- Adele (will be performing "When We Were Young")
- Kendrick Lamar (most exciting act of the night, will probably be watered down thanks to censorship)
- The Weeknd (upbeat and fun)
- Little Big Town (token country act, they have a quota to meet)
- Demi Lovato, Meghan Trainor, John Legend & Luke Bryan (an homage to Lionel Ritchie)
- Pitbull, Robin Thicke & Travis Barker (so not cool)
- Justin Bieber, Diplo & Skrillex ("Where Are U Now")
- Carrie Underwood & Sam Hunt (2 country acts? Ok, now they've crossed a line)
- Ellie Goulding & Andra Day (this should be really good, I have no idea what they're performing)
- Tori Kelly & James Bay (token up-and-comers duet, probably won't be too entertaining unless you are new to them)
- The cast of Hamilton (ok, this is the hippest thing about this list.)
- Lady Gaga (tribute to David Bowie)
- Hollywood Vampires (tribute to Lemmy from Motorhead)
- Chris Stapleton, Bonnie Raitt & Gary Clark Jr. (tribute to B.B. King)
- Alabama Shakes
- Miguel & Greg Phillinganes
- Rihanna (Workworkworkwork)
- Taylor Swift (obviously had to throw her on stage with her 7 nominations)
- Eagles (tribute to Glenn Frey)
- 12-year old jazz pianist Joey Alexander
Looking at that list, that's actually not bad at all. Quite entertaining for an Awards show that likes to throw the same acts on stage every other year.
Strap on your seat belt as this is about to be the hippest Grammy show in years and the twists and turns of the winning artists are bound to upset whole communities of pop-heads and hip-hop-heads alike. As always, I'm here to try and decipher who should win the awards and who will rightfully or wrongfully walk away with their hands full. Unlike my sport predictions, I'm actually a solid guesser of this event and this year is bound to be a tough one with many repeat nominees.
Let's begin...
Record of the Year
And the nominees are...
- "Blank Space" by Taylor Swift
- "Can't Feel My Face" by The Weeknd
- "Really Love" by D'Angelo and the Vanguard
- "Thinking Out Loud" by Ed Sheeran
- "Uptown Funk" by Mark Ronson ft. Bruno Mars
Who should win? "Uptown Funk"
Who will win? "Uptown Funk"
"Uptown Funk" was the unavoidable jam that dominated this past Grammy season that none of the other nominees came close to (although "Can't Feel My Face" could make a case for that title). "Blank Space" was the third biggest hit off of Taylor Swift's 1989 and "Really Love" almost seems too obscure as the left field option among nominees. Ed Sheeran could typically be favored to win this category as the Grammy voters love their WGWGs (White Guys With Guitars) but, his song did not take over the radio via request lines the way that The Weeknd and "Uptown Funk" did. When I bought stock in Mark Ronson back in 2007, I never imagined he'd get to play at the Super Bowl and yet, here we are. It's 2016 and Mark Ronson is back at the Grammy's, still not saying much and winning over pop megastars.
Album of the Year
And the nominees are...
- 1989 by Taylor Swift
- Beauty Behind The Madness by The Weeknd
- Sound & Color by Alabama Shakes
- To Pimp A Butterfly by Kendrick Lamar
- Traveller by Chris Stapleton
Who should win? Kendrick Lamar or Alabama Shakes
Who will win? Somebody else probably. Give me Chris Stapleton in the upset of the night.
Album of the Year was the category that generated the most discussion in 2015 after Beyonce', Sam Smith, Ed Sheeran and Pharrell all lost out to Beck's Morning Phase, an album nobody had heard besides me (and the academy apparently) and I named it the best album of 2014. This is easily the hardest category to pick on a yearly basis and this year, I could legitimately see anybody taking home the prize besides The Weeknd (sorry, Abel). Chris Stapleton will have the country vote while Alabama Shakes will share the folkish/rockish vote with Stapleton. T-Swizzle will split the pop vote with The Weeknd and Kendrick will get all of the hip-hop votes while also having to deal with the "it's not as easy of a listen" argument that will get The Weeknd more votes as he also has some hip-hop vibes to much of his music (although that's getting less and less true with each new single). Ultimately, only one dude has all of one base covered and that is the (legitimately deserving) Chris Stapleton with his album, Traveller. The Lexington-born country singer took the Sia/Pharrell route of writing a ton of hit songs in his genre, taking the time to craft a well renowned album of his own and profiting during award season.
