Lamar and Drake top Grammy contenders

Diverse & inclusive

Continued from Page 13 Best new artist: Chloe x Halle; Luke Combs; Greta Van Fleet; H.E.R.; Dua Lipa; Margo Price; Bebe Rexha; Jorja Smith.

Best pop solo performance: “Colors”, Beck; “Havana (Live)”, Camila Cabello; “God Is A Woman”, Ariana Grande; “Joanne (Where Do You Think You’re Goin’?)”, Lady Gaga; “Better Now”, Post Malone.

Best pop duo/group performance: “Fall In Line”, Christina Aguilera and Demi Lovato; “Don’t Go Breaking My Heart”, Backstreet Boys; “’S Wonderful”, