The 2008 Grammy Awards Thread

[LaFace]

Music's biggest night occurs in February. The list of nominees for each category was announced last week, and I for one am excited about the upcoming awards night.

I know the awards show has its critics because obviously, with so much music being released every year, not everyone can be pleased with the results. That being said, I am of the belief that the Grammy's award those artists who have had both critical and commercial success.

Critical success is a must, otherwise if it were based purely on sales, music such as the crazy frog ring tone would have been officially praised beyond the charts; ie talent, creativity, originality, song-writing etc is a must. On the other hand, I also believe for these awards, commercial success is also needed. I'd like to make the point that talented music with the ability to appeal to a wider audience is what separates the music made by a particular artist from another artist that has also released great music but hasn't been able to appeal to as wide an audience; ie crossover appeal is also a must as it is more likely to elicit future influence.

Anyway, enough of my ranting, here are the nominations for the "Big 3" awards in the general field: Album of the Year, Record of the year (ie single of the year) & Song of the Year (a song-writing award).

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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.)

* Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace
Foo Fighters
Gil Norton, producer; Adrian Bushby & Rich Costey, engineers/mixers; Brian
Gardner, mastering engineer
[Roswell/RCA Records]

* These Days
Vince Gill
John Anderson, Guy Clarke, Rodney Crowell, Diana Krall & The Del McCoury Band,
featured artists; Vince Gill, John Hobbs & Justin Niebank, producers; Neal
Cappellino & Justin Niebank, engineers/mixers; Adam Ayan, mastering engineer
[MCA Nashville]

* River: The Joni Letters
Herbie Hancock
Leonard Cohen, Norah Jones, Joni Mitchell, Corinne Bailey Rae, Luciana Souza &
Tina Turner, featured artists; Herbie Hancock & Larry Klein, producers; Helik
Hadar, engineer/mixer; Bernie Grundman, mastering engineer
[Verve]

* Graduation
Kanye West
Dwele, Lil Wayne, Mos Def & T-Pain, featured artists; Warryn "Baby Dubb"
Campbell, Eric Hudson, Brian "Allday" Miller, Nottz, Patrick "Plain Pat"
Reynolds, Gee Roberson, Toomp & Kanye West, producers; Bruce Beuchner, Andrew
Dawson, Mike Dean, Anthony Kilhoffer, Greg Koller, Manny Marroquin, Nottz Raw,
Tony Rey, Seiji Sekine, Paul Sheehy & D. Sloan, engineers/mixers; Vlado Meller,
mastering engineer
[Roc-A-Fella Records]

* Back To Black
Amy Winehouse
Mark Ronson & Salaamremi, producers; Tom Elmhirst, Gary Noble & Franklin
Socorro, engineers/mixers; Mark Ronson, mastering engineer
[Universal Republic Records]

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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.)

* Irreplaceable
Beyoncé
Beyoncé Knowles, S. Smith & Stargate, producers; Jim Caruana, Jason Goldstein &
Geoff Rice, engineers/mixers
Track from: B'Day
[Sony Urban Music/Columbia/Music World Productions]

* The Pretender
Foo Fighters
Gil Norton, producer; Adrian Bushby & Rich Costey, engineers/mixers
[Roswell/RCA Records]

* Umbrella
Rihanna Featuring Jay-Z
Kuk Harrell & C. "Tricky" Stewart, producers; Kuk Harrell & Manny Marroquin,
engineers/mixers
Track from: Good Girl Gone Bad
[Def Jam]

* What Goes Around…Comes Around
Justin Timberlake
Nate (Danja) Hills, Timbaland & Justin Timberlake, producers; Jimmy Douglass &
Timbaland, engineers/mixers
[Jive/Zomba]

* Rehab
Amy Winehouse
Mark Ronson, producer; Tom Elmhirst, engineer/mixer
Track from: Back To Black
[Universal Republic Records]

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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. (Artist names appear in parentheses.) Singles or Tracks only.)

* Before He Cheats
Josh Kear & Chris Tompkins, songwriters (Carrie Underwood)
Track from: Some Hearts
[19 Recordings/Arista Nashville; Publishers: That Little House Music, Mighty Underdog Music/Sony/ATV Cross Keys]

* Hey There Delilah
Tom Higgenson, songwriter (Plain White T's)
Track from: Every Second Counts
[Hollywood Records/Fearless Records; Publisher: So Happy Publishing]

* Like A Star
Corinne Bailey Rae, songwriter (Corinne Bailey Rae)
Track from: Corinne Bailey Rae
[Capitol Records; Publisher: Global Talent Publishing]

* Rehab
Amy Winehouse, songwriter (Amy Winehouse)
Track from: Back To Black
[Universal Republic Records; Publisher: EMI Music Publishing]

* Umbrella
Shawn Carter, Kuk Harrell, Terius "Dream" Nash & Christopher Stewart,
songwriters (Rihanna Featuring Jay-Z)
Track from: Good Girl Gone Bad
[Def Jam]

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There are so many other categories for awards in the respective individual genres, eg r&b, rock, pop etc which can be found at this link: www.grammy.com/GRAMMY_Awards/

Personally, I was shocked that Kanye West's song "stronger" was not nominated for Record of the Year.

