Grammys: Jon Batiste Says Family, Rehearsals Caused Him To Arrive Late To The Ceremony

Jon Batiste was still ecstatic when he went back to work Tuesday night on “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” where he explained how his family and rehearsals stalled him and caused him to arrive late at the Grammy Awards on Sunday.

Still obviously emotional about his multiple Grammy wins, Batiste rose from the bandstand and sat on the couch to chat with Colbert who enumerated the Grammys he won this year: Best American Roots performance, Best American Roots song, Best score soundtrack for Pixar’s animated flick “Soul,” Best Music Video for “Freedom” and Album of the Year for “We Are.” He also led the 2022 Grammy Awards with 11 nominations.

Prior to the awards show, the singer/songwriter said he was swamped with multiple rehearsals for his live performance of “Freedom,” including soundcheck and wardrobe fittings for the red carpet that delayed his arrival at the event.

“We were late. We were late for the ceremony and the pre-broadcast. My whole family was with me. My grandfather was with me — he’s almost 90… he’s 89 years old. My dad, my mom, my nephews, my sister. My friend Ryan [Lynn], who executive produced the record with me… and a bunch of other people I don’t quite know very well… They were hanging out. It was as a whole bunch of people in the room all the time,” he recalled.

“They didn’t really work it out for you if you have 11 nominations, because if you are performing you have to rehearse and you have to soundcheck, and you have wardrobe for that,” he said. “And that’s the same time as the pre-telecast and where eight of the nominations were,” Batiste said.

Colbert quickly added, “They didn’t plan for that because there was no one else for whom they had to plan that, Jon. You were the only one with 11 nominations. … you can’t expect them to change the whole day just for you.”

When the bandleader of “The Late Show” accepted the trophy for Album of the Year, his mind was still on his performance several minutes prior to the award.

"We worked on this performance from Wednesday until that Sunday. As you saw in that performance, I just gave it everything. So, I was kind of in this sedated state, where I was like 'Okay, we have one more award left,'” the “I Need You” singer told "CBS Mornings."