Here's What We Think of the 2015 Grammy Nominations
America’s biggest night for music is approaching. The 58th Annual Grammys will be held in Los Angeles on February 15th, 2016. However, the nominees were announced just last Monday and they’re causing a lot of talk. Here are our opinions on who we think was deserving and who we think got the shaft.
The four most important awards in the Grammys are Record of the Year, Album of the Year, Song of the Year, and Best New Artist. For Record of the Year the nominees seem to play the Sesame Street game “one of these things is not like the other.” Four of the songs are pop top hits that you would hear on any music system throughout the entire year: “Uptown Funk” by Mark Ronson ft Bruno Mars, “Thinking Out Loud” by Ed Sheeran, “Blank Space” by Taylor Swift, and “Can’t Feel My Face” by the Weeknd. I believe that all these nominees are worthy. “Uptown Funk” seemed to transport the country back to the funk days, which was something totally original and made the song stand out and stick in your head on the daily, causing you to constantly have the chronic dancing legs.
“Thinking Out Loud” is just an absolutely beautiful song. The lyrics making every girl swoon and creating the wedding song of the generation, along with the soft electric guitar solo giving everyone chills and feels.
“Blank Space” was a totally different sound for Taylor Swift, along with her whole album 1989, and instead of writing about how much boys suck, Taylor wrote a song relatable to almost all girls; boys make girls turn into psychos.
Lastly, the Weeknd is so talented and “Can’t Feel My Face” was such a hit that had everyone singing along for months that it would have been a shame if he wasn’t nominated. He also killed it at the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show last week, for anyone who watched.
The fifth nominee for Record of the Year, however is someone who you may not have heard of. “Really Love” by D’Angelo and the Vanguard is an extremely interesting, gorgeous song. A mix of R&B, folk, and Latin, “Really Love” begins with a long instrumental of a Latin guitar and then a beat begins that seems similar to “Suga Suga how’d you get so high” along with a very high pitched male R&B voice. Who’s deserving of this award? I think the winner should be either D’Angelo and the Vangaurd or The Weeknd.
The nominees for Album of the Year are Sound and Color by the Alabama Shakes, To Pimp a Butterfly by Kendrick Lamar, Traveller by Chris Stapleton, 1989 by Taylor Swift, and Beauty Behind the Madness, by the Weeknd. What is so interesting about this category is that all albums are so completely different: blues, hip-hop, country, pop and R&B. Adele- fans were mad that the 25 year old wasn’t nominated for this award, or any award for that matter, but she released her album after the deadline date for nominations in September. Maybe we will see her nominated in 2017!
Another artist that left fans disgruntled for not being nominated for this award or any was Lana Del Rey and her album, Honeymoon. Although I hail down to Lana – she’s the name of my car – I’m not that surprised that she was not nominated. Most of the songs on Honeymoon sound very similar to each other and songs that she has sang in the past. Even though “High On The Beach” from Honeymoon is my anthem, I’ll admit that it does not seem Grammy worthy (love you still, Lana).
I think Kendrick’s To Pimp A Butterfly should win because of the amazing producers that Kendrick had on his team – Dre, Pharrell, etc. – to create an album with memorable lyrics in so many of his songs transformed his album into a great message and stance on the racism in the nation. If they wanted to pick a country singer to add in their nominees I believe they should’ve picked the Zac Brown Band with their new album, Jekyll + Hyde and not Chris Stapleton but they must’ve wanted to make a few stand out winners, and few artists who they knew didn’t have a shot.
The nominees for Song of the Year were “Alright” by Kendrick Lamar, “Blank Space” by Taylor Swift, “Girl Crush” by Little Big Town, “See You Again” by Whiz Khalifa and “Thinking Out Loud” by Ed Sheeran. Once again I feel as if there were many more artists who were more deserving than Little Big Town and even the Whiz Khalifa.
I think Drake and J. Cole are just as deserving as Whiz, although they both are nominated for Best Rap Album. I was also surprised that Bieber was not nominated for anything – not even in the Pop category of the Grammys, but perhaps he missed the nominee cut off with his album like Adele. If this was the MTV Video Music Awards, I would say that “Blank Space” should win, for that amazing and zany music video, but for the Grammys with these nominations I hope to see Ed Sheeran take the W.
The nominees for Best New Artist are Courtney Barnett, James Bay, Sam Hunt, Tori Kelley, and Meghan Trainor. Although I understand why Meghan Trainor was nominated – she has so many songs that have made it to the Top 10 within her first year of releasing an album – I would be PISSED if she won. Her tunes are annoying, along with her lyrics, and the song “Dear Future Husband” has gotten a lot of shit for being ant-feminist. Tori Kelley is absolutely gorgeous, along with her singing voice, and Sam Hunt is an All-American heartthrob. Courtney Barnett has such a unique quality where in her grungy songs she seems to be telling a rambling story, yet some of the lyrics are very funny and she seems like a badass. James Bay’s voice may make you fall in love him with that alone. Very similar to Ed Sheeran, yet also The Script, James Bay can sing.
There is a total of 83 nominees this year for the 2016 Grammys. Valentine’s Day is going to extend an extra day this year and we’re going to fall in love with our favorite artists in Los Angeles, watching them perform and win awards for what they love to do most.