I'm been itching to download some new music though so I would love to hear your surely more musically astute recommendations in the comments. My phone needs updating in the worst way.
After the jump the three major categories, film related stuff, and the music video nominees; they're short films, after all.
- The Suburbs - Arcade Fire
- Recovery - Eminem
- Need You Now - Lady Antebellum
- The Fame Monster - Lady Gaga
- Teenage Dream - Katy Perry
- Nothin' On You - B.o.B featuring Bruno Mars
- Love The Way You Lie - Eminem featuring Rihanna
- F*** You - Cee Lo Green
- Empire State Of Mind - Jay-Z & Alicia Keys
- Need You Now - Lady Antebellum
- Beg Steal Or Borrow - Ray LaMontagne, songwriter (Ray LaMontagne And The Pariah Dogs)
- F*** You - Cee Lo Green, Philip Lawrence & Bruno Mars, songwriters (Cee Lo Green)
- The House That Built Me -Tom Douglas & Allen Shamblin, songwriters (Miranda Lambert)
- Love The Way You Lie - Alexander Grant, Skylar Grey & Eminem, songwriters (Eminem, featuring Rihanna)
- Need You Now - Dave Haywood, Josh Kear, Charles Kelley & Hillary Scott, songwriters (Lady Antebellum)
Best Compilation Soundtrack Album
- Crazy Heart
- Glee: The Music, Volume 1
- Tremé
- True Blood, Volume 2
- The Twilight Saga: Eclipse
Best Score Soundtrack Album
- Alice in Wonderland (Danny Elfman)
- Avatar (James Horner)
- Inception (Hans Zimmer)
- Sherlock Holmes (Hans Zimmer)
- Toy Story 3 (Randy Newman)
Best Song Written For...
- Down in New Orleans (The Princess and the Frog)
- I See You (Avatar)
- Kiss Like Your Kiss (True Blood)
- This City (Tremé)
- The Weary Kind (Crazy Heart)
"Best Spoken Word Album for Children" pits Julie Andrews (Julie Andrews Collections of Poems, Songs and Lullabies) against Emma Thompson (Nanny McPhee Returns) and... Selma Blair? (Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl). No really it does.
"Best Spoken Word Album" has your usual assortment of comedians up against Michael J Fox (A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Future...) and Woody Allen (The Woody Allen Collection: Mere Anarchy, Side Effects, Without Feathers, Getting Even). You can get nominated for a box set? Wouldn't you have been eligible in previous years?
And finally...
Best Short Form Music Video
"Aint No Grave" (Johnny Cash)
"Love the Way You Lie" (Eminem & Rihanna)
"Stylo" (Gorillaz, Mos Def & Bobby Womack)
"F*** You" (Cee Lo Green)
and the obvious correct vote... Lady Gaga's magnificent gargantuan instant classic of the form "Bad Romance."
How are you feeling about the nominations and do you have any music to recommend for a barren iPod?
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25 comments:
Oscar voters don't even nominate scores from small movies, surely we can't expect the Grammys to!
If you haven't checked out Florence and the Machine, do so ASAP. Nothing like her voice out there.
You're not allowed to write FUCK You on your blog? (re: Cee-Lo Green song)
man i dont even like a lot of the music on there except for recovery, but i hope the black keys win everything they are nominated for
Kevin -- i can write anything i want as it's my own blog ;) but that's the way i saw it listed in the official Grammy nominations I was looking at.
I'm so not in a position to judge, but I still think "Bad Romance" oughta be up there in Record of the Year.
And with that, we come to the end of my knowledge or opinions in this area. Back to quantifying how many stars to give Jennifer Lawrence at year's end, etc.
The Grammy awards are worse even than the Oscars, where are Massive Attack, Dido, Bjork's Grammy awards? but hey! Beyonce has 823604705760 of them already and she's been singing about the same thing since her Destiny's Child days. Eminem too is no different. Where are Busta Rhyme's Grammy awards, considering that he can INDEED rap and is the fastest talking rapper out there and has some of the most solid tracks.
The Grammys find it really difficult to award musicians and artists for the most part. It's a good thing you posted this, it reminds me that the Oscars are actually not that bad.
I'm pretty much in the Lady Antebellum boat for either Record or Song of the Year. They probably won't win, but Lord knows i love them and that song. I barely listen to country, but i have no problem playing their songs on repeat. I'm rooting for them because they renewed my interest in their genre. I guess that's why Taylor Swift gets so many awards, even if she's way more pop than country.
