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Photo Courtesy of MCT Campus
Album of the Year:
Nominees:
Adele: “21”
Foo Fighters: “Wasting Light”
Lady Gaga: “Born this Way”
Bruno Mars: “Doo-Wops & Hooligans”
Rihanna: “Loud”
Who Will Win: Adele. She had a historic run in music this year, dominating album sales and charts in one of the worst periods for music sales. My mom, your mom and our grandparents all enjoyed this album and the Academy will not mess this one up.
Who Should Win: Adele. Set it and forget it.
Record of the Year:
Nominees:
Adele: “Rolling in the Deep”
Bon Iver: “Holocene”
Bruno Mars: “Grenade”
Mumford & Sons: “The Cave”
Katy Perry: “Firework”
Who Will Win: Sorry Bon Iver, your beautiful-and-just-indie-enough record won’t be enough to win. And sorry, Mumford & Sons, your record will not win no matter how well you brought together the drunken and forlorn. And listen Katy Perry, maybe next year your boobs will win you a Grammy. “Rolling in the Deep” wins.
Who Should Win: Adele. This song propelled Adele to the top of the music world this year. Artists ranging from Lil Wayne to Jamie xx to Childish Gambino remixed, cut up and rapped over this infectious song. Powerful and lasting, “Rolling in the Deep” is one of those songs that dominated the airwaves and deserved every playing.
Best Rock Album
Nominees:
Jeff Beck: “Rock ‘n Roll Party Honoring Les Paul”
Foo Fighters: “Wasting Light”
Kings of Leon: “Come Around Sundown”
Red Hot Chili Peppers: “I’m With You”
Wilco: ”The Whole Love”
Who Will Win: Foo Fighters. Dave Grohl and company distilled their music to raw rock ‘n roll by reuniting with Nirvana’s “Nevermind” producer Butch Vig. The album was recorded on analog tape in a garage and the sound shows.
Who Should Win: Wilco. After last year’s suprising indie choice with Arcade Fire, you can only hope the Academy does it again. Wilco’s “The Whole Love” deserves it, with a sprawling opening with “Art of Almost” that seems to build layer up layer to the 12 minute closer “One Sunday Morning”.
Best Rap Album
Nominees:
Jay-Z and Kanye West: “Watch the Throne”
Lil Wayne: “Tha Carter IV”
Lupe Fiasco: “Lasers”
Nicki Minaj: “Pink Friday”
Kanye West: “My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy”
Who Will Win: Jay-Z and Kanye West. After a tour that ripped through American towns with the ridiculous and superb, The Throne is at the top of its game. Everyone in the hip-hop game has their eyes on this duo with others such as Drake and Rick Ross teaming up in hopes of duplicating the success. They won’t, this super-tandem say it best with their song “Who Gon Stop Me”.
Who Should Win: Kanye West. My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy was Kanye’s masterpiece. It is a shame he is going up against his collaboration with one of the best hip hop artists alive or dead. This album could have failed for so many reasons: Kanye’s horrible public image, Kanye’s horrible public behavior and Kanye’s hubris. But these are exactly what made MBDTF so impressive and as Yeezy says, beautiful.
Best New Artist
Nominees:
The Band Perry
Bon Iver
J. Cole
Nicki Minaj
Skrillex
Who Will WIn: Skrillex. This artist has invaded the attention of everyone in music--listeners, artists and producers alike. Whether he is remixing the newest song or headlining a major festival, Skrillex aka Sonny Moore exploded in 2011.
Who Should Win: Skrillex. He is not your ordinary “Best New Artist” that had a strong year with a new album and a few successful songs. Hell, he isn’t like your normal artist because he spread his music by himself through the Internet. Whether you hate him for his moronic moves on his MacBook and mixer or love him for his gritty music and visually stunning shows, Skrillex did one thing no artist could before him: he took the dubstep genre to a full mainstream level.
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