It has generally been accepted that Kanye West and Amy Winehouse are the frontrunners for the coveted, ultimate prize; Album of the Year. They both also lead total nominations for the night; West with 8 and Winehouse with 6.

I know that there are a number of Amy Winehouse fans here, and given that I am a massive Kanye West fan, it should make for an interesting awards night come February! I think Amy may start off as slight favourite though, as her song "rehab" was nominated for both Song and Record of the year.

I'd like to say that with Kanye West, whether or not you like his persona, if you critically analyse his music, you will understand the hype surrounding him as an artist. The same goes for Amy Winehouse. If one ignores the news regarding her personal troubles and listens to her music, I'm sure people would also recognise her as a big new talent.

Regardless of people's perceptions, I will be supporting West's album "Graduation" all the way, because in my opinion it was hands down the best hiphop album of 2007, and there is no r&b/soul album nominated for overall Album of the Year, let alone one which I fell for head over heels (r&b/soul is my other main genre).

If you are wondering why a certain song or album you enjoyed is not nominated, then consider the time frame for eligibility, ie it must have been released between [October 1, 2006] and [September 30, 2007]. Hence from a personal standpoint, Alicia Key's (a favourite of mine) latest album (which was brilliant in my opinion) can be eligible for the 2009 awards, not 2008.

Anyway, feel free to discuss who you think should win the above categories or any of the others listed on the site, and more importantly, why

You gotta love music

[...austhai/...]

I hate Amy Winehouse with a passion.
Have you looked at her vintage stuff? She looks completely different.

[avax]

I don't mind Amy Winehouse, but I am surprised regarding Album of the Year? I haven't quite followed in the past year. I'm sure the Apologize song playing nonstop right now might get some recognition for next year (and no one will quite remember it by then). The lyrics are deplorable.

Glad to hear about Alicia Keys. That's a good woman.

The candidates for Records and Songs of the Year don't strike me.

Did Nelly Furtado not make anything in the past year?

Fergie had that one single explode on the charts - Big Girls Don't Cry. She may be the bag of old bones no one wants to touch with a ten foot pole but I'd play hopscotch to that rather than something like the drab Hey There Delilah. They can take the piss all they want, my sincerest hat off to her for battling cancer.

[LaFace]

Wow, responses!

@ AusThai: I can't say that I know a lot regarding Amy Winehouse's past work, but I do know that her debut album was released in 2003. Given this past release, I really don't know why she is nominated for Best New Artist next month.

@ Celtriya: Despite the public forgetting about hit singles quickly, it hasn't necessarily been the case in the past with regards to songs that have enjoyed a similar success in accordance with time of release. If the lyrics are deploreable though, then forget about Song of the Year. You make a good point about Nelly Furtado and Fergie, they would've pushed heavily for Record of the Year nominations, but I guess the competition was so fierce that surprises were bound to occur. And yes, Alicia Keys is my favourite woman in music!

As you can tell, I like to talk music

[long]

This is the best hip-hop album I heard this year:



Blu & Exile - Below the Heavens

Runner up: M.I.A. - Kala

The popularity of 'Umbrella' is another sign of the apocalypse.


Probably my favorite popular album this year:



Feist - The Reminder

Unfortunately I almost never agree with the Grammy nods (pure popularity/sales from what I can see).

[avax]

^True. But then the obscure bands who seem to take a perverse pleasure in bearing some kind of elitist tone kinda borders weirdo/teenagecontempt zone to me.

I can appreciate the ones who have a wider scope of interest and tend to focus less on high priorities such as... oh... maybe million dollar insured legs a la Rihanna. I'm interested in Susan Aglukark. Erykah Badu. India Arie.

Nelly Furtado and Fergie lyrics are pure toilet paper.

I would like to check out River: the Joni Letters I think.

[grindx]

I used to be a NARAS member and I used to vote for for grammy nominees, but I let my membership lapse. It's very much a popularity contest and can be very political.

[LaFace]

Jan 2, 2008 17:39:17 GMT -5 long said:

This is the best hip-hop album I heard this year:



Blu & Exile - Below the Heavens

^Incredible album.

