The Grammy Nominations Are a Reminder That This Is About Popularity, Not Talent

For many years now, the Grammys—"music's biggest night"—rarely feel like they're on the cutting edge of anything. The 2015 nominations may be the first signal of progress in a long time. For starters, they aren't making fans sit through a prime-time nominations concert this year, eschewing the forgettable format in favor of rolling out the announcements throughout the day in a lead-up to A Very Grammy Christmas, an evening concert featuring Sam Smith, Mary J. Blige, Ariana Grande, Tim McGraw, and the band that are always around even when it seems like they don't have any new songs, Maroon 5. LL Cool J will return as the host and lick his lips approximately 74 times throughout the show.

As for the nominations themselves, there's not too much to be angry about. The biggest snub is that Beyoncé is somehow getting relegated to the urban categories for her self-titled album. In what way is Meghan Trainor's "All About That Bass" more deserving of a Record or Song of the Year nod than "Drunk in Love," and how many people would actually say, with a straight face, that Miley Cyrus' Bangerz or Ariana Grande's My Everything are worthy of the Best Pop Vocal Album award?

Hopefully, Sam Smith will be the one to come home with the most golden gramophones—he's an excellent singer, songwriter, and performer, and his debut album, In the Lonely Hour, is one of the year's best—though you can never underestimate the magnetism of Taylor Swift, Trainor, or Azalea (please, please don't). If the latter two come out on top, it'll be yet another reminder that the Grammys are deeply flawed—it's almost always about popularity, not quality—but the list of nominees suggests that the voters have a better idea of what they're doing this year.

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Originally posted by JakeKills Do these people not understand that Beyonce and Pharrell (the artists mentioned here and the Stereogum article) are in the R&B/ Urban category because that's where they and their teams submitted their material? Pharrell and John Legend are nominated for Pop Solo Performance, but didn't get into the general field because their entries are live recordings (they weren't even eligible for SOTY). Beyonce's absence from the pop field is the result of the general lack of success of her material submitted there (Pretty Hurts? Lol), but Drunk In Love was due a ROTY nomination.

and the band that are always around even when it seems like they don't have any new songs, Maroon 5.

LL Cool J will return as the host and lick his lips approximately 74 times throughout the show.

Originally posted by mypaintoyou They sound bitter

Tea

All About That Bass is not deserving of any grammy nomination

Hopefully, Sam Smith will be the one to come home with the most golden gramophones—he's an excellent singer, songwriter, and performer, and his debut album, In the Lonely Hour, is one of the year's best