Taylor Swift left anything but a “Blank Space” in the nominations for the 58th annual Grammy Awards, receiving nods in the Big Three categories – album, record and song of the year – though hip-hop artist Kendrick Lamar outdid her for overall nominations.
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Lamar is well out in front of the field with 11 nominations, the bulk of them tied to his nearly universally lauded third album, “To Pimp a Butterfly”, but also including two for his collaboration with Swift on her hit “Bad Blood” and one for co-writing Kanye West’s nominated rap song “All Day”. 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.
English singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran squeaked into the category with the song “Thinking Out Loud”, but Lamar’s contribution just feels like the plausible victor.
Best country album: “Montevallo”, Sam Hunt; “Pain Killer”, Little Big Town; “The Blade”, Ashley Monroe; “Pageant Material”, Kacey Musgraves; “Traveller”, Chris Stapleton.
Justin Bieber arrives at the American Music Awards at the Microsoft Theater on November 22, 2015, in Los Angeles. So it’s especially surprising that the 2016 nominations, which emerged this morning, are pretty much the best possible Grammy nods imaginable – again, keeping in mind that this is the Grammys and not, say, Stereogum’s 50 Best Albums Of 2015. Other nominees include All About That Bass performer Meghan Trainor, big-voiced singer Tori Kelly, Australian singer-songwriter Courtney Barnett and rock musician James Bay, who is also nominated for best rock album and rock song. In both 2013 and 2014 combined, Taylor Swift’s Red, a decidedly pop album, was the only thing approaching country in the category.
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Los Tigres del Norte, La Maquinaria Norteña, Mariachi Los Camperos de Nati Cano, Los Cojolites and Banda El Recodo de Don Cruz Lizarraga are competing for Best Regional Mexican Music Album (including Tejano). There is no doubt that Kendrick Lamar is deserving of the nominations, his album “To Pimp A Butterfly” was released over 6 months ago – and is still making waves and generating buzz. The Grammys will be handed out on February 15th. I also expect Taylor Swift to shout out Kendrick Lamar on stage and be 2016’s Macklemore.
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Likewise, Dr. Dre’s well-received “Compton”, his first solo album in 16 years, generated only one nomination for the esteemed hip-hop star and producer, in the rap album category. Another shock came when rapper Fetty Wap wasn’t nominated, despite dominating the charts this year. Now you know how Chris Stapleton, who was nominated for album of the year at the 2016 Grammys yesterday (Dec. 7), feels. The Best Dance/Electronic Album is eminently strong, too, with only Disclosure’s disappointing Caracal polluting a pool including Caribou, the Chemical Brothers, Jamie xx, and Skrillex and Diplo’s Jack Ü album.