After coming to understand a part of your hiphop taste, I believe that I can recommend two critically acclaimed albums that I personally love, and believe would cater to your preferred style.

Foreign Exchange - Connected



One track from the above album, named 'Be Alright'
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vszs4PX3ACg


Little Brother - The Minstrel Show



One track from the above album, named 'Lovin It'
www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZDRJGec9Wrk

Little Brother is a hiphop group. One of the rappers in Little Brother is called Phonte, and he forms part of the duo known as Foreign Exchange, with the second artist being a producer called Nicolay.

This really is beautiful hiphop.

If you decide to check them out, please post your thoughts and opinions in this thread!

ps. On a sidenote, I like the thought behind the album covers

[LaFace]

Jan 4, 2008 12:32:17 GMT -5 @avax said:

^True. But then the obscure bands who seem to take a perverse pleasure in bearing some kind of elitist tone kinda borders weirdo/teenagecontempt zone to me.

I can appreciate the ones who have a wider scope of interest and tend to focus less on high priorities such as... oh... maybe million dollar insured legs a la Rihanna. I'm interested in Susan Aglukark. Erykah Badu. India Arie.

Nelly Furtado and Fergie lyrics are pure toilet paper.

I would like to check out River: the Joni Letters I think.

^I completely agree with your first statement. There are a lot of elitist music fans out there who ignorantly and erroneously believe that music from an indie/underground label or music that is obscure is automatically better than music which is in the mainstream, so much so that is blinds their ability to perceive what is credible on the charts. This irks me as much as teeny bopper fans who only like the top 40 hits that they hear on the radio or in the clubs. I love music that is both underground and mainstream and don't let its style affect my ability to perceive what is garbage and what is brilliance, and this is why I am the greatest music critic in the history of the universe (extreme sarcasm ), particularly for r&b and hiphop . It's a shame though that when people hear that these are my favourite genres, they might look down on my taste because r&b = T-Pain and hiphop = 50 cent ; artists who in my opinion have affected the integrity of the respective genres in recent years.

I disagree with the notion that the awards show is a popularity contest. Of course the majority of nominees are going to be from artists signed to major record labels that have had success on the charts during the concerned year. If only the obscure/underground/indie artists were recognised, then the aspect of crossover appeal and widescale influence would be thrown out the window. Does the NBA award the MVP to the unknown guy from the country who is better than Michael Jordan, or do they award it to the Michael Jordan who has proven he can do it better than the best of the best in the big league?

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Anyway, the biggest award for Album of the Year went to Jazz musician Herbie Hancock (which Celtriya you said you'd like to check out), surprising West and Winehouse who were the overwhelming frontrunners for the award. He is the first complete jazz artist to win the award in over four decades, so there is some evidence against the awards show being a popularity contest.

West walked away with four grammys: Best rap solo performance (stronger), Best rap performance by a duo/group (southside with Common), Best rap song (good life), and Best rap album (graduation).

Winehouse walked away with five grammys: Record of the year (rehab), Song of the year (rehab), Best new artist, Best female pop vocal performance (rehab), and Best pop vocal album (back to black).

Other notable winners include:

- Justin Timberlake for Best male pop vocal performance (what goes around comes around) and Best dance recording (love stoned/i think she knows)

- Michael Buble for Best traditional pop vocal album (irresistible)

- Bruce Springsteen for best solo rock vocal performance and best rock song (radio nowhere)

- Foo Fighters for best hard rock performance (the pretender) and best rock album (Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace)

- Alicia Keys for Best female r&b vocal performance and Best r&b song (no one) ... the only categories she was eligible due to the time of release - expect that she will win more awards for her album in 2009

- Ne Yo for Best contemporary r&b album (because of you)

- Rihanna and Jay Z for best rap/sung collaboration (umbrella)

- Barrack Obama for Best spoken word album (The Audacity Of Hope: Thoughts On Reclaiming The American Dream)

For a complete list of the winners, check this link: www.grammy.com/GRAMMY_Awards/

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Performances of the night (which I have not seen yet, but will post links to in here when they are available) included:

- Alicia Keys performing 'with' Frank Sinatra to open the show, using never before seen footage of Blue Eyes on projectable screens.

- Foo Fighters rocking on an outdoors stage to the public

- Feist performing acoustically with a live horn section of an orchestra

- Divas Tina Turner and Beyonce performing together

- Kanye West performing a glow in the dark rendition of Stronger followed by a lower key rendition of Hey Mama

- Amy Winehouse performing live via satellite from London

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edit: WHOA! I just found out that the biggest award of all, Album of the Year, was presented by the undoubted legend, Quincy Jones, and contemporary r&b King, Usher. Respect! ;D