Grammy Nominations

[rjblue]

Yay! The Civil Wars received two Grammy nominations. Other than the two categories they are nominated in, I'd have a hard time choosing winners in a lot of the categories, because for me it's been a great year for music.

On my playlist I have Adele, Gaga, Bon Iver, Mumford and Sons, Foster the People... and at least half of the songs/artists from many of the categories.

Adele should win most of what she is nominated for, especially for her vocal performance in Someone Like You.

[Jenna]

I want Gaga to win album. Born This Way is really impressive.

Agree that Adele should win almost everything else she's nominated for!

[BigB08822]

I think Adele will dominate in the categories she is nominated in.

I can't quite get Gaga getting an Album of the Year nomination, I guess all the hype paid off in more than just a big opening week. I even like her album but it wasn't THAT good to me. Katy Perry got an AOTY nomination last year for what seemed like the same reason, big radio hits and hype. Those albums would never have been nominated even 5 years ago. Kelly Clarkson didn't get nominated for Breakaway even though she WON Pop Album over some albums that did receive AOTY nominations.

I am rooting for Adele and Jason/Kelly in the country duo category!

[rjblue]

I'm sorry I can't root for Kelly this time. I love her, but I've listened to The Civil Wars sing Barton Hollow about 200 times and it still gives me chills listening to it (and the fact that he's a dead ringer for Johnny Depp doesn't hurt). Although, I think they just randomly placed The Civil Wars in the folk and country categories, because they don't really fit any genre. Kelly and Jason are probably a better fit for the country category.

[jenny12]

I'm definitely rooting for Adele and I'd be surprised if she didn't clean house. I'm disappointed that Kanye West didn't get an album nomination for My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. Especially considering the other nominations (Bruno Mars? Rhianna?) in the category.

[oleada]

I'm rooting for Adele as well, but I'm happy Mumford and Sons got so much recognition! Can Adele & Mumford & Sons tie?

[SaSherka]

I am ecstatic that my favorite singer got two nominations in the Classical category :p
Best Solo Vocal and Best Opera recording. Now, if she were to win at least one...
/carry on

[cailuj365]

I'm rooting for Adele and Bruno Mars. I thought "Someone Like You" should have been nominated (and won) for Song of the Year, but I'd be happy with Best Vocal. I hope she wins most of her categories. I doubt Bruno Mars is the front runner for any of his categories, but I'm really glad he's nominated for so many. I love his album and his voice. He always brings something fresh with his performances too (see last year's Grammy performance - completely different take on "Grenade"). He's so mad talented that I think he'll be remembered as much as someone like Gaga by the time he's done.

Speaking of Gaga, I thought her last album was mediocre save for like...two tracks, but I'm really more shocked that Kanye's album didn't receive AOTY nom. It was almost universally lauded when it came out.

[Cyn]

I'm definitely pulling for Adele to clean up in every category for which she's nominated .

As for the several of the nominations and categories, here are my not-so-subtle opinions (am I ever subtle with my opinions? ) and thoughts:

1) I don't want to see Rihanna (nominated for Album of the Year and Best Pop Vocal Album) or Katy Perry (nominated for Best Pop Solo Performance) win for their nominated categories as they're both IMO two of the most overrated (and least vocally talented) pop artists currently in heavy rotation on radio and video, along with The Black-Eyed Peas. All three (though there are several others that qualify) epitomize and represent everything that is wrong with pop music today, just as Hootie and the Blowfish (and many of their fellow contemporaries in the music industry) did back in the '90s. Adele FTW in all three categories.

2) I'd prefer not to see Maroon 5/Christina Aguilera win Best Pop Duo/Group Performance for "Moves Like Jagger" as that song is one seriously annoying earworm; runner up for non-winning preference is whatever crap song by Coldplay that's nominated. My choice for that category is Tony Bennett/Amy Winehouse for "Body and Soul."

3) For Best Rock Performance, I'm hoping for a Foo Fighters win. If that doesn't happen, please please please, anyone but Coldplay .

4) In the Best Hard Rock/Metal Performance, I'll be happy with either Dream Theater, Foo Fighters, or even Megadeth. Mastodon (even though they're the local boys) just don't do it for me.

5) I don't listen to Country, Rap, Gospel/Christian, or R&B, so I have no ponies in those races. Unfortunately, I'm not all that familiar with the current albums/songs/some of the artists in the Jazz and Blues categories, so again, no ponies in those races, either.

