New acts compete at Grammy's

By Nate Adams
Collegian Editor
January 30, 2008

This month, one of the year’s most exciting television events will take place. This star-studded celebration of excellence comes ever year and captures the heart of the nation, giving water-cooler conversations new life, drawing battle lines within families and becoming the biggest event of winter, second only to the Oscars. Of course I’m talking about the NFL All-Star Game.

Oh yeah, The 50th Grammy Awards are going on, too.

Long catching criticism for being out of touch with popular music, the people at the Grammys have been going out of their way to make themselves seem hip with all the young dudes and ladies. This effort to make themselves popular with the cool kids is reflected in this year’s selections for Album of The Year. Popular favorites Kanye West, the Foo Fighters, and Amy Winehouse are all up for Graduation, Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace and Back to Black, respectivly. Along with the newer acts, old dudes Vince Gill (a country singer-songwriter) and Herbie Hancock (a jazz pianist who’s won a whole mess of Grammys, but never Best Album) are up for the honor.

Even more populist are the nominations for Best Record, which is different from Best Album in that an album is a collection of songs and a record is a product on a specific medium. Once again, The Foo Fighters and Amy Winehouse are up, along with Beyoncé, Justin Timberlake and Rihanna.

Since these two categories are arguably the two biggest awards in music, it is unlikely that they will both go to the same artist. Best Record, in a perfect world, would go to Rihanna for “Umbrella,” which is the only song on that list that struck a chord with everyone from pop enthusiast to the snobbiest Collegian editors. Conventional wisdom, however, says that the award will go to Timberlake for “What Goes Around…Comes Around.”

As far as Album of the Year, there is no way it goes to Winehouse, who is the most deserving of the award. The levels of insanity and addiction that she has publicly displayed since last spring have effectively eliminated her from any sort of contention. After consecutive Grammy snubs, there is no way that Graduation doesn’t take home Best Album.

It’s a toss-up as to who would make a bigger scene; West if he doesn’t win, or Winehouse if she does. Maybe, if Back to Black pulls an upset, there can be some kind of cage fight between West and Winehouse. The winner gets the Grammy or a bag of drugs, so they both have something to fight for.

The Best New Artist field is dominated by female performers, with Feist, Ledisi, Taylor Swift, Paramore and Winehouse up for the prize. Considering this is a big award and I’ve never heard of Ledisi, it’s safe to say she’s out. Feist has got way too much hype to not win this, but I’m pulling for Swift, the teen-age country singer who I like for reasons I can’t hope to explain.

Best Rock Album is somewhat of a mine field. There’s the lame John Fogerty Revival album, that weak Foo Fighters album that had two good songs on it and Wilco’s Sky Blue Sky, which was nothing more than nap fodder. That leaves Bruce Springsteen’s Magic and Daughtry’s self-titled album as contenders. I’m pulling for the Boss; I can’t live in a world where Daughtry is a Grammy winner.

Best Alternative Album has at least got some deserving candidates. The Arcade Fire’s Neon Bible and the White Stripes’ Icky Thump are both deserving, and it wouldn’t disgust me to see this award go to The Shins or Lily Allen. In fact, my gut tells me that Allen will take it as a means to appease the UK for snubbing the drug-addled Winehouse.

Interestingly enough, the best crop of albums is coming from the Best Rap Album category, with West’s Graduation, Jay-Z’s Kingdom Come, Nas’ Hip Hop is Dead, T.I’s T.I. vs T.I.P. and Common’s Finding Forever. For my money, Hip Hop is Dead is the best in the bunch, and might even stand a chance of winning if West takes home Album of the Year. Then again, the Grammys love Common, whose ’05 release Be was also nominated.

Many nominated acts are slated to perform, which can be an indicator of who is going to win. I’m not saying anything, but don’t be surprised if Feist, The Foo Fighters, Rihanna or Beyonce end up taking home an award after their performances.

adamsn1@lasalle.edu