out the 2027 Grammy nominations on Monday, November 16, the Recording Academy confirmed on Friday. The stream starts at 7:45 a.m. Eastern (4:45 a.m. Pacific) on the Academy’s website and the Grammys’ YouTube channel. The complete nominee list is due online at 9 a.m. Eastern. In a first for the nominations, the presentation will also be shown live at The Square in Times Square, New York. That puts the reveal seven days away, and R&B has more riding on it than usual. ## Who is presenting Academy chief executive Harvey Mason jr. and board chair Dr. Chelsey Green front the announcement. Around them, the Academy’s own page lists 15 presenter slots. Besides R&B singer Kehlani, producer Williams and Hancock, the names are Olivia Dean, Juanes, David Guetta, Carly Pearce, Linda Perry, Amy Allen, Alan Menken, Renée Fleming, Israel Houghton, Yungblud, and two pairings: FYÜTCH with Aura V, and Meghan Foley with Michelle Holme. The Academy describes the group as a mix of past winners and nominees. It has not said who reads which categories. ## The new R&B category on the ballot Best R&B Collaboration or Duo/Group Performance is one of five categories making their debut in 2027. The Academy’s definition covers contemporary R&B recordings by settled duos and groups as well as team-ups between solo acts, and it allows hip hop, pop and electronic touches so long as the record stays rooted in R&B. The older prize has been renamed to match. What was Best R&B Performance is now Best R&B Solo Performance, which points duets and group records toward the new award. ## How the field stacks up in 2027 Count the R&B, rap and spoken word field on the 2027 category list and you get 11 awards: six for R&B, four for rap and one for spoken word poetry. - **R&B (6):** Solo Performance, Traditional R&B Performance, Collaboration or Duo/Group Performance, Song, Album, Progressive R&B Album - **Rap (4):** Performance, Melodic Rap Performance, Song, Album - **Spoken word (1):** Spoken Word Poetry Album The Academy puts the full count at 100 categories, so this field hands out 11 of every 100 trophies, or 11%. ## What can be nominated, and what cannot The eligibility window ran from August 31, 2025, to August 28, 2026. Any album or single released after August 28, which takes in this fall’s whole run of rap and R&B releases, sits outside that window and will not be read out on November 16. Three rule changes touch the credits on rap and R&B records. Songwriters and composers of new material on a winning genre album now receive an award on the same footing as its producers and engineers. An album needs 66% new recordings to qualify, down from 75%. And an act may be entered for Best New Artist four times, up from three. Voters have a new option as well. The standard ballot limits members to 10 categories across three genre fields, plus the six general categories. Ballot Plus, an opt-in alternative, lets members with verified credits in several genres vote in up to 15 categories in any field. ## What happens after November 16 A wrap-up show follows the announcement at 9 a.m. Eastern. Winners are named at the 69th Grammy Awards on Sunday, February 7, 2027, at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles, airing at 7 p.m. Eastern on ABC and streaming on Disney+ and Hulu. It is the first Grammy ceremony on ABC since 1972. Nominees will have 83 days between the announcement and the ceremony: 14 left in November, 31 in December, 31 in January and seven in February. ## Further reading - [Wikipedia: 69th Annual Grammy Awards](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/69th_Annual_Grammy_Awards) *Image: AlgernonLalinn, CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons* *This article was produced with AI assistance and reviewed by our Editorial Desk. [How we work](https://badiyaa.com/editorial-policy/).*