Record of the Year is a fantastic list of nominees though.
Katy Perry's Teenage Dream is the WORST ALBUM OF THE YEAR. She sold out, and sold out HARD.
For music recommendations, right now, I'm listening to Paloma Faith's "Do You Want The Truth Or Something Beautiful?", Sia's "We Are Born" and Anouk's "For Bitter Or Worse". Excellent albums all. I especially love the retro, but not immitative, aspect of Paloma Faith's album and the upbeat and (every song is catchy) aspect of Sia's album.
Oh gosh, you see I love/follow music oh-so-almost as much as I love film. Forever downloading new bands - on a daily basis really. But the Grammys (and our version, the Brits) seem to be about rewarding the most popular as opposed to the "best" - whereas at least Oscar/Bafta/other film awards try to reward what they think of as the best. The closest music has to a credible prize are the Mercurys, where 12 albums are in contention for the Album of the Year prize...
Having said that, the Grammys do sometimes get it so right. And I Nathaniel, I concur that Bad Romance is a "magnificent gargantuan instant classic of the form".
Though I haven't really begun to order my albums/songs of the year yet, some records from this year that I really liked:
Arcade Fire's "The Suburbs" (like, WOW -we knew they were great but I wasn't expecting their OK Computer so soon)
Foals, "Total Life Forever"
Stornoway's "Beachcomber's Windowsill" (the most unabashedly romantic record I've heard in ages)
Kele, The Boxer
Laura Marling, I Speak Because I Can
These New Puritans, Hidden
Klaxons, Surfing the Void
Robert Plant, Band of Joy
The Drums
Kanye West
LCD Soundsytem
Yeasayer, Odd Blood
Everything Everything, Man Alive
Hurts, Happiness
Belle and Sebastian, Write About Love (Carey Mulligan makes a guest appearance on the title track! So so cool.)
Charlotte Gainsbourg, IRM
Marina & The Diamonds, The Family Jewels (I think you'd like her a lot, Nathaniel...)
Ellie Goulding, Lights (liked this to a lesser extent, but some real highlights)
Robyn and Kelis' albums were good (but not as great as were hyped)
I could go on but I'm boring you now. Suffice to say 2010 was a much better year for music than for movies. Three albums from 2009 that I think you'd really enjoy Nathaniel: La Roux; Florence "Two Lungs"; Mumford & Sons "Sign No More"...
Having said all that, I love it when film stars win Grammys. Like the way Kate Winslet had a Grammy way before even being close to an Oscar.
What I find most ridiculous this year is the fact that they've nominated Beyonce for the live version of the EXACT SAME SONG for which she won a Grammy last year in the EXACT SAME CATEGORY. It's akin to the Academy's giving a nod to the theatrical reissue of film. I don't care how you rationalize it, IT'S STILL THE SAME FILM!!!
Anyway, I gave up caring about the Grammys at the beginning of the decade -- the same people winning for the same mediocre music. And every year it seems they add five more categories to the 489 they alreay have established just to give their favorite acts more chances at winning.
troy, yeah, that's pretty ridiculous akin to the woody allen nomination this year if i'm understanding the nomination correctly (weren't these audio books already pre-existing and just recompiled?)
amir and tallsonofagun -- thanks. I really will investigate.
Kelly Rowland's "Commander" was totally robbed in the Best Dance Recording category. Just as it was robbed of radio airplay on the East Coast. Fools!
Nathaniel-
KATHY GRIFFIN *AND* MARGARET CHO nominated for best comedy recording
WOW
Love love love it!
Have you heard Janelle Monae's "Tightrope?" If it wasn't for Cee Lo Green, she'd be walking away with Urban/Alternative Performance. It's amazing. It's a must have party jam.
Otherwise, Miranda Lambert's album is great country music. Any of the Musical Show Recording nominees are excellent additions to a collection. The Black Keys had a good year, too, though their music can be a bit off-putting; it's more sparse than The White Stripes.
Nathaniel,
I reaaaallly think that you would be passionate about my favorite (second favorite) album off the year: Yeasayer - Oddsac.
Particularly the songs 'I Remember', 'O.N.E.' and 'Ambling Alp'.
I bid you good audio.
The biggest nominations I'm happy about are indeed:
Best Dance Recording
Dancing On My Own, Robyn
Best Spoken Word Album
American On Purpose, Craig Ferguson
Best Comedy Album
Cho Dependent, Margaret Cho
I haven't really cared too much for the major categories anymore since it feels like a popularity/big sales contest sometimes. I always look forward to the R&B categories because 1)That's my favorite type of music, and 2)There's usually a surprise there, such as a nomination for a forgotten album (Emily King's East Side Story) or a promising brand new artist (Karina's First Love).
