Brief Thoughts on the 2012 Grammy Nods

On November 30th, the 54th Annual Grammy nominations were announced live with many of the nominees present, announcing, or performing. There were definitely expected predictions and surprises throughout many of the main categories. While some artists have many nominations to be joyous about, others were completely shut out. By keeping this post brief, I will just be giving my brief thoughts a few of the main categories of the 2012 Grammy nominations.

Album of the Year
21, Adele
Wasting Light, Foo Fighters
Born This Way, Lady Gaga
Doo-Wops & Hooligans, Bruno Mars
Loud, Rihanna

I am definitely surprised that four pop albums are up for this award with no hip-hop or country album. I expected Kanye West (who garnered the most nods this year) was not nominated for "Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy" which many considered to be his critical best. I was also surprised that Tony Bennett's "Duets" album was not nominated for this album as well. I was surprised "Loud" was nominated instead; but with six successful singles in which three hit #1, I guess it shouldn't be much of a surprise after all. It was a solid pop record, just like the others.

Record of the Year
Rolling In the Deep, Adele
Holocene, Bon Iver
Grenade, Bruno Mars
The Cave, Mumford & Sons
Firework, Katy Perry

Song of the year (goes to writer)
All of the Lights (performed by Kanye West, Rihanna, Kid Cudi and Fergie)
The Cave (performed by Mumford & Sons)
Grenade (performed by Bruno Mars)
Holocene (performed by Bon Iver)
Rolling In the Deep (performed by Adele)

Most of these nods were not a surprise to me ("Firework", "Grenade", "Rolling..."). However, I was surprised that one of Lady Gaga's hits off of "Born This Way" wasn't nominated for either of these awards, though she was nominated throughout the pop category as well as "Album of the Year."

Best New Artist
The Band Perry
Bon Iver
J. Cole
Nicki Minaj
Skrillex

With this being my favorite category at the Grammys, I definitely am very interested to see who takes home this prize. I expected Nicki and Bon Iver (although their not particularly new) to be nominated. I was definitely happy to see J. Cole up there but I was really surprised to see Skrillex. Understandably, this is the first year that an electronic music artist has been nominated for this award. Artists like indie pop band Foster the People and British singer Jessie J were expected nominees from many sources, but were not nominated for the honor.

In some other categories I was surprised Britney Spears, who had numerous successful pop hits this year, was not nominated for a grammy. 16-time Grammy winner Beyonce, who is normally a Grammy favorite, was only nominated for two Grammys (for "Party" in Best Rap/Sung Collab and "I Am...World Tour" for Best Long Form Music Video). I was surprised her album "4" was shut out of the R&B categories.

In a tally, Kanye West leads the pack with 7 nominations followed by Adele, Bruno Mars and Foo Fighters with 6. Lil Wayne and New Artist nominee Skrillex also earned 5 nods in their respective categories. It'll definitely be an interesting night to see if there are any surprise wins out of these nominations. I will be posting my own predictions for many of the other categories a few weeks before the Grammy's are set to air on the 12th of February. Stay tuned for that.


~L~

For a full list of the 54th Annual Grammy Nominees visit: http://www.grammy.com/nominees