Hooray for us: a 2010 Grammy Award preview
Published in Berkshire Eagle, 1/29/10
 Will Sunday be a coming out party for Taylor Swift? |
 Are Grammy voters ready to go Gaga? |
By Jeremy D. Goodwin
This is the time of year—by which I mean, the week of the Grammys—when I seriously wonder whether I should have paid more attention to pop culture over the past year.
As someone who follows certain portions of the music world very closely, it’s a bit disconcerting to read that The Black Eyed Peas’ song “I Gotta Feeling” (nominated for Record of the Year) was apparently “inescapable last summer” (as one critic wrote), while I missed it at the time. Clearly, it’s embarrassing from a professional standpoint to admit this. But the fact is, it’s possible to have a very fulfilling year as listener and consumer of music while having very little contact with Billboard’s Top Ten. Strange to say, this key zeitgeist index feels irrelevant.
When the 52nd Annual Grammy Awards telecast happens Sunday night (on CBS at 8pm local time), it will basically serve as a commercial for how great the music business is these days. (Take a look at the blog post on the Grammy Web site entitled “The Splendid State of Pop in 2009.”) It’s not overly cynical to suggest the Grammys have very little to do with artistic merit—and that’s totally fine. That’s not what they’re for.
This is the time of year—by which I mean, the week of the Grammys—when I seriously wonder whether I should have paid more attention to pop culture over the past year.
As someone who follows certain portions of the music world very closely, it’s a bit disconcerting to read that The Black Eyed Peas’ song “I Gotta Feeling” (nominated for Record of the Year) was apparently “inescapable last summer” (as one critic wrote), while I missed it at the time. Clearly, it’s embarrassing from a professional standpoint to admit this. But the fact is, it’s possible to have a very fulfilling year as listener and consumer of music while having very little contact with Billboard’s Top Ten. Strange to say, this key zeitgeist index feels irrelevant.
When the 52nd Annual Grammy Awards telecast happens Sunday night (on CBS at 8pm local time), it will basically serve as a commercial for how great the music business is these days. (Take a look at the blog post on the Grammy Web site entitled “The Splendid State of Pop in 2009.”) It’s not overly cynical to suggest the Grammys have very little to do with artistic merit—and that’s totally fine. That’s not what they’re for.
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The awards are acknowledgments for the songs, albums and performers who made the most indelible impact upon the zeitgeist in the past year. Did it wind up as a psych-up song snippet played at NBA games? It’s probably nominated for a Grammy.
Speaking of ubiquity, it’s interesting to note that last year I saw two very progressive-minded female artists perform songs now sitting among the Grammy nominees’ inner circle--Erin McKeown encored with Beyoncé’s “Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It),” up for Song of the Year, at the Dream Away Lodge, and Amanda Palmer played Lady Gaga’s “Poker Face” (getting nods for Song and Record of the Year) with the Boston Pops at Symphony Hall. Neither artist felt the need to introduce the song.
Twenty-three nominations are spread among three prominent artists: Beyoncé (10), Taylor Swift (eight) and Lady Gaga (five). Sunday’s broadcast could quite possibly be an official coming out party for Swift, cementing her mainstream crossover from poppish country to countryish pop.
Beautiful, blonde, and just barely 20 years old, Swift is considered a much more genuine and earthy (not to mention talented) artist than, say, many of the stars spit out by the Disney child star machine. Her album “Fearless” (up for Album of the Year) plays like a series of unflinching reflections by a self-aware teen, not because it was concocted by a team of high-priced songwriters aiming for that effect, but because it actually was. (Give or take.)
In the mouth of an early Britney Spears, lyrics like “she’s cheer captain and I’m in the bleachers” (from Swift’s “You Belong With Me,” up for both Song and Record of the Year) would sound hopelessly contrived. (Remember, Spears famously—and provocatively—danced down a high school corridor in the video for “…Baby One More Time,” a song written by 27-year old male hitmaker Max Martin.) But for all its pop gloss (and the movie star radiance of its author), Swift’s song feels honest.
Speaking of ubiquity, it’s interesting to note that last year I saw two very progressive-minded female artists perform songs now sitting among the Grammy nominees’ inner circle--Erin McKeown encored with Beyoncé’s “Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It),” up for Song of the Year, at the Dream Away Lodge, and Amanda Palmer played Lady Gaga’s “Poker Face” (getting nods for Song and Record of the Year) with the Boston Pops at Symphony Hall. Neither artist felt the need to introduce the song.