6) Please please please do not let that slimy, arrogant hack of a producer who has to balls to consider himself a DJ, David Guetta, win in either of the two categories he has nominations:

- Best Dance Recording for "Sunshine" by Avicil (the winner should be either Deadmau5 for "Raise Your Weapon" or Swedish House Mafia for "Save The World").

- Best Dance/Electronica Album for the shitslice he released, "Nothing But The Beat" (the winner for this category should, again, be Deadmau5 for his album "4X4=12"

*Sidenote/Rant regarding David Guetta:

To better explain my vitriol towards this guy, he has completely sold out everything that is wonderful, beautiful, and unique about Dance and Electronica music (the best type of club music by far) by taking all that makes that genre it's own, slapping sampled tracks, riffs, and sounds from it onto crap pop music, and releasing it as "his" music with the original artist's name. You many never had heard of him but examples of his "work" include: Akon (Sexy Bitch), Black-Eyed Peas (I Gotta Feeling - my hate for that song knows no bounds), Kelly Rowland (When Love Takes Over; Commander), Kid Cudi (Memories), Rihanna (Who's That Chick?), Flo Rida (Club Can't Handle Me), Kelis (Acapella), Nicki Minaj/Flo Rida (Where Them Girls At), and Usher (Without You), plus several others. What does it say about this guy's ego whose album title (and attitude) is "Fcuk Me I'm Famous" (also the name of his tour) when the "Fcuk Me" part of it is not meant as the slang form of "Holy Shit!" denoting shock or surprise?

The backlash against this POS in the DJ/Dance community went nuclear last month when the little worm used Facebook to beg Tweens, Teens, and pop music listeners who know little to nothing about DJing or club music to vote for him in DJ Magazine's Top 100 DJs ranking. That he beat out the likes of Armin Van Buuren, Deadmau5, Swedish House Mafia/Steve Angello, Above and Beyond, Markus Schultz, Tiësto, and others is an absolute joke. Those DJs and Producers are respected and revered in the Dance/Electronica music scene precisely because they don't ascribe to the mainstream, mass-produced, pop crap that's on constant radio rotation. The reason they're in such high demand at dance clubs is that people don't want to listen or dance to the mundane crap played on the radio 24/7, and when it comes to this genre, David Guetta's "music" is anything but. All one has to do is read the Comments Section on his Bio/Profile there (as well as the comments in DJ Mag's Forum) to fully understand why this guy is a disgrace to the Dance/Electronica genre. He needs to own up to what he now is, which is a mainstream pop music producer and leave the DJ aspect behind as he's been pretty much blackballed by that community.

Rant off. That's been bottled up inside ever since the new rankings came out at the end of October. I feel much better now .

ETA:

I thought "Someone Like You" should have been nominated (and won) for Song of the Year...

Speaking of Gaga, I thought her last album was mediocre save for like...two tracks

"Someone Like You" is an amazing song and deserved to be nominated, but due to the insanely heavy rotation on the radio and hearing it every time I turn around, I'm getting really burnt out on it .

As for GaGa, I'm getting bored with her schtick. I'd like to see her completely ditch the crazy shock value antics, the OTT Vegas-like live shows, and do a more mellow, stripped-down (musically, not her wardrobe ) album and tour where she simply sings from her soul (as she's done from time to time). She definitely has the talent/pipes for it and doesn't need all the Madonna/Alice Cooper-esque theatricality to be successful.

[topaz]

Since I'm probably the only one who listens to rap and R&B catetgories; the noms for these categories are really really competitive.

The Rap categories have Lil Wayne, Lupe Fiasco, Nicki Minaj, Drake, Jay Z and Kanye all vying for grammies.

The R&B categories are pretty decent too with Ledisi, Kelly Price and Melanie Fiona. No Jill Scott nominations

Pop categories are Adele; She's gonna has a huge winning streak, I can't believe Gaga didn't get a record or song of the year.

[jenny12]

Since I'm probably the only one who listens to rap and R&B catetgories; they noms for these categories are really really competitive.

The Rap categories have Lil Wayne, Lupe Fiasco, Nicki Minaj, Drake, Jay Z and Kanye all vying for grammies.

The R&B categories are pretty decent too.

Pop categories are Adele; She's gonna has a huge winning streak, I can't believe Gaga didn't get a record or song of the year.

I'm a rap fan as well. That's a pretty stacked category, but I think Kanye really deserves it this year just because of the scope of his album.

[cailuj365]

"Someone Like You" is an amazing song and deserved to be nominated, but due to the insanely heavy rotation on the radio and hearing it every time I turn around, I'm getting really burnt out on it .