Song of the Year
And the nominees are...
- "Alright" by Kendrick Lamar
- "Blank Space" by Taylor Swift
- "Girl Crush" by Little Big Town
- "See You Again" by Wiz Khalifa ft. Charlie Puth
- "Thinking Out Loud" by Ed Sheeran
Who should win? "Alright"
Who will win? "See You Again"
The Grammy's have always had an obsession with giving every possible award to songs made famous via movie soundtrack (See: 1999, 1997, 1996, 1995, 1994, 1990, etc.), it's just been a long time since they've been able to hand out Song of the Year to a song from the cinema. "Alright" deserves the award for it's influence and subject matter but, it's hard to argue with the popularity of the "Paul Walker memorial song" or against Fast & Furious 7 box office numbers even though the song is idiotically not nominated for the Best Original Song at this year's Academy Awards (IT WAS ONE OF THE 5 BIGGEST SONGS OF THE YEAR!).
Best New Artist
And the nominees are...
- Courtney Barnett
- James Bay
- Meghan Trainor
- Sam Hunt
- Tori Kelly
Who should win? Courtney Barnett
Who will win? Courtney Barnett
Though she has been around since 2012, there is some loophole that allows artists who have been well-known for multiple years to commonly get nominated for Best New Artist (See: Bon Iver). Barnett's loophole was that everything she had released up until this past year was not officially listed as an album. 2013's The Double EP: A Sea Of Split Peas won over a huge new fan base for Barnett and showed her potential as a songwriter. 2015's Sometimes I Sit and Think, and Sometimes I Just Sit saw Barnett's potential realized as she created one of the two most widely acclaimed albums of the year (along with Kendrick Lamar's To Pimp A Butterfly). If Meghan Trainor wins this award, we burn down the Staples Center and ban music for one year.
Best Pop Solo Performance
And the nominees are...
- "Blank Space" by Taylor Swift
- "Can't Feel My Face" by The Weeknd
- "Heartbeat Song" by Kelly Clarkson
- "Love Me Like You Do" by Ellie Goulding
- "Thinking Out Loud" by Ed Sheeran
Who should win? The Weeknd
Who will win? Taylor Swift
The only nominee with a 0% shot in this category is Kelly Clarkson. Other than that, any result is possible for Best Pop Solo Performance and it's not that good of a category this year (mainstream pop music was boring this year). "Can't Feel My Face" is the only pizzazz and excitement in this category and made Abel Tesfaye a household name (at least, it made The Weeknd a household name). "Blank Space" is the most banal song not named "Heartbeat Song" that has just enough good press behind it, that it's bound to win.
Best Pop Duo/Group Performance
And the nominees are...
- "Bad Blood" by Taylor Swift ft. Kendrick Lamar
- "See You Again" by Wiz Khalifa ft. Charlie Puth
- "Ship To Wreck" by Florence + The Machine
- "Sugar" by Maroon 5
- "Uptown Funk" by Mark Ronson ft. Bruno Mars
Who should win? "Uptown Funk"
Who will win? "Uptown Funk"
Best Pop Vocal Album
And the nominees are...
- 1989 by Taylor Swift
- Before This World by James Taylor
- How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful by Florence + The Machine
- Piece By Piece by Kelly Clarkson
- Uptown Special by Mark Ronson
Who should win? Floremce + The Machine
Who will win? Taylor Swift
Florence Welch is one of the ten best and biggest musical acts the world has right now and she has yet to win a Grammy. It SHOULD be her year but unfortunately, there is one other serious contender for this award and it's the second-best selling album of the past year (behind Adele). If the award was actually handed out to the strongest vocal performer, How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful would win easily but, this award has had some questionable past decisions (Kelly Clarkson is the only multi-time winner).
