The National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States is charged with picking the annual Grammy Award nominees every year and this time around they’ve made some great picks.
The Grammy Awards get a lot of criticism for basically being pointless. Who cares if Justin Bieber wasn’t nominated for a Grammy? He’s still the youngest artist to ever land five No. 1 chart topping albums with his latest 2012 release.
I care about the Grammy’s because it isn’t some tween voting base picking an artist based on their looks or some other irrelevant attributes. The Grammy Awards have the ability to critically look at music trends and the quality of music within the industry in order to make one pick for the best of the year. They don’t always get it right, but this time they’ve come pretty close.
The four most anticipated awards are always best new artist, song of the year, record of the year and album of the year. This year has some stiff competition, but I’ll try to give my picks for these categories, and others, that I feel comfortable weighing in on.
The best new artist category is filled with power houses like The Lumineers, Fun., and Alabama Shakes, but without a doubt the award has to go to Frank Ocean. His album,
Channel Orange
, has revolutionized R&B in ways I don’t think are fully realized yet. We will see a lot more from him in the coming years and fully deserves this award. Ocean and his team also deserve the award for record of the year, the amount of production value that went into his single “Thinkin Bout You,” is astonishing and that crew deserves some recognition.
The song of the year nominees are rather disappointing. I would have gone with “Somebody That I Used To Know,” by Gotye, had he been nominated, but c’est la vie. My pick will instead go to Fun.’s “We Are Young,” despite my general disdain for its overexposure on the radio. This choice goes against everything I’ve been preaching about Fun. for over a year now, but when I look back at the year 2012, I distinctly remember running through a field on a cold spring night with some good friends screaming this song at the top of our lungs. I suppose if a song can produce memories as good as that, it must be pretty good and deserving of an award that is meant to capture a moment in time.
Now for, what is likely the biggest award of the night, album of the year (drum roll). “El Camino” by The Black Keys.
It’s not just because I’m from the Akron area and have watched this band grow from its infant stages, it’s because The Black Keys have changed the music industry for the better. “El Camino” is the antithesis of a 10 year career that has changed modern rock music and how bands come to prominence in the music industry. The band has become the model of using commercials and movies to promote music and they do it without selling out their style, integrity, wit or charm.
“El Camino” is stripped down raw rock complete with gritty blues solos and hard hitting riffs. It accomplishes all of this while adding a modern progressive twist, appealing to a wider audience than just blues fanatics like myself. The Black Keys is no less than one of the most influential bands of our generation and “El Camino” is their best work to date.
But these decisions are not up to me, find out who the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences chose as the best of the year Sunday at 8 p.m.
Album of the year
— The Black Keys -
El Camino
Record of the Year
— Frank Ocean - "Thinkin Bout You"
Best New Artist
— Frank Ocean
Best Pop Vocal Album —
Fun. -
Some Nights
Song of the Year
— Fun. - "We Are Young"
Best Pop Solo Performance
— Kelly Clarkson - "Stronger (What Doesn't Kill You)"
Best Pop Duo/Group Performance
— Gotye feat. Kimbra - "Somebody That I Used to Know"
Best Dance Recording —
Avicii - "Levels"
Best Rock Performance —
Alabama Shakes - "Hold On"
Best Rock Song —
Jack White - "Freedom at 21"
Best Rock Album —
The Black Keys,
El Camino
Best Alternative Music Album —
Fiona Apple,
The Idler Wheel Is Wiser Than the Driver of the Screw and Whipping Cords Will Serve You More Than Ropes Will Ever Do
Best Urban Contemporary Album
— Frank Ocean,
Channel Orange
Best Rap Performance
— Kanye West feat. Big Sean, Pusha T & 2 Chainz - "Mercy"
Best Rap/Sung Collaboration —
Jay-Z & Kanye West feat. Frank Ocean & The-Dream - "No Church in the Wild"
Best Rap Song
— Kanye West Featuring Big Sean, Pusha T & 2 Chainz - "Mercy"
Best Rap Album
— The Roots,
Undun
Best Country Song
— Eli Young Band - "Even If It Breaks Your Heart"
Best Country Solo Performance
— Carrie Underwood - "Blown Away"
Best Americana Album —
The Avett Brothers,
The Carpenter
Will Hoffman is staff writer at The Post and a sophomore studying journalism. Share your predictions and thoughts with him at wh092010@ohiou.edu.