Twenty-three nominations are spread among three prominent artists: Beyoncé (10), Taylor Swift (eight) and Lady Gaga (five). Sunday’s broadcast could quite possibly be an official coming out party for Swift, cementing her mainstream crossover from poppish country to countryish pop.
Beautiful, blonde, and just barely 20 years old, Swift is considered a much more genuine and earthy (not to mention talented) artist than, say, many of the stars spit out by the Disney child star machine. Her album “Fearless” (up for Album of the Year) plays like a series of unflinching reflections by a self-aware teen, not because it was concocted by a team of high-priced songwriters aiming for that effect, but because it actually was. (Give or take.)
In the mouth of an early Britney Spears, lyrics like “she’s cheer captain and I’m in the bleachers” (from Swift’s “You Belong With Me,” up for both Song and Record of the Year) would sound hopelessly contrived. (Remember, Spears famously—and provocatively—danced down a high school corridor in the video for “…Baby One More Time,” a song written by 27-year old male hitmaker Max Martin.) But for all its pop gloss (and the movie star radiance of its author), Swift’s song feels honest.
If Swift sweeps the major awards, Beyoncé can still take home trophies for Best Female Performance in Pop (“Halo”) and R&B, which would be a nice trick. Look for her to do well in all the R&B categories, and her nomination total is padded out with nods in Best Rap/Sung collaboration, Best Song Written For Motion Picture, and such.
I see Lady Gaga as a sleeper candidate for “biggest snub” in the major categories. In addition to the prominent nods mentioned above, her The Fame, which set a new standard for debuts by launching four Number One singles, is nominated for Album of the Year. But it’s possible Grammy voters are not yet ready to canonize her hyper-sexual, frequently bizarre persona, and she’ll have to settle for two near-certain wins in the ghetto of Dance/Electronic categories. Cue much outrage expressed via You Tube.
I see Lady Gaga as a sleeper candidate for “biggest snub” in the major categories. In addition to the prominent nods mentioned above, her The Fame, which set a new standard for debuts by launching four Number One singles, is nominated for Album of the Year. But it’s possible Grammy voters are not yet ready to canonize her hyper-sexual, frequently bizarre persona, and she’ll have to settle for two near-certain wins in the ghetto of Dance/Electronic categories. Cue much outrage expressed via You Tube.
This year, not quite so much
One notable feature of this year’s nominations is the dearth of major rock artists, including the sort who typically win for simply yawning in the direction of a microphone. U2’s 22 wins make them the most decorated rock band in Grammy history; last year they were drafted into the award broadcast as a ratings boost, even though their new album hadn’t yet been released. Yet the lesser-than-usual impact of their No Line on the Horizon caused its absence from the major categories. (Their recent history includes wins for Song of the Year and Album of the Year in 2005, Song of the Year in 2001, and both Song and Record of the year in 2000.)
New albums by Green Day (who won for Record of the Year last time around), Bruce Springsteen, Pearl Jam, and Bob Dylan are similarly quiet on the nomination front. The one artist bucking the overall trend is Dave Mathews Band, whose Big Whiskey and the Groogrux King is nominated only twice but for key awards: Album of the Year and Best Rock Album. (Grammy voters may also be looking to make nice with DMB after the band’s late member LeRoi Moore inexplicably was apparently not deemed high-profile enough to be included in the “In Memorium” portion of last year’s broadcast.) If there’s a sleeper pick to upend the Swift/Beyoncé/Gaga juggernaut in that category, it’s this.
So, next year will I need less of a cram session to catch up with the major Grammy nominees? Possibly. But unless I start attending a lot more NBA games, it still doesn’t seem entirely likely.
New albums by Green Day (who won for Record of the Year last time around), Bruce Springsteen, Pearl Jam, and Bob Dylan are similarly quiet on the nomination front. The one artist bucking the overall trend is Dave Mathews Band, whose Big Whiskey and the Groogrux King is nominated only twice but for key awards: Album of the Year and Best Rock Album. (Grammy voters may also be looking to make nice with DMB after the band’s late member LeRoi Moore inexplicably was apparently not deemed high-profile enough to be included in the “In Memorium” portion of last year’s broadcast.) If there’s a sleeper pick to upend the Swift/Beyoncé/Gaga juggernaut in that category, it’s this.
So, next year will I need less of a cram session to catch up with the major Grammy nominees? Possibly. But unless I start attending a lot more NBA games, it still doesn’t seem entirely likely.
