GREIN ON GRAMMYS: HANDICAPPING THE NOMINEES, PT. 4
Beyoncé has amassed 20 Grammys, but just one of those awards came in one of the Big Four categories. That was when “Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)” took the 2009 award for Song of the Year. This may lead to a sense that she’s due for another big win.
Lemonade was the critics’ choice as the best album of the first half of the year at three key outlets—Entertainment Weekly, Rolling Stone and Metacritic.com.
It’s too early to know if Adele’s
25 will win the Grammy for Album of the Year on Feb. 12. But just being nominated would defy the odds. This would be the first time that an artist’s follow-up to an Album of the Year winner has been nominated in that category since Bob Dylan’s Love and Theft (the follow-up to Time Out of Mind) was a 2001 finalist.
Drake’s
Views is the year’s top album in terms of Sales Plus Streaming, with 13 weeks at #1. The album’s success has dramatized the increasing importance of streaming, which gives it an added sense of significance.
The Recording Academy changed its rules in June to extend eligibility to albums that haven’t been commercially released. That’s good news for Chance the Rapper’s
Coloring Book, which made history when it became the first album to hit the charts based solely on streaming.
Grammy voters also like a compelling back-story. How’s this? Faded teen idol comes back convincingly with a #1 album that spawns three #1 singles. The songs update his sound and allow him to neatly segue into a mainstream pop career. I’m talking, of course, about Justin Bieber and his album
Purpose.
~~
Paul Simon and Grammy voters are “Old Friends,” to cite the title of a song from Simon & Garfunkel’s 1968 album Bookends. Simon’s latest album, the well-reviewed Stranger to Stranger, may give him his eighth career Album of the Year nomination.
Sia’s This Is Acting also has a good chance.
David Bowie received one Album of the Year nom in his lifetime, for 1983’s Let’s Dance. If he’s nominated for Blackstar, which was released two days before his death in January, he’ll become the first lead artist to receive a posthumous nomination in this category since Ray Charles was nominated (and won) 12 years ago for Genius Loves Company.
Maren Morris’ Hero and Eric Church’s Mr. Misunderstood are the top country contenders.
Frank Ocean’s sophomore album, Blonde, is also a strong contender. Ocean’s 2012 debut, channel ORANGE, was an Album of the Year nominee.
Rihanna could land her second nomination in this category with the hit-laden ANTI.
Radiohead, who have been nominated for Album of the Year three times, could be back for a fourth time with A Moon Shaped Pool.
Bon Iver’s 22, a million is due to be released on 9/30, the last day of eligibility.
~~
Other top candidates include
Coldplay’s A Head Full of Dreams, Kanye West’s The Life of Pablo, Ariana Grande’s Dangerous Woman, Sturgill Simpson’s A Sailor’s Guide to Earth, The 1975’s I Like It When You Sleep…, Kendrick Lamar’s untitled unmastered, Keith Urban’s Ripcord, DJ Khaled’s Major Key and The Lumineers’ Cleopatra.
To recap: The likely nominees are Beyoncé’s Lemonade, Adele’s 25, Drake’s Views, Chance the Rapper’s Coloring Book and Justin Bieber’s Purpose.