Were you concerned about Beyonce not showing up?
Look, you never know who’s gonna be there until the night, right? I had been told they were coming a couple of days before, but they’re the biggest icons in the world so until people walk through the door, you just don’t know. But I was so happy they were there, and I’m so happy that my first Grammys got to have that historic moment of tribute to her, in such an amazing way. So did I punch the air when that happened, when she was onstage and Trevor darted in and announced that it was a [she had tied the all-time Grammy record for most wins by a female artist], and then she went on and won it a half hour later? Yes, that was a wonderful moment of everything coming together in a really beautiful way. The fact that all of those stars aligned for that moment was probably my biggest moment of excitement.
You said before the show that all of the performers would have to “come to us,” meaning the convention center — and BTS, who recorded their performance in Korea on a set made to look exactly like yours, came up with an innovative way to stick to that rule.
I don’t know how much they want me to say about this, because it’s down to [COVID-era] immigration and things like that, but yes, the idea was that everybody was going to come to L.A. But with certain artists, as the day got nearer — and I’m talking very near — we realized that not all of them were going to be able to come. That didn’t mean that we didn’t want them on the show, so we had a decision to make, but it wasn’t always 100% that they we going to be in Korea. There’s a story there that I’m not sure I’m allowed to go into, but ultimately we realized that they weren’t going to be able to come, and although we were hugely ambitious in terms of what we tried, I was always very aware of the safety of people traveling and of how many people would be coming — and they don’t travel lightly! (laughs) — and I never wanted to be the reason that anybody took risks they shouldn’t have taken, and that is ultimately more important than a TV show.
So about four months ago, we booked BTS for “The Late Late Show,” and they didn’t tell what they were gonna do — they just said, “We’re gonna film a performance in Korea and we think you’ll like it.” And what arrived in my email was one of the most unbelievable things I have ever seen in my life. They recreated, brick for brick, our entire set: James’ area where he does hie interviews, the performance, space, the signage outdoors — and we hadn’t sent them anything! We didn’t even know it was happening. And so, when I was talking to their amazing team — and I think BTS and their team are up the with the most talented people in the world — I said, “Is there any way you could do what you did for the ‘Late Late Show,’ and our viewers will think you’re there but then you’ll open the doors and be in Seoul.” And it was absolutely amazing: Within five or six days they sent me a photo of our set in Korea, and I just couldn’t believe the attention to detail. Because that way, it’s not like they were sending in a music video, which I really didn’t want to do — and if you look at it, they’re singing live and it’s all shot in one go, I think there’s only one cut in it, so they even bought into the concept of what we were trying to do. I thought their performance was sensational and I think they were really happy to do it — all the messages I’ve gotten from the group have been really happy. I love them — I’m a proper BTS fan.