Best Rock Performance
And the nominees are...
- "Don't Wanna Fight No More" by Alabama Shakes
- "Ex's and Oh's" by Elle King
- "Moaning Lisa Smile" by Wolf Alice
- "Something From Nothing" by Foo Fighters
- "What Kind Of Man" by Florence + The Machine
Who should win? "What Kind Of Man"
Who will win? "Ex's And Oh's"
I find it kind of hard to believe that the Grammy committee could not find a better group of nominees than the ones they ultimately decided on for Best Rock Performance. For instance, Courtney Barnett is nominated for Best New Artist but, "Pedestrian At Best" couldn't beat out Elle King or the worst Foo Fighters' album's lead single for a nomination? That's a balk. Also, where is Tame Impala? I guess the committee just didn't feel like outsourcing their awards to Australia. Florence + The Machine should hands-down win this award. Elle King will probably win as her unique voice helped "Ex's and Oh's" become an instant hit, while none of these other songs became mainstream successes for whatever reason (general stupidity of the masses). Even though Alabama Shakes are nominated for the third time in four years, their nomination in this category was for the wrong song (it should have been "Gimme All Your Love") and they will possibly go 0-for-3 as a result.
Best Alternative Music Album
And the nominees are...
- Currents by Tame Impala (Oh, there's Tame Impala!)
- Sound & Color by Alabama Shakes
- Star Wars by Wilco
- The Waterfall by My Morning Jacket
- Vulnicura by Bjork
Who should win? Tame Impala
Who will win? Alabama Shakes
Bjork has stunningly never won this award, going an amazing 0-for-6 and I would have no problem with the Icelandic swan queen winning this as part of a "lifetime achievement award". Alabama Shakes are the only band in this category that is also nominated for the huge awards that are announced on live television and I don't know how they lose this award outside of a wonky Bjork sympathy vote from the committee. I preferred Currents to Sound & Color but, am ultimately fine with Brittany Howard and the gang winning the award over Tame Impala.
Best Urban Contemporary Album
And the nominees are...
- Beauty Behind The Madness by The Weeknd
- Blood by Lianne La Havas
- Ego Death by The Internet
- Wildheart by Miguel
- You Should Be Here by Kehlani
Who should win? Miguel
Who will win? The Weeknd
With The Weeknd's nomination for Album of the Year, it seems kind of pointless to even discuss this award unless the voters saw it as too much of a "pop" album in order to give it the Urban Contemporary label. Wildheart was straight up 2015 Prince with no apologies for it's "I'm gonna do you right now, girrrrrl" lyrics and beats. Lianne La Havas has also been releasing nothing but excellent music for a few years now so, shout out to Lianne La Havas.
Best Rap Performance
And the nominees are...
- "All Day" by Kanye West ft. Theophilus London, Allan Kingdown & Paul McCartney
- "Alright" by Kendrick Lamar
- "Apparently" by J. Cole
- "Back To Back" by Drake
- "Trap Queen" by Fetty Wap
- "Truffle Butter" by Nicki Minaj ft. Drake & Lil Wayne
Who should win? Kendrick
Who will win? Kendrick
REALLY interesting category without "Alright" but, Kendrick Lamar has this one sealed up.
Best Rap/Sung Collaboration
And the nominees are...
- "Classic Man" by Jidenna ft. Roman GianArthur
- "Glory" by Common ft. John Legend
- "One Man Can Change The World" by Big Sean ft. Kanye West & John Legend
- "Only" by Nicki Minaj ft. Drake, Lil Wayne, Chris Brown
- "These Walls" by Kendrick Lamar ft. Bilal, Anna Wise & Thundercat
Who should win? "These Walls"
Who will win? "These Walls"
"Glory" went from being performed at both the Oscar's and Grammy's last year to nominated for just one award this year and while the Grammy Awards love rewarding soundtrack songs, "Glory" has lost most of the hype it had going into the 2015 award season. "One Man Can Change The World" seems like the type of song that would win this award typically as it was the biggest mainstream hit that wasn't redundant (looking at you, "Classic Man") but, this is Kendrick Lamar's year and nothing else in the genre sounded like "These Walls".