But yeah, sad to see these that were submitted but not nominated:
Best Electronic/Dance Album
Heartbreak On Vinyl, Blake Lewis
Best Dance Recording
Remedy, Little Boots
Best Pop Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocals
In The Sun, She & Him
Never Forget You, Noisettes
Relator (Live KCRW Version), Pete Yorn & Scarlett Johansson
Best Male R&B Vocal Performance
Sex Therapy, Robin Thicke
Best Female R&B Vocal Performance
Beautiful, Vivian Green
Hands Tied, Toni Braxton
Best Short Form Music Video
Symphonies, Dan Black with Kid Cudi
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And for some music recommendations, if you haven't heard these albums yet, I hope you do:
Amanda Leigh, Mandy Moore
Aphrodite, Kylie Minogue
Can't Take That Away From Me, JoJo
Cho Dependent, Margaret Cho
Colour Me Free, Joss Stone
The Family Jewels, Marina & The Diamonds
Flavors of Entanglement, Alanis Morrissette
Flesh Tone, Kelis
Heartbreak On Vinyl, Blake Lewis
Hooked, Lucy Woodward
Inside Out, Kat DeLuna
Joy, Fefe Dobson
Kaleidoscope Heart, Sara Bareilles
Like It Like That, Guy Sebastian
No Gravity, Shontelle
The Other Side, Nina Sky
Pulse, Toni Braxton
When Everything Breaks Open, Matt Morris
UN, Dan Black
how katy perry's album could be nominated over cee lo green's is beyond me.
i mean grammy's usually have terrible taste and they usually ignore everything that's not super mainstream in major categories, but i mean even if you wanna nominate mainstream albums only, most of these line-ups are just embarrassing.
just take a look at amir_uk's list to see how many better choices the grammy could have made.
i'd definitely add Cee Lo's album and Down the Way by Angus and Julia Stone to that list though.
George P.
"Best Spoken Word Album
American On Purpose, Craig Ferguson"
totallyyyy
it's the best nomination of all in my opinion.
I love Craig Ferguson, especially when he gets all flirty with his male guests (my favorite returnee: Michael Sheen) on his show. Hopefully I'll get to be in his audience sometime next year.
well i'm centuries old commenting on this post, but i just can't help myself when it comes to music tips.
you should try miami horror's "illumination" - it's a lightful, breezy album.
you're probably into all of robyn's "body talk" series, but u must get the 3rd part and listen obsessively to "call your girlfriend" - it's tears on the dancefloor masterpiece!
i also recomend nicki minaj's "pink friday", along with kanye's "my beautiful dark twisted fantasy".
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as for the grammys - well i nowadays don't care about them even if my faves are nominated - like some said here, they mostly award the same mediocre music year after year and man, it's probably the MOST boring award show EVER!!
Nathaniel, I agree with your types, and I must say I'm very disappointed with those nominations.
Probably the worst is for Perry's "Teenage Dream" as a album of the year. There are 2 or 3 single worth songs (and I'm not saying they're good, just listenable), but the rest was just awful. Next. Next. Next. Oh, it ends. Finally!
Yeah, Dancing On My Own MUST win, but for me there should be more nominations for Robyn. She released absolutely GENIUS songs this year, and there are so many pop masterpieces there, that I can't even tell which song is the best.
I'm obsessed with most of them, and just a few are "only" very, very good. How often that happen?
@Lucas Dantas:
""call your girlfriend" - it's tears on the dancefloor masterpiece!"
Exactly!
Agreed about Bad Romance. The nominees are not terrible given the propensity of the Grammy's to jump on the resurgent classic band/rising teen star du jour bandwagon (a Justin Bieber Best Album was a serious possibility, I guess we have to make do with Katy Perry. ugh) and little nuggets like the Robyn nomination are always welcome (though they seriously should have given more kudos for the Body Talk series). And the Kathy Griffin and Margaret Cho love is great. But on the whole, the Grammys are about what is popular enough to nominate whilst keeping a straight face, and throwing in some bones to old/established artists to validate everything.
As for recommended music, I second (or third) Body Talk Part III. 'Call Your Girlfriend' is possibly the best of the series, which is saying a lot; it's a song you could easily remember and love on the first listen. I'm also jamming Jonsi and La Roux, who are a bit past au courant, but still very good.
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