Tuesday, December 09, 2008

Grammy Picks

Ok, I've always wanted to do this post but never have... so here goes! Grammy Nominations are out! Time to make my picks. If you would like to debate my choices... I invite you to comment. All nomination information is pulled directly from the Grammy Website. Some info has been removed to avoid this post being even longer than it already is. I've also picked only the categories that I actually know something about. So, you won't get my opinion on the best gospel album, best country collaboration with vocals, best tejano album among many others. There are some categories that I probably could have commented on, but I didn't know some of the songs/albums/artists that were nominated, and apparently didn't care enough to look them up.. so I just didn't bother. With that said.. here are my thoughts on the categories I felt inspired to comment on....

Record Of The Year
(Award to the Artist and to the Producer(s), Recording Engineer(s) and/or Mixer(s), if other than the artist.)

• Chasing Pavements - Adele Track from: 19
  
• Viva La Vida - Coldplay Track from: Viva La Vida Or Death And All His Friends
  
• Bleeding Love - Leona Lewis
  
• Paper Planes - M.I.A Track from: Kala
  
• Please Read The Letter - Robert Plant & Alison Krauss Track from: Raising Sand

This is a tough category. The only songs I recognized right off the bat were Bleeding Love and Viva La Vida. When Bleeding Love first came out I hated it, but then I watched Chelsie and Mark perform to it on So You Think You Can Dance and now THIS is what I think of when I hear it and that makes me happy. Viva La Vida is nice, but not particularly my favorite Coldplay track. The rest of the songs I looked up on Rhapsody. I immediately recognized Chasing Pavements and realized that I thoroughly enjoy the song. Paper Planes is kind of a weird song. I don't dislike it, but I don't know that it's Grammy material. Please Read the Letter was way to sappy and slow for me.

The winner: I think it has to go to Adele for Chasing Pavements. She has a great voice and I really enjoy this song.

Album Of The Year
(Award to the Artist(s) and to the Album Producer(s), Recording Engineer(s)/Mixer(s) & Mastering Engineer(s), if other than the artist.)

• Viva La Vida Or Death And All His Friends - Coldplay
  
• Tha Carter III - Lil Wayne
  
• Year Of The Gentleman - Ne-Yo
  
• Raising Sand - Robert Plant & Alison Krauss
  
• In Rainbows - Radiohead

This probably isn't fair for me to judge because I haven't heard the WHOLE album from any of these artists. I'll leave this up to the popular vote. What do you guys think?

Song Of The Year
(A Songwriter(s) Award. A song is eligible if it was first released or if it first achieved prominence during the Eligibility Year. Singles or Tracks only.

• American Boy - Estelle Featuring Kanye West Track from: Shine
  
• Chasing Pavements - Adele Adkins & Eg White Track from: 19
  
• I'm Yours - Jason Mraz Track from: We Sing. We Dance. We Steal Things.
  
• Love Song - Sara Bareilles Track from: Little Voice
  
• Viva La Vida - Coldplay Track from: Viva La Vida Or Death And All His Friends

I think this is definitely the toughest category of the year. American Boy (performed here on So You Think You Can Dance) is a great little hip hop tune. It has a pretty permanent place on my workout play list on my iPod, which is a pretty elite list. Chasing Pavements - again - so good. I really love Adele's voice and the song is very passionate without being sappy. And then there's I'm Yours. What's not to love about Jason Mraz? Peppy and upbeat to a certain extent, all around a good song. Love Song - Sara Bareilles has become a new addiction for me this year. Her whole album is fantastic and of course I have an extra soft spot the singer/songwriter type (of course Adele and Jason Mraz get those honors as well). I enjoy the title Love Song when the song it's self says "I'm not gonna write you love song, 'cuz you asked for it, 'cuz you need one." Viva La Vida - again, not bad, just not my fav for Coldplay.

And the winner - YIKES!! So hard! I think it comes down to Chasing Pavements and Love Song, with the winner being Chasing Payments. (I would like to make the disclaimer that these are not where I think the awards will actually go. These are MY picks. My guess is the Grammy will actually go to Coldplay).

Best New Artist
(For a new artist who releases, during the Eligibility Year, the first recording which establishes the public identity of that artist.)

• Adele
  
• Duffy
  
• Jonas Brothers
  
• Lady Antebellum
  
• Jazmine Sullivan

Ok.. Jonas Brothers - EW! I've never even heard of Lady Antebellum or Jazmine Sullivan (if you think I need to know who they are, please let me know. I'm always happy about new music) So that leaves Duffy and Adele. Both good choices. Duffy has a very distinct voice that I think you either have to love, hate, or learn to love. I fell into category 3. Again, damn that So You Think You Can Dance. This time it was Twitch and Katee (this video kind of sucks because I can't find any footage from the show so this is something that someone recorded from the tour). And I think I've talked enough about Adele. You know where I stand.

And the winner is... I think I'm gonna go with Duffy mostly for the uniqueness (if that's a real word). So help me if this Grammy goes to the Jonas Brothers... that fate would be so horrid that I can't even imagine it.

Best Female Pop Vocal Performance
(For a solo vocal performance. Singles or Tracks only.)

• Chasing Pavements - Adele Track from: 19
  
• Love Song - Sara Bareilles Track from: Little Voice
  
• Mercy - Duffy Track from: Rockferry
  
• Bleeding Love - Leona Lewis
  
• I Kissed A Girl - Katy Perry Track from: One Of The Boys
  
• So What - Pink

Another VERY VERY hard category. I've already covered the first 4 nominations. Katy Perry cracks me up. I Kissed A Girl is a great song (though a bit over played) and it makes me laugh. I've always been a big Pink fan. She's got the right amount of angsty rocker in her to make her stand out from the rest of the girly popsters. I love the song So What - again with the angst, but with a good pop/rock beat!

And the winner is... I'm almost 100% certain that the Grammy association will NOT agree with me on this, but I'm gonna go with Pink's So What. You can't go wrong with a song whose lyrics claim "and you're a tool" (that was for you Quitter).

Best Pop Collaboration With Vocals
(For a collaborative performance, with vocals, by artists who do not normally perform together. Singles or Tracks only.)

• Lesson Learned - Alicia Keys & John Mayer Track from: As I Am
  
• 4 Minutes - Madonna, Justin Timberlake & Timbaland Track from: Hard Candy
  
• Rich Woman - Robert Plant & Alison Krauss Track from: Raising Sand
  
• If I Never See Your Face Again - Rihanna & Maroon 5 Track from: Good Girl Gone Bad: Reloaded
  
• No Air - Jordin Sparks & Chris Brown Track from: Jordin Sparks

Many good options here. Alicia Keys loses points for associating with John Mayer. Madonna loses points for all the plastic surgury she's had - though I do enjoy the song. I don't know who Robert Plant and Alison Krauss are and this post is getting really long and it's becoming difficult to look all these songs up and actually listen to them. Rihanna and Maroon 5 - AWESOMENESS! And Jordin Sparks and Chris Brown rocked this song, but again, wouldn't have loved it as much if it weren't for this.

And the winner is... Rihanna and Maroon 5 of course!! They freaking rock!

Well, there you have it. My Grammy picks. I know I left out A LOT of categories, but this post would have gone on forever and I was getting bored. Sorry! I'd love to hear your comments though. I'm sure Quitter will make a stink about all the hate being thrown John Mayer's way and the Coldplay shut out, but she'd have to be reading this to complain about it. HAHA!