Best Rap Album
And the nominees are...
- 2014 Forest Hills Drive by J. Cole
- Compton by Dr. Dre
- If You're Reading This It's Too Late by Drake
- The Pinkprint by Nicki Minaj
- To Pimp A Butterfly by Kendrick Lamar
Who should win? Kendrick
Who will win? Kendrick
J. Cole had this wrapped up in December of 2014. Drake had this wrapped up in early 2015. March came and Kendrick Lamar blew up anybody else's hopes of winning this year's Best Rap Album. K.Dot is nominated for a 2016-high eleven Grammy's and will win AT LEAST five because nobody altered the landscape of music and what the art-form could be this year than Kendrick Lamar and his To Pimp A Butterfly.
Enjoy this year's Grammy Awards because rarely does it have this much critically acclaimed music and 2016's ceremony is sure have an exciting performance or two.
The Grammy Award Ceremony takes place at 8 PM ET, this Monday on CBS
Who should win? "Uptown Funk"
Who will win? "Uptown Funk"
"Uptown Funk" was the unavoidable jam that dominated this past Grammy season that none of the other nominees came close to (although "Can't Feel My Face" could make a case for that title). "Blank Space" was the third biggest hit off of Taylor Swift's 1989 and "Really Love" almost seems too obscure as the left field option among nominees. Ed Sheeran could typically be favored to win this category as the Grammy voters love their WGWGs (White Guys With Guitars) but, his song did not take over the radio via request lines the way that The Weeknd and "Uptown Funk" did. When I bought stock in Mark Ronson back in 2007, I never imagined he'd get to play at the Super Bowl and yet, here we are. It's 2016 and Mark Ronson is back at the Grammy's, still not saying much and winning over pop megastars.
Album of the Year
And the nominees are...
- 1989 by Taylor Swift
- Beauty Behind The Madness by The Weeknd
- Sound & Color by Alabama Shakes
- To Pimp A Butterfly by Kendrick Lamar
- Traveller by Chris Stapleton
Who should win? Kendrick Lamar or Alabama Shakes
Who will win? Somebody else probably. Give me Chris Stapleton in the upset of the night.
Album of the Year was the category that generated the most discussion in 2015 after Beyonce', Sam Smith, Ed Sheeran and Pharrell all lost out to Beck's Morning Phase, an album nobody had heard besides me (and the academy apparently) and I named it the best album of 2014. This is easily the hardest category to pick on a yearly basis and this year, I could legitimately see anybody taking home the prize besides The Weeknd (sorry, Abel). Chris Stapleton will have the country vote while Alabama Shakes will share the folkish/rockish vote with Stapleton. T-Swizzle will split the pop vote with The Weeknd and Kendrick will get all of the hip-hop votes while also having to deal with the "it's not as easy of a listen" argument that will get The Weeknd more votes as he also has some hip-hop vibes to much of his music (although that's getting less and less true with each new single). Ultimately, only one dude has all of one base covered and that is the (legitimately deserving) Chris Stapleton with his album, Traveller. The Lexington-born country singer took the Sia/Pharrell route of writing a ton of hit songs in his genre, taking the time to craft a well renowned album of his own and profiting during award season.
Song of the Year
And the nominees are...
- "Alright" by Kendrick Lamar
- "Blank Space" by Taylor Swift
- "Girl Crush" by Little Big Town
- "See You Again" by Wiz Khalifa ft. Charlie Puth
- "Thinking Out Loud" by Ed Sheeran
Who should win? "Alright"
Who will win? "See You Again"
The Grammy's have always had an obsession with giving every possible award to songs made famous via movie soundtrack (See: 1999, 1997, 1996, 1995, 1994, 1990, etc.), it's just been a long time since they've been able to hand out Song of the Year to a song from the cinema. "Alright" deserves the award for it's influence and subject matter but, it's hard to argue with the popularity of the "Paul Walker memorial song" or against Fast & Furious 7 box office numbers even though the song is idiotically not nominated for the Best Original Song at this year's Academy Awards (IT WAS ONE OF THE 5 BIGGEST SONGS OF THE YEAR!).
