Showdown at the Grammys
Adele, Beyonce nominated for top three categories
Though dozens are nominated for Sunday’s Grammy Awards, we all know the real showdown is between Beyonce and Adele.
Both are nominated for the top three prizes — album, song and record of the year. Adele won all three honours with 21 and Rolling In the Deep in 2012, while Beyonce earned song of the year in 2010 for Single Ladies.
Music writers Mesfin Fekadu and Nekesa Mumbi Moody predict who will win big at the Staples Center in Los Angeles on Sunday night:
Album of the year
25, Adele; Lemonade, Beyonce; Purpose, Justin Bieber; Views, Drake; A Sailor’s Guide to Earth, Sturgill Simpson.
Sturgill, enjoy it while it lasts; Drake, congrats, but this will not be the first rap album to win album of the year since Outkast did in 2004; and Bieber, um, keep on beliebing. I could write a thesis about why Beyonce’s tasty Lemonade deserves this prize. But unfortunately, she won’t win. Academy voters are always happy to give Beyonce R&B awards, but they haven’t given her artistic heft enough credit when she’s put in categories with her rock, pop and country music peers. And when one of those peers is Adele — who saved the music industry with sales of her 25 album — it’s hard to argue against her success.
If success is what we’re measuring here, Adele clearly gets this win. Artistry? As perfect as Adele sounds, 25 was a very conservative album, musically speaking.
Not saying that there’s anything wrong with putting out beautiful ballads, but Lemonade is a true art piece that engaged on a political and emotional level. It deserves to win — but then again, I said that when Eminem’s albums were nominated, and they went trophy-less in this category.
So gotta agree here: Adele takes home her second trophy for album of the year.
Record of the year
Formation, Beyonce; 7 Years,
Work, Rihanna featuring Stressed Out, twenty one pilots.
Formation’s seismic funk and R&B was a revelation and really should win here, but will Grammy voters really appreciate a song that references Jackson Five nostrils and Red Lobster? Moreover, do they really appreciate Beyonce? She only won in a top category one time, and that was for the massively successful Single Ladies, and that was for song of the year. Most other times, while she gets the nod, she doesn’t get the win. Adele had a comeback song that resonated with just about all groups — including the Academy. Adele for the win (again).
OK, this is when I think voters will get in formation and give Beyonce the win.
Hello,
Song of the year
Formation, Beyonce, Khalif Brown, Asheton Hogan and Michael L. Williams II; Hello, Adele and Greg Kurstin; I Took a Pill in Ibiza, Mike Posner; Love Yourself, tin Bieber, Ed Sheeran and Benny Blanco; 7 Years, Lukas Forchhammer, Stefan Forrest, Morten Pilegaard and Morten Ristorp. Hello wins here. Adele all the way.
Best rock performance
Joe (Live From Austin City Limits), Alabama Shakes; Don’t Hurt Yourself, Beyonce featuring Jack White; Blackstar, David Bowie; The Sound of Silence (Live on Conan), Disturbed; Heathens, twenty one pilots.
Some are already angered that David Bowie’s last record missed the cut for album of the year. Would Grammy voters really pick anyone else but one of music’s greatest legends in a category that he defined for years? I think not. The Thin White Duke wins by a landslide.
I am loving all the black-girl magic in this category. And kudos to Beyonce for finally getting credit for the genre-bending artist that she is. But another B is winning this award, and that’s the late, great, iconic Bowie.
Best rap album
Coloring Book, Chance the Rapper; And the Anonymous Nobody, De La Soul; Major Key, DJ Khaled; Views, Drake; Blank Face LP, ScHoolboy Q; The Life of Pablo, West.
De La Soul have continued to innovate in rap some two decades after their debut. But do Grammy voters care about legacy? Not in the rap category, where hitmakers and hot new talent rule. That puts Chance the Rapper and Drake on a collision course, and I’m guessing Chance will upset Drake for a win here.
Drake is walking home with his second Grammy in this category.