I agree. It got really overplayed starting about a month ago, and every time it comes on, I groan....But then, thirty seconds later, I'm belting out the chorus like I discovered it yesterday. It's still a really great song.

As for GaGa, I'm getting bored with her schtick. I'd like to see her completely ditch the crazy shock value antics, the OTT Vegas-like live shows, and do a more mellow, stripped-down (musically, not her wardrobe ) album and tour where she simply sings from her soul (as she's done from time to time). She definitely has the talent/pipes for it and doesn't need all the Madonna/Alice Cooper-esque theatricality to be successful.

I've enjoyed Gaga a lot in the past, and her theatricality definitely set her apart. But with all her success now, I feel like she thinks that she needs to outdo herself (and everyone else) with every performance/video, and it gets less compelling each time out as a result. However, the real reason why she's losing me is because her music just isn't as great to me. "Judas," "You and I," and "Marry the Night" are all mediocre at best, especially compared to her earlier singles IMO.

[FiveRinger]

I am a huge Adele fan--half of my top 25 list on my iPod is her. I haven't read the whole thread, so forgive me if this has been answered upthread, but does anyone know if she will be recovered enough to sing at the awards?

[BigB08822]

I am hoping she will be able to perform. Set Fire to the Rain is taking off and should be peaking around the time of the Grammys. If she can perform it then it will UNDOUBTEDLY be #1 on the Hot 100 if it wasn't already. It would/will be her 3rd #1 in a row.

[overedge]

And as usual the Best Spoken Word album brings the wackiest combination of nominees: Tina Fey, Betty White, "various artists" doing a production of Hamlet, Val Kilmer, and a bunch of Beatles fans

[FiveRinger]

I am hoping she will be able to perform. Set Fire to the Rain is taking off and should be peaking around the time of the Grammys. If she can perform it then it will UNDOUBTEDLY be #1 on the Hot 100 if it wasn't already. It would/will be her 3rd #1 in a row.

Fingers crossed! I wish her a speedy recovery. I was heartsick to hear about her illness.

And yes, Set Fire to the Rain is in my top 25 list!

[Lainerb]

Best Dance Recording for "Sunshine" by Avicil (the winner should be either Deadmau5 for "Raise Your Weapon" or Swedish House Mafia for "Save

That he beat out the likes of Armin Van Buuren, Deadmau5, Swedish House Mafia/Steve Angello, Above and Beyond, Markus Schultz, Tiësto, and others is an absolute joke. Those DJs and Producers are respected and revered in the Dance/Electronica music scene precisely because they don't ascribe to the mainstream, mass-produced, pop crap that's on constant radio rotation

You mean because none of these DJs feature generic drum rolls, vocals and are over played on any dance/electronica station? I'm not thrilled with any of them.

I guess I am rooting for Robyn in the dance/electronica categories.

[allezfred]

The lesson from this thread is that Cyn and I have very different tastes in music.

Mainstream pop crap!

[rjblue]

And as usual the Best Spoken Word album brings the wackiest combination of nominees: Tina Fey, Betty White, "various artists" doing a production of Hamlet, Val Kilmer, and a bunch of Beatles fans

I think the Best Folk Album category is even odder. None of the nominees are what you'd define as Folk Artists. Fleet Foxes (Helplessness Blues) is the closet to Folk, as they define their music as folk rock.

The Civil Wars (Barton Hollow) and Steve Earle (I'll Never Get Out Of This World Alive) would be slotted under Alternative Country.

Eddie Vedder (Ukulele Songs) from Pearl Jam is definitely not a folk artist.

Gillian Welch (The Harrow and The Harvest)- is a bluegrass artist.

I guess the Folk category is now the place to put artists who just make music the way they want it to sound, without having to please a record company, or slot into a genre.

eta- I forgot to say- nope, Topaz, you aren't the only one who listens to rap music. I only listen to what my daughter plays, but I often add it to my playlist too. Kanye and Eminem are both genius' in my opinion. I don't mind Nikki and L'il Wayne, but I don't really like Jay-Z that much. My vote goes to Kanye this year.

[VIETgrlTerifa]

I for one love Rihanna's CD, and I hated her
stuff in the past and thought she was overrated. I think her songs are excellent in pop music standards.

At the risk Of being unpopular, I have to say Adele is overrated. Ya, she's probably the best singer in popular music right now and her songs hit an emotional chord. That said, I don't find her music to be particularly insightful nor her lyrics to be that exceptional to be getting all this over-the-top raves and lack of criticism. She's sort of one-note and Rumors is one of the worst songs I've ever heard in terms of grating on my nerves with the way it was produced.