The 2016 Grammy Awards nominations have been announced with Kendrick Lamar leading the way, but some fans were left scratching their heads about why Adele wasn’t mentioned.
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As expected, rapper Kendrick Lamar, alternative R&B hitmaker The Weeknd, and country sweetheart turned pop superstar Taylor Swift amassed the most nominations. He’s also nominated in the best rap performance category for his part in the Nicki Minaj song “Truffle Butter”, which also features Lil Wayne, and in the best rap/sung collaboration category for the Minaj song “Only”, along with Lil Wayne and Chris Brown. Behind Lamar, pop megastar Taylor Swift followed with seven nods, nominated for the five-time platinum smash album 1989, along with the saucy hit Blank Space in the song and record of the year categories.
As for Swift’s former genre, country music (she previously announced that “1989” was her first official pop album), Chris Stapleton got a huge amount of attention after winning the major Album of the Year award as well as others at this year’s CMA Awards.
Nominees for record of the year, which honors the artist and the production team, include Swift (“Blank Space”) and the Weeknd (“Can’t Feel My Face”), as well as D’Angelo (“Really Love”), Mark Ronson with Bruno Mars (“Uptown Funk”) and Ed Sheeran (“Thinking Out Loud”).
Goulding’s hit Love Me Like You Do, which featured on the Fifty Shades Of Grey soundtrack, was nominated in the Best Pop Solo Performance field, as La Havas’ second album, Blood, is one of the choices in the Best Urban Contemporary Album category.
This time, though, the “predictions” for the winners in the 58 annual Grammy Awards, to be presented on CBS on Monday, Feb. 15, we’re going to call them what they are: “guesses”. That said, I want The Weeknd’s “Can’t Feel My Face” to win.
If Tesfaye’s nominations earn him Grammy hardware, it will be a nice early birthday present. But, T-Swift is rumored to be feeling a certain type of way about Lamar receiving more Grammy nominations than she did. Little Big Town also helped country music return to top Grammy categories with  ” Girl Crush, ” which is up for song of the year (the nomination goes to the songs writers, Lori McKenna, Hillary Lindsey and Liz Rose).
Intentionally or not, among some of the highly anticipated awardees vying for the trophies are Taylor Swift, Kendrick Lamar, Ed Sheeran, Justin Bieber, Meghan Trainor, and The Weeknd to name a few.
“It’s a testimony to his artistry”, Recording Academy CEO Neil Portow said of Lamar’s nominations. If Lee Ann Womack (and songwriter Hayes Carll) don’t walk away with at least one Grammy for “Chances Are”, arguably one of the best country songs of the year, then we should all assume that the whole damn deal is rigged. Lamar’s album, should it win, would generate 30 awards for the collective group of performers, producers and engineers who are nominated.
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His latest studio album, “Beauty Behind the Madness”, was released in August and topped the Billboard charts for three straight weeks. Last month, Hunt was named New Artist of the Year at the American Music Awards. He is up for awards including album of the year for To Pimp a Butterfly and song of the year for “Alright”.
