Alicia Keys says she got James Corden to admit she'll be better than him at hosting the Grammy Awards this year.
This host is on fire!
Alicia Keys is neck-deep in planning what all she’ll do as host of this year’s Grammy Awards, but she just got a major vote of confidence.
“I called James Corden the other day and I asked him if he thought I was going to be better than him,” Keys, 38, tells PEOPLE in this week’s issue. Corden who served as MC for the 2017 and 2018 shows was caught off guard by the good-humored question.
“He was so shocked that I asked him,” says Keys with a laugh, “then he was like, ‘Yeah! Like Yeah you’re going to be better than me!'”
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It may be her first time running the show, but the 15-time Grammy-winning musician is no newcomer to music’s biggest night. “Some things just feel right,” says Keys who scooped up five awards at her first Grammys in 2002. “I’m familiar with the space and the energy and there will be so many of my friends and people I admire.”
As for what the “Superwoman” singer plans to do, she’s still working all of that out. “I’ve been thinking of so many things. It’s been so fun and its a process of course because its a 3-hour show. I want everyone to feel relaxed but still have that excitement. I really want to do it in a way that has never been done before.”
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Keys has some help in the planning department. “Swizz [Beatz] and I have got our brains turning,” she says of husband of nine years helping along with a team of talented creatives.
And the star says she’s got something to prove: “I’m a little funny! Ya’ll sometimes think I’m real serious so I like this opportunity to continue to remind people that I love to have a good time.”
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The good times are sure to keep rolling after her work is done. “My husband is a little bit of a party animal he loves a good party so I have a feeling there is going to be some type of special thing that’s gonna happen afterwards and we’re going to have a ball.”
She continues, “It’s important to celebrate the little victories. Especially in times like these that feel very challenging we tend to get very hooked up with a lot of the negative things, but there are a lot of positive things that are happening.”
The 61st Grammy Awards are broadcast live from Los Angeles Sunday, Feb. 10, at 8 p.m. ET on CBS.