Best New Artist
And the nominees are...
- Courtney Barnett
- James Bay
- Meghan Trainor
- Sam Hunt
- Tori Kelly
Who should win? Courtney Barnett
Who will win? Courtney Barnett
Though she has been around since 2012, there is some loophole that allows artists who have been well-known for multiple years to commonly get nominated for Best New Artist (See: Bon Iver). Barnett's loophole was that everything she had released up until this past year was not officially listed as an album. 2013's The Double EP: A Sea Of Split Peas won over a huge new fan base for Barnett and showed her potential as a songwriter. 2015's Sometimes I Sit and Think, and Sometimes I Just Sit saw Barnett's potential realized as she created one of the two most widely acclaimed albums of the year (along with Kendrick Lamar's To Pimp A Butterfly). If Meghan Trainor wins this award, we burn down the Staples Center and ban music for one year.
Best Pop Solo Performance
And the nominees are...
- "Blank Space" by Taylor Swift
- "Can't Feel My Face" by The Weeknd
- "Heartbeat Song" by Kelly Clarkson
- "Love Me Like You Do" by Ellie Goulding
- "Thinking Out Loud" by Ed Sheeran
Who should win? The Weeknd
Who will win? Taylor Swift
The only nominee with a 0% shot in this category is Kelly Clarkson. Other than that, any result is possible for Best Pop Solo Performance and it's not that good of a category this year (mainstream pop music was boring this year). "Can't Feel My Face" is the only pizzazz and excitement in this category and made Abel Tesfaye a household name (at least, it made The Weeknd a household name). "Blank Space" is the most banal song not named "Heartbeat Song" that has just enough good press behind it, that it's bound to win.
 |
| Here's a photo of Taylor Swift listening to her own music in the "Blank Space" video. |
And the nominees are...
- "Bad Blood" by Taylor Swift ft. Kendrick Lamar
- "See You Again" by Wiz Khalifa ft. Charlie Puth
- "Ship To Wreck" by Florence + The Machine
- "Sugar" by Maroon 5
- "Uptown Funk" by Mark Ronson ft. Bruno Mars
Who should win? "Uptown Funk"
Who will win? "Uptown Funk"
Best Pop Vocal Album
And the nominees are...
- 1989 by Taylor Swift
- Before This World by James Taylor
- How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful by Florence + The Machine
- Piece By Piece by Kelly Clarkson
- Uptown Special by Mark Ronson
Who should win? Floremce + The Machine
Who will win? Taylor Swift
Florence Welch is one of the ten best and biggest musical acts the world has right now and she has yet to win a Grammy. It SHOULD be her year but unfortunately, there is one other serious contender for this award and it's the second-best selling album of the past year (behind Adele). If the award was actually handed out to the strongest vocal performer, How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful would win easily but, this award has had some questionable past decisions (Kelly Clarkson is the only multi-time winner).
Best Rock Performance
And the nominees are...
- "Don't Wanna Fight No More" by Alabama Shakes
- "Ex's and Oh's" by Elle King
- "Moaning Lisa Smile" by Wolf Alice
- "Something From Nothing" by Foo Fighters
- "What Kind Of Man" by Florence + The Machine
Who should win? "What Kind Of Man"
Who will win? "Ex's And Oh's"
I find it kind of hard to believe that the Grammy committee could not find a better group of nominees than the ones they ultimately decided on for Best Rock Performance. For instance, Courtney Barnett is nominated for Best New Artist but, "Pedestrian At Best" couldn't beat out Elle King or the worst Foo Fighters' album's lead single for a nomination? That's a balk. Also, where is Tame Impala? I guess the committee just didn't feel like outsourcing their awards to Australia. Florence + The Machine should hands-down win this award. Elle King will probably win as her unique voice helped "Ex's and Oh's" become an instant hit, while none of these other songs became mainstream successes for whatever reason (general stupidity of the masses). Even though Alabama Shakes are nominated for the third time in four years, their nomination in this category was for the wrong song (it should have been "Gimme All Your Love") and they will possibly go 0-for-3 as a result.
