CAN ANYONE BEAT BEYONCÉ FOR ALBUM OF THE YEAR?
Beyoncé led the Grammy Awards nominations with nine, and Drake, Kanye West and Rihanna all tied for second with eight each. But what does it all mean? And who’s likely to win? USA TODAY’s Patrick Ryan and Maeve McDermott break it all down.
In a just world, Beyoncé will take the stage on Feb. 12 to accept the album-of-the-year Grammy Award for her audacious, emotional masterpiece Lemonade. But don’t start engraving her trophy just yet.
By most accounts, the pop star should be a shoo-in for the Recording Academy’s top prize. Leading the pack with nine total nominations, Lemonade is the most critically acclaimed of the five album nominees (the others are Adele’s 25, Drake’s Views, Justin Bieber’s Purpose and Sturgill Simpson’s A Sailor’s Guide
to Earth). With its unapologetic celebration of black identity, headline-grabbing allusions to infidelity and surprise release as an hour-long visual on HBO in April, it’s also safe to say that no one album captured the cultural zeitgeist as effectively — or ambitiously — as Beyoncé’s sixth studio effort.
But the genre-bending singer has twice been passed over for album of the year in favor of safer, similarly acclaimed records: Taylor Swift’s Fearless, which overtook Beyoncé’s I Am ... Sasha Fierce in 2010; and Beck’s Morn
ing Phase, which inspired a Kanye West stage-rushing fake-out when it won over her self-titled fifth album last year. Rock has historically been catnip to academy voters, which could pave the way to a win for bluesy country singer Simpson, whose major-label debut A Sailor’s Guide to
Earth has been hailed as a songwriting triumph by music critics. Also working against Lemon
ade: It hasn’t racked up nearly the numbers of Adele’s top-selling 25, Drake’s streaming juggernaut
Views or even Bieber’s triple-platinum-certified Purpose. The latter two will likely settle for their first album-of-the-year nominations as lead artists, though Adele could pose a serious threat to Beyoncé in the category. After all, the British powerhouse is a 10time Grammy winner whose 21 swept the top prizes in 2011. And while 25 wasn’t as rapturously received by critics as the former, its astonishing 9.1 million copies sold (and counting) show that fan interest hasn’t waned.
But if there’s one thing most people can agree on about Beyoncé, it’s that she’s a tireless, captivating performer — and the “flawless” diva has certainly done her part this past year in trying to win over all sectors of America: on tour, at the Super Bowl and during multiple awards shows (including last month’s CMA Awards, where she performed with the Dixie Chicks). Factor in song nominations in rock ( Don’t
Hurt Yourself ), rap ( Freedom) and pop ( Hold Up) categories, and Lemonade’s crossover appeal could finally land her the Grammys’ highest honor.
Recording Academy voters must’ve been feeling blue when they nominated songs of the year.
The category honors exceptional songwriting, often rewarding a critically adored track rather than smash-hit singles, as opposed to the record of the year, which favors production.
In previous years, heartfelt ballads such as Ed Sheeran’s
Thinking Out Loud and Sam Smith’s Stay With Me have won the category. The 2017 field seems to follow that trend, full of songs that tell soaring, emotional stories. It’s hard not to see Adele’s Hello as the front-
runner, the lead single from her record-breaking album 25 that reintroduced the British singer, and her soaring tales of heartbreak, to the world. Plus, Adele is a perennial Grammys favorite, taking home the song-ofthe-year title in 2012 with Rolling in the Deep.
Her main competitor in this category is Justin Bieber’s Love
Yourself, a heartfelt address to an ex-lover that strikes a more sour tone than Hello. Bieber won accolades for his remarkable comeback album Purpose, and the acoustic track, while certainly not a love song, is the best example of the pop star’s storytelling powers.
An upset could come at the hands of Lukas Graham’s 7
Years, an aching tale of growing up that rocketed the Danish band to mainstream success. Rounding out the category is a surprise nomination for Mike Posner’s I Took A Pill In Ibiza; while the acoustic track checks all the storytelling boxes of past winners, it’s eclipsed by the competition’s buzzier tracks. And then there’s Beyonce’s
Formation. A notable exception to the song of the year’s favoring of sappy songs, the singer’s rallying cry won fans and turned heads with its evocative music video and its appearance at the Super Bowl halftime show and is is one of 2016’s most influential songs. But while Forma
tion’s songwriting is stirring in its own right, the record-of-theyear category, where it’s also nominated, may be a better fit.