With my Album of the Year review series wrapping up, that can only mean 1 thing....The Grammy Awards are fast approaching. The Grammy's can be hard to predict, but I'll give it my best here. Now, I'm only predicting 10 categories (that should probably be televised), just to make sure this doesn't go on too long (being that the Oscars are in 2 weeks, which always make for a long post). So with that, here we go.
Best Country Solo Performance
"Give Me Back My Hometown" - Eric Church
"Invisible" - Hunter Hayes
"Automatic" - Miranda Lambert
"Something In The Water" - Carrie Underwood
"Cop Car" - Keith Urban
A who's who of the country market, to start us off, this category is pretty loaded. Miranda Lambert is always an awards favorite, but I'm going to show a little bias here, and go with my favorite, Carrie Underwood. "Something In The Water" is throwback sounding, back to "Jesus Take The Wheel", but its still a well done track, that shows off Carrie's vocals.
Pick: "Something In The Water" - Carrie Underwood
.png)
Best Country Album
Riser - Dierks Bentley
The Outsiders - Eric Church
12 Stories - Brandy Clark
Platinum - Miranda Lambert
The Way I'm Livin' - Lee Ann Womack
This is another pretty tough category, with a lot of different ways to go. I could go the safe route with Miranda Lambert, or go with Eric Church, whose album had a bit of a southern rock flare to it. However, I'm going out of the box with Brandy Clark. A seasoned song-writer for the likes of The Band Perry and Kacey Musgraves (among others), she's just now breaking out with the much acclaimed 12 Stories. I wouldn't at all be surprised if Brandy gets the Grammy here (although as mentioned, don't count out Church or Miranda).
Pick: 12 Stories - Brandy Clark
Best Urban Contemporary Album
Sail Out - Jhene' Aiko
Beyonce - Beyonce
X - Chris Brown
Mali Is... - Mali Music
Girl - Pharrell
This one comes down to Beyonce and Pharrell....but who are we kidding? This one is going to Beyonce, and I'd be shocked otherwise.
Pick: Beyonce - Beyonce
Best Rock Performance
"Gimme Something Good" - Ryan Adams
"Do I Wanna Know?" - Arctic Monkeys
"Blue Moon" - Beck
"Fever" - The Black Keys
"Lazaretto" - Jack White
Now this one is a true toss-up. In such a loaded field, I think the top contenders here are "Fever" and "Lazaretto". These pair of tracks are both exceptional in their own right (The Black Keys with a throwback feel, and Jack White with a cool funk sound). As close as it is, I have to give the edge to Jack White.
Pick: "Lazaretto" - Jack White
Best Pop Vocal Album
Ghost Stories - Coldplay
Bangerz - Miley Cyrus
My Everything - Ariana Grande
Prism - Katy Perry
x - Ed Sheeran
In The Lonely Hour - Sam Smith
Could we see an upset here? Possible (from Ed Sheeran), but this Grammy has Sam Smith written all over it. This surely won't be the only award that Smith will walk away with.
Pick: In The Lonely Hour - Sam Smith
Best Pop Solo Performance
"All of Me" (live) - John Legend
"Chandelier" - Sia
"Stay With Me" (Darkchild Version) - Sam Smith
"Shake it Off" - Taylor Swift
"Happy" (live) - Pharrell
This could be an interesting category. It seems like it should be another Sam Smith win (and knowing how my predictions tend to go, it probably will be), but I just have a feeling that the Grammy's could recognize Sia here. "Chandelier" really is unlike any song I've heard before, and has proved to be a massive hit. In a last minute change of my predictions, I think Sia pulls off an upset here.
Pick: "Chandelier" - Sia
Best New Artist
Iggy Azalea
Bastille
Brandy Clark
HAIM
Sam Smith
We've seen upsets aplenty with Best New Artist in the past (whether it was Bon Iver beating Nicki Minaj and The Band Perry, or Esperanza Spalding beating Mumford & Sons), but I'd be hard pressed to see it happening here. Sam Smith made a name for himself and soared on the music market this past year. If there is any upset, look for Brandy Clark, but this one is going to Sam Smith.
Pick: Sam Smith
Best Song of the Year
"All About That Bass" - Meghan Trainor
"Chandelier" - Sia
"Shake it Off" - Taylor Swift
"Stay With Me" (Darkchild Version) - Sam Smith
"Take Me to Church" - Hozier
As we continue with the big 4 awards, this one could be a little tricky. I won't even get into the differences between song and record of the year (I believe one is for songwriting, and the other recognizes the artists and producers). In terms of songwriting, "Take Me to Church" had one of the sharpest and strongest messages. This could easily go to "Stay With Me", but Hozier's breakout hit seems to be something that the Grammy's like to recognize, and I see them doing it here, with Hozier pulling off the upset.
Pick: "Take Me to Church" - Hozier
Best Record of the Year
"Fancy" - Iggy Azalea ft/ Charli XCX
"Chandelier" - Sia
"Stay With Me" (Darkchild Version) - Sam Smith
"Shake it Off" - Taylor Swift
"All About That Bass" - Meghan Trainor
For Record of the Year, it feels a little more narrowed and straight forward. Maybe Sia pulls off another upset here, but this seems to be Sam Smith all the way, with his own first breakout hit "Stay With Me". This song is just layed out and performed perfectly.
Pick: "Stay With Me" (Darkchild Version) - Sam Smith
Best Album of the Year
Morning Phase - Beck
Beyonce - Beyonce
x - Ed Sheeran
In The Lonely Hour - Sam Smith
Girl - Pharrell
We now arrive at the big award of the night, album of the year. The Grammy's could go a number of routes here, but I think the top contenders here are Beyonce and Sam Smith. Beyonce's self titled album was unexpectedly released back in December of 2013, and it just may be Beyonce at her best. On the other hand, Sam Smith (at least for me) literally had a perfect full length album with In The Lonely Hour. Beyonce could pull this off, but I'm going with Sam Smith capping off a solid night with this Grammy. (You'll note that I've linked all of my album of the year reviews to the nominees)
Pick: In The Lonely Hour - Sam Smith
No comments:
Post a Comment