Sunday, February 08, 2015

GRAMMY NIGHT 2015: Mel's Picks

Another year gone -- and considering Taylor Swift's 1989 was released after the Grammy nomination period ended, we're sure to be inundated with her nominations next year. I tend to watch the Grammy's mostly for the performances alone but in case you're curious who I want to win, take a look at the nominees below:

ALBUM OF THE YEAR
Beck, Morning Phase
Beyoncé, BEYONCÉ
Ed Sheeran, x
Sam Smith, In the Lonely Hour
Pharrell, G I R L

Mel's Thoughts: My personal favorite of these is G I R L, however beyond "Happy", Pharrell's full set didn't quite resonate as thoroughly as Beyonce or Sam Smith. I will go with the latter of those two for my choice of overall winner, but I'd be happy with any of these aside from the obvious dark horse -- Beck.

RECORD OF THE YEAR
Sam Smith, “Stay With Me (Darkchild Version)”
Taylor Swift, “Shake It Off”
Meghan Trainor, “All About That Bass”
Sia, “Chandelier”
Iggy Azalea f/Charli XCX, “Fancy”

Mel's Thoughts: 'Record of the Year' is performance based rather than the songwriting itself. It's for this reason that I feel like the winner should be either Sam Smith or Sia, preferably the former. However, if Megan Trainor pulls it out, I'd be a happy camper.

SONG OF THE YEAR
“Stay With Me,” James Napier, William Phillips & Sam Smith (Sam Smith)
“Shake It Off,” Max Martin, Shellback & Taylor Swift (Taylor Swift)
“All About That Bass,” Kevin Kadish & Meghan Trainor (Meghan Trainor)
“Chandelier,” Sia Furler & Jesse Shatkin (Sia)
“Take Me to Church,” Andrew Hozier-Byrne, songwriter (Hozier)

Mel's Thoughts: Unlike 'Record of the Year', 'Song of the Year' focuses on the songwriting in the thought that the winning song is a title that could be covered and re-covered rather than live soley in a 2014 vacuum. Despite that difference, I still think its a two-horse race between Sam Smith and Sia.

BEST NEW ARTIST
Sam Smith
Iggy Azalea
Bastille
HAIM
Brandy Clark

Mel's Thoughts: My fave of these? HAIM. Do I think they will win? Nope. Sam Smith is gonna clean up this year as well he should.

PRODUCER OF THE YEAR
Paul Epworth
John Hill
Jay Joyce
Greg Kurstin
Max Martin

Mel's Thoughts: I sure do love to sip the Max Martin Kool-Aid and he did offer up one of my favorite songs this year ("Bang Bang") but for this one, I wanna hand it to Greg Kurstin.

BEST POP SOLO PERFORMANCE
Sam Smith, “Stay With Me (Darkchild Version)”
Taylor Swift, “Shake It Off”
Meghan Trainor, “All About That Bass”
Sia, “Chandelier”
John Legend, “All of Me”

Mel's Thoughts: Sam Smith deserves a lot of awards but I don't feel like his brand of brilliance specifically qualifies as "POP" in the broad sense (I felt the same way about Adele, to be honest). Here is where Taylor Swift may edge things out -- "sick beat" and all -- but if Megan Trainor is to win any category it should be this one.

BEST POP DUO/GROUP PERFORMANCE
Iggy Azalea f/Charli XCX, “Fancy”
Coldplay, “A Sky Full of Stars”
A Great Big Word and Christina Aguilera, “Say Something”
Ariana Grande/Jessie J/Nicki Minaj, “Bang Bang”
Katy Perry f/Juicy J, “Dark Horse”

Mel's Thoughts: Coldplay? Here? Seriously? Sigh. Obviously I'm rooting for "Bang Bang" here but Iggy's "Fancy" might be a dark horse.

BEST POP VOCAL ALBUM
Sam Smith, In the Lonely Hour
Ariana Grande, My Everything
Katy Perry, PRISM
Miley Cyrus, Bangerz
Ed Sheeran, x

Mel's Thoughts: This is sad that this is what we can choose between for Pop. Like I said before, Sam Smith doesn't ring as pure Pop. Ariana, Katy and Miley could cancel each other out (plus all of these albums were mediocre). My choice? Ed all the way.

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