For one thing, Kendrick Lamar’s instant-classic To Pimp A Butterfly benefits from (a) the Grammys recognizing its obvious brilliance (b) the Grammys loving jazz bullshit (c) the Grammys overcompensating for completely snubbing Kendrick while celebrating Macklemore in 2014 (d) all of the above.
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Grammy organizers are unveiling the nominees for North America’s most prominent musical honours this morning, with Taylor Swift, Kendrick Lamar, Ed Sheeran and Canadians Drake and The Weeknd expected to be among the contenders.
So is Taylor Swift.
Blake Mills is also up fro Producer of the Year and the album earned a nomination for Best Engineered Album. “Really Love” is up for Record of the Year and Best R&B Song, while the album as a whole is up for Best R&B Album alongside Leon Bridges’ Coming Home, Charlie Wilson, Andra Day and Jazmine Sullivan. The hip-hop star picked up five nominations, including best rap song (“Energy”) and best rap album (“If Youre Reading This Its Too Late”).
Barnett, who until a couple of years ago was working as a bartender in Melbourne, has won over a wide audience for her ironic lyricism that reflects on issues ranging from urban gentrification to masturbation.
Swift’s “1989” and Lamar’s “To Pimp a Butterfly” will both vie for Album of the Year along with The Weeknd (“Beauty Behind the Madness”), Alabama Shakes (“Sound & Color”) and Chris Stapleton (“Traveller”).
Alabama Shakes, up for Album of the Year, is pictured performing at Artpark in September 2015.
Her fellow potential Best New Artists include country/R&B hybrid hitmaker Sam Hunt, singer-songwriter Tori Kelly (“Nobody Love”), British singer-songwriter James Bay (who opened for Taylor Swift on the European leg of her “1989” world tour) and “All About That Bass” breakout sensation Meghan Trainor.
Pharrell and West are also nominated for four awards, including album of the year for producing songs on Lamar’s album.
And our 39th president, Jimmy Carter, scored another Grammy nomination in the Best Spoken Word album category.
Mark Ronson’s collaboration with Bruno Mars on Uptown Funk won the pair three nominations in the best pop vocal, record of the year and best pop duo/group performance categories.
The 58th Annual Grammy Awards will take place at the Staples Center in Los Angeles on February 15.
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Tame Impala frontman Kevin Parker. The band is up for Album of the Year as well as Best Rock Performance (“Don’t Wanna Fight”) and Best Alternative Album. But c’mon, Academy – Swift and the Weeknd in, and D’Angelo’s stellar “Black Messiah” out in the cold?