Best Alternative Music Album
And the nominees are...
- Currents by Tame Impala (Oh, there's Tame Impala!)
- Sound & Color by Alabama Shakes
- Star Wars by Wilco
- The Waterfall by My Morning Jacket
- Vulnicura by Bjork
Who should win? Tame Impala
Who will win? Alabama Shakes
Bjork has stunningly never won this award, going an amazing 0-for-6 and I would have no problem with the Icelandic swan queen winning this as part of a "lifetime achievement award". Alabama Shakes are the only band in this category that is also nominated for the huge awards that are announced on live television and I don't know how they lose this award outside of a wonky Bjork sympathy vote from the committee. I preferred Currents to Sound & Color but, am ultimately fine with Brittany Howard and the gang winning the award over Tame Impala.
Best Urban Contemporary Album
And the nominees are...
- Beauty Behind The Madness by The Weeknd
- Blood by Lianne La Havas
- Ego Death by The Internet
- Wildheart by Miguel
- You Should Be Here by Kehlani
Who should win? Miguel
Who will win? The Weeknd
With The Weeknd's nomination for Album of the Year, it seems kind of pointless to even discuss this award unless the voters saw it as too much of a "pop" album in order to give it the Urban Contemporary label. Wildheart was straight up 2015 Prince with no apologies for it's "I'm gonna do you right now, girrrrrl" lyrics and beats. Lianne La Havas has also been releasing nothing but excellent music for a few years now so, shout out to Lianne La Havas.
Best Rap Performance
And the nominees are...
- "All Day" by Kanye West ft. Theophilus London, Allan Kingdown & Paul McCartney
- "Alright" by Kendrick Lamar
- "Apparently" by J. Cole
- "Back To Back" by Drake
- "Trap Queen" by Fetty Wap
- "Truffle Butter" by Nicki Minaj ft. Drake & Lil Wayne
Who should win? Kendrick
Who will win? Kendrick
REALLY interesting category without "Alright" but, Kendrick Lamar has this one sealed up.
Best Rap/Sung Collaboration
And the nominees are...
- "Classic Man" by Jidenna ft. Roman GianArthur
- "Glory" by Common ft. John Legend
- "One Man Can Change The World" by Big Sean ft. Kanye West & John Legend
- "Only" by Nicki Minaj ft. Drake, Lil Wayne, Chris Brown
- "These Walls" by Kendrick Lamar ft. Bilal, Anna Wise & Thundercat
Who should win? "These Walls"
Who will win? "These Walls"
"Glory" went from being performed at both the Oscar's and Grammy's last year to nominated for just one award this year and while the Grammy Awards love rewarding soundtrack songs, "Glory" has lost most of the hype it had going into the 2015 award season. "One Man Can Change The World" seems like the type of song that would win this award typically as it was the biggest mainstream hit that wasn't redundant (looking at you, "Classic Man") but, this is Kendrick Lamar's year and nothing else in the genre sounded like "These Walls".
Best Rap Album
And the nominees are...
- 2014 Forest Hills Drive by J. Cole
- Compton by Dr. Dre
- If You're Reading This It's Too Late by Drake
- The Pinkprint by Nicki Minaj
- To Pimp A Butterfly by Kendrick Lamar
Who should win? Kendrick
Who will win? Kendrick
J. Cole had this wrapped up in December of 2014. Drake had this wrapped up in early 2015. March came and Kendrick Lamar blew up anybody else's hopes of winning this year's Best Rap Album. K.Dot is nominated for a 2016-high eleven Grammy's and will win AT LEAST five because nobody altered the landscape of music and what the art-form could be this year than Kendrick Lamar and his To Pimp A Butterfly.
Enjoy this year's Grammy Awards because rarely does it have this much critically acclaimed music and 2016's ceremony is sure have an exciting performance or two.
The Grammy Award Ceremony takes place at 8 PM ET, this Monday on CBS
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