Saturday, September 19, 2015

Grammy 2016 Early Predictions?

With September 30th, the last eligible day to be considered into Grammy 2016, is just around the corner, I think it's quite safe now to predict the nominations for 2016 Grammys as there won't be any Grammy-darling release on the remaining days of September--unless suddenly NARAS becomes hipster and nominates CHVRCHES' Every Open Eye, Lana Del Rey's Honeymoon, or Julia Holter's Have You In My Wilderness. 

It's easy to predict the nominations for Big 4 categories (Album of the Year, Song of the Year, Record of the Year, and Best New Artist), so I will only predict those four categories. I am no music critic, so I'm sorry if this isn't accurate. 

1. Album of the Year
Are you kidding me? Taylor Swift's 1989, which is released on October last year, will be a lock for this category. And, since Kendrick Lamar's good kid, m.A.A.d city was also nominated for Album of the Year as well, I can expect To Pimp A Butterfly will be nominated next year too. Then the rest of spots will become interesting as there aren't many that major albums released this year. It naturally will force the committee to consider a lesser and smaller album. In other words, there will be many new names for this category. It's really a crime to not include Carly Rae Jepsen's Emotion, the best pop album of the year, and Jepsen has been nominated for Song of the Year before, so hopefully NARAS will consider Emotion. The strong contender for this category also comes from fellow Canadian, The Weeknd, whose latest album, Beauty Behind The Madness, unexpectedly becomes a hit and spawns several hits singles. Or Drake's If You're Reading This It's Too Late which has the biggest first-week sales this year in United States. It will be a long shot, though, but anything's possible at this point. Another wild hope is Miguel's Wildheart, but it's too edgy for Grammys though. 

NARAS also loves country artists so much, and I can see they will nominate former Best New Artist nominee, Kacey Musgraves' Pageant Material. I will be really happy, though, since that album is really good. We can also some newbies' name on this category on this year. Meghan Trainor's Title comes in mind. Or a new country hottie, Sam Hunt's Montevallo. Or Mark Ronson's Uptown Special. Those three albums will be for random-album slot, like Sara Bareilles' The Blessed Unrest two years ago. 

The committees also love to put veterans here, like Beck's Morning Phase last year who also happened to snatch the most prestigious award, so I can expect I can see Madonna's Rebel Heart or James Taylor's Before This World

Final Predictions
1. Taylor Swift - 1989
2. Kendrick Lamar - To Pimp A Butterfly
3. Kacey Musgraves - Pageant Material
4. The Weeknd - Beauty Behind The Madness 
5. Mark Ronson - Uptown Special or James Taylor - Before This World

2. Record of the Year
This category is sometimes confusing, and sometimes you can't differentiate it from Song of the Year. But, Record of the Year is to award best production in a song, so with that in mind, "Uptown Funk" by Mark Ronson and Bruno Mars will be a lock. As much as I hate (loathe, honestly) this song, "Uptown Funk" is well produced. Grammys love Taylor Swift, and I also happen to love her, and "Style" is one of the best produced songs the year, so I can't see that song won't be nominated for this category. I'm okay with "Blank Space" too. I expect to see deadly combo of Paul McCartney, Kanye West and Rihanna's "FourFiveSeconds" in this category. All three are Grammy-darling, and if the committees leave it out, they must have new committees there. 

The remaining of the slots will be really hard to predict. I am inclined to include The Weeknd's "Can't Feel My Face", Jack U's collaboration with Justin Bieber in "Where R U Now" is also my favorite contender for this category. Justin Bieber's solo single "What Do You Mean?" also has some potential to storm this category. Talking about good production, no one can deny that Carly Rae Jepsen's "All That" and "Run Away With Me" have good production value, but I can see the committees will overlook these records. Oh, well those are just my wildest dreams (Taylor Swift™ No copyright infringement intended. Property of TAS LLC Management 2014©). I really want to see Miguel's "coffee", but it seems really vulgar for the old people of the committees, but one can dream, right?

So, my final predictions will be
1. Mark Ronson - "Uptown Funk (feat. Bruno Mars)"
2. Paul McCartney, Kanye West and Rihanna - "FourFiveSeconds"
3. Taylor Swift - "Style"
4. The Weeknd - "Can't Feel My Face"
5. Jack U - "Where R U Now (feat. Justin Bieber)" or Carly Rae Jepsen - "Run Away With Me" (my wildest dream)

3. Song of the Year
It's no surprise to see Taylor Swift again on this category. "Blank Space" will be a lock, I guess, as it has witty lyrics and good melody. Is Ed Sheeran's "Thinking Out Loud" eligible for this category? Because I will include it, since the NARAS really love Ed Sheeran. If it isn't eligible, screw the Grammys. I expect to see Kendrick Lamar on this category. "Alright" is an alright choice, but my favorite is "These Walls (feat. Bilal, Anna Wise & Thundercat)". Oh, such a wild hope.

From a country fellows, I really can see "Biscuits" by Kacey Musgraves snatches a slot here. Sam Hunt's "Take Your Time" can surprise us as well. One more country song that I wish to see is Little Big Town's "Girl Crush". 

The committees also sometimes include big hits of the year for this category, so I expect to see "Uptown Funk" again (booo!), "Can't Feel My Face", and "See You Again" by Wiz Khalifa and Charlie Puth. "See You Again" is written by using heart and soul, and it will be heartless for the committees to omit the song from the category. I almost forgot to include "Elastic Heart". Even though the video is controversial, but this is Sia, so the committees can really overlook the controversy. Expect to see "FourFiveSeconds" too, even if the songwriting style is quite absurd and vague.

Final Predictions
1. Taylor Swift - "Blank Space" (no question)
2. Ed Sheeran - "Thinking Out Loud"
3. Kacey Musgraves - "Biscuits" (it's a long shot, but why not)
4. The Weeknd - "Can't Feel My Face"
5. Kendrick Lamar - "Alright" or Paul McCartney, Kanye West, and Rihanna - "FourFiveSeconds" or Mark Ronson - "Uptown Funk (feat. Bruno Mars)"

4. Best New Artist
It's the easiest category to predict to be honest. Meghan Trainor, who is ineligible last year, will be eligible this year so she will be a lock. Sam Hunt, a former college football player who just started his music career last year, will be a lock as well. The Weeknd, even though he's almost a veteran, but since Grammy committees are bunch of old people who are really out-of-date (just kidding!), Abel Tesfaye a.k.a. The Weeknd can also be nominated, just like when Ed Sheeran is just nominated for this category years after he's popular. Tori Kelly can also be nominated as well. I also can see Charlie Puth, Walk The Moon (the same case with The Weeknd), and also Fetty Wap. And probably FKA twigs. Lol. So random. But, Grammys surprised us with Esperanza Spalding before so FKA twigs is not out of this competition yet. And don't forget Years & Years who comes first in BBC sound of last year.

Final Predictions
1. Meghan Trainor
2. Sam Hunt
3. The Weeknd 
4. Years & Years or Fetty Wap
5. Walk The Moon (a really long shoooot) or Charlie Puth (possible, but I don't think so), or FKA twigs. 

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