Thursday, December 04, 2008

Grammy Noms '09

2009’s Grammy nominees (or at least, some of them) were formally announced last night with a big to-do concert broadcast on CBS. Here’s some thoughts about this year’s nominees:

-Most nominated artist of the year: Lil Wayne. Who would have thought rap-singing a stutter about a phallic object would make a man so famous? Wayne’s nominations include album of the year, best rap song (“Lollipop”) and best rap/sung collabo.

-Coldplay was nominated for seven awards, including album of the year. Jay-Z, Ne-Yo & Kanye West all came in third with six nominations.

-Surprise nominees? Adele, MIA and Robert Plant/Alison Krauss all within the scope of “Record of the Year” (along with Coldplay’s mammoth “Viva La Viva” and Leona’s “Bleeding Love”). I would not classify any of these three as pop, but, whatever floats your boat.

-Album of the Year Nominees: Coldplay, Lil Wayne, Ne-Yo’s “Year of the Gentleman” (wow), Robert Plant/Alison Krauss’s “Raising Sand” and Radiohead’s “In Rainbows”. I think it’s safe to say that Ne-Yo won’t win.

-Song of the Year Nominees: “American Boy” by Estelle/Kanye West, “Chasing Pavement” by Adele, “I’m Yours” by Jason Mraz (surprise!), “Love Song” by Sara Barielles and “Viva La Vida” by Coldplay. My money’s on Coldplay, but I’d like to see Estelle or Jason win it.

-Best New Artist: Adele (can you believe what she is racking up?), Duffy, Jonas Brothers, Lady Antebellum and Jazmine Sullivan. Here’s my main complaint. I get Duffy. I get Adele. I get Jasmine Sullivan. None of them (save for Duffy’s “Mercy”) got much commercial success this year. I’ve never even heard of Lady Antebellum. And then you put the Jonas Brothers in there. One – they aren’t a new artist. Two – this is their third album. Three – this smells like an obligatory “they were everywhere this year so let’s throw them a bone in a vain attempt to look hip to the kids so we can get them at the live telecast and boost ratings.” I doubt they’ll win. It should go to Duffy. But let me revel in the glory that my biggest guilty pleasure is now Grammy nominated. In your face HATERS!

-Best Female Pop Vocal: Adele (AGAIN!), Sara Barielles, Duffy, Leona Lewis, Katy Perry, Pink. If Leona Lewis doesn’t win, I will be very disappointed. However, if Katy Perry wins – I am boycotting the Grammy’s all together.

-Best Male Pop Vocal: Kid Rock (since when is this “pop”?), John Mayer, Paul McCartney (oh, come on!), Jason Mraz, Ne-Yo and James Taylor. (shakes head) Someone needs to get the Grammy nominators a gauge for genres. Seriously.

-Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal: Coldplay, Eagles, Gnarls Barley, Maroon 5, OneRepublic. Good for the latter to squeeze in during a time when people are treating Chris Martin like he’s the next Bono. I feel like Coldplay could win it, but OneRepublic may be a dark horse. “Apologize” was mammoth song.

-Best Pop Collabo with Vocals: “Lesson Learned” by Alicia Keys & John Mayer (um…when was this released? Did I miss it?), “4 Minutes” by Madonna, Justin Timberlake & Timbaland (why does Timbaland count on this?), “Rich Woman” by Robert Plant/Alison Krauss (why do they count as a collabo when they release the album as a duo?) and “No Air” by Jordin Sparks & Chris Brown (well…I believe that one).

-Best Pop Album: Sheryl Crow, Duffy, Eagles, Leona Lewis, James Taylor (a COVER abum…wtf). It should go to Leona. It’ll probably go to the Eagles. GRRR.

-Best Dance Recording: I was pleasantly surprised with this one. “Harder Better Faster Stronger” by Daft Punk, “Ready for the Floor” by Hot Chip, “Just Dance” by Lady Gaga & Colby O’Donnis, “Give It 2 Me” by Madonna, “Disturbia” by Rihanna, and “Black & Gold” by Sam Sparro. That one is hard to choose! I’m thinking Rihanna will take it just because that song was such a smash…but the Grammy’s don’t always go the obvious route…

-Among the Best Electronic/Dance Album Noms: Daft Punk, Kylie Minogue’s “X” album (which I didn’t even know was released in America, but OK) and Robyn! Wow – I’m proud to be American again!

-Female R&B Vocal: Beyonce’s “Me Myself and I” (WTF – isn’t that song a million years old from her first album?), Keyshia Cole’s “Heaven Sent”, Jennifer Hudson’s “Spotlight”, Alicia Keys’s “Superwoman” and Jazmine Sullivan’s “Need U Bad”.

-Male R&B Vocal: Eric Benet’s “You’re the Only One”, Chris Browns “Take You Down” (WTF again with the random songs), “Miss Independent” by Ne-Yo, “Can’t Help But Wait” by Trey Songz, and “Here I Stand” by Usher. What’s with the R&B category allowing “tracks” to be nominated as much as singles? (shakes head)

-Nominee for Traditional R&B Vocal: Wayne Brady. Yes, really.

-Nominee for Best Song: “Spotlight” by Jennifer Hudson. It really is the best in its category, but if it did win, it would feel like a pity when, she that is unnecessary. This song is amazing.

-Nominee for Best Rap Solo: Snoop Dogg’s “Sexual Eruption.” And this is what music has been reduced to, ladies and gentleman.

-Best Rap/Sung Collabo: Estelle/Kanye West “American Boy”, Flo Rida/T-Pain “Low”, John Legend/Andre 3000 “Green Light”, Lil Wayne/T-Pain “Got Money”, Lupe Fiasco/Matthew Santos “Superstar”. It’s been overlooked, but Lupe should win it.

-Best Female Country Vocal and there’s no Taylor Swift? I guess the new album doesn’t count?

-Best Latin Pop Album: Just give it to Juanes. You know you want to. ;)

-Nominee for Best Reggae Album: Shaggy. He’s still around? Seriously?

-Best Polka Album…(insert giggling here)

-Best Spoken Word Album: Sidey Poitier, David Sedaris, An Inconvenient Truth (still? Didn’t that come out last year?) and STEPHEN COLBERT! Woo!

-Best Comedy Album: Lewis Black, Flight of the Conchords, Kathy Griffin (Woo! You go, girl!), Harry Shearer and George Carlin. You know they’ll give it to Carlin. May he rest in wherever he is. ;)

-Best Musical Show (Broadway): Gypsy (snore), In the Heights, The Little Mermaid (again…been there, done that), South Pacific (zzzz) and Young Frankenstein.

-Best Soundtrack: American Gangster, August Rush, Juno, Mamma Mia!, Sweeney Todd. Those nominees could not be more different if they tried.

-Best Movie Score: Dark Knight (winner!), Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, Iron Man, There Will Be Blood and Damn Disney with Wall-E.

-Producer of the Year: Danger Mouse (Black Keys, Beck, Gnarls Barkley), Nigel Godrich (Radiohead), Johnny Karkazis (Plain White Ts, Staind, 3 Doors Down), Rick Rubin (Metallica, Neil Diamond, Jakob Dyln, Weezer) and Will.i.am (Estelle, Sergio Mendez, Flo Rida, Fergie, Chris Brown, Usher). WTF – no Timbo? No T-Pain?

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