GRAMMYs Has Its Share of Upsets and Surprises!!!

  

     The GRAMMY Awards, recognizing the best of the best in the music industry, would never be complete without its list of numerous disappointments and surprising upsets. Remember the year Taylor Swift took home the prize for Album of the Year based on her popularity and not the actual merit of her album? Remember the shock when Arcade Fire took home the award instead of favorites Lady Gaga and Eminem? Or when Esperanza Spalding moved passed Justin Bieber and Drake to win Best New Artist? The 55th GRAMMY Awards, which aired last night, left me scratching my head with some of the decisions the academy made. I went in thinking some of the categories were a sure lock, but like always, I was apparently wrong.

     When the nominations were announced, I was confused as to why some of the name were even on the extremely long list. Katy Perry? Rihanna? Carly Rae Jepsen? These are artists who do make chart-topping songs, but the GRAMMYs are in place to award talent, not how catchy a song is. A few artist nominations allowed me ease up a bit however. Out and proud R&B sensation Frank Ocean was nominated in six categories, including Album of the Year and Record of the Year. Record of the Year may have been a challenge to win for the artist, but I was sure his critically-acclaimed "channel ORANGE" would have an easy time securing the gold trophy for the strength of his debut album. Kelly Clarkson received three nominations, four if you include the nomination for the songwriters of "Stronger (What Doesn't Kill You)". The song was a huge smash in 2012 and I figure she had a good chance taking home the award for either Song of the Year or Record of the Year and was a good competitor for Adele (nominated for a spectacular live performance of "Set Fire to the Rain") in the Best Pop Solo Performance category. .fun received a deserving six nominations, but I did not think they would hold up against other fantastic nominees and Gotye and his beautiful "Somebody That I Used To Know" was expected to make an impact with voters.

     I was betting on three of the six songs nominated in the Record of the Year category (which gives the award based on the vocal performance of the song) which was the toughest out of any other year. I had a strong feeling Gotye and his duet partner Kimbra would surely win, but there was a part of me that thought Frank Ocean or Kelly Clarkson could cause an upset. The award was announced and my first prediction was correct. Even though Gotye's number one hit seems like it came out years ago, it still leave a strong enough impression on the academy to become the second Australian act to win the award. One point for me.

     Album of the Year was the category I thought was the easiest to predict. Packed with rock-influenced projects, such as Jack White's "Blunderbuss", The Black Keys' "El Camino" and Mumford & Sons' "Babel", I figured the lyrical and vocal talent of Frank Ocean would resonate with voters enough to allow him to become the first openly gay male artist to win the award. However, when the smoke cleared after Adele read the winner, it was Mumford & Sons who went home victorious. This upset me a bit since their sophomore album sounded identical to their debut. Sorry, but the band does nothing for me.

      Song of the Year, awarded to the songwriters of the nominated song, was a strong mix of hit singles, except for the unnecessary inclusion of Carly Rae Jepsen's annoying "Call Me Maybe". My initial predictions were between .fun's "We Are Young" and Kelly Clarkson's "Stronger (What Doesn't Kill You)". Miguel's "Adorn" and Ed Sherran's "The A Team" were worthy contenders as well, but the former two had popularity and talent on their side. .fun's debut single came out on top in a category I was content with any of the other nominees winning.

     Only two nominees had a chance at winning Best New Artist. Sorry Hunter Hayes, The Lumineers and Alabama Shakes. Frank Ocean and .fun were the clear frontrunners, with my prediction seeing Ocean being declared the winner. Ocean had a tremendous year, both career wise and personally, but it seems .fun's powerful singles and strong album tipped the scale in their favor as they took home the second of the main four awards of the night.

     In other categories, Carrie Underwood took home two awards for one of my favorite songs of 2012, "Blown Away", Kelly Clarkson was crowned champion of the Best Pop Vocal Album, beating out P!nk, Maroon 5 and Florence & the Machine. Skrillex dominated the Dance category with three wins, Beyonce and Usher secured wins in the R&B song category, and Jay-Z and Kanye West swept all the awards in the rap categories they were nominated in for their joint collaborations.

     2012 was a great year in music. Some artists racked up numerous nominations, the most being six, and some were good enough to warrant four wins in one night. The year saw a move away from traditional pop music to make way for unique talent and sounds. With the closing of the GRAMMY Awards, we can now move past the year and focus on what is sure to be a very interesting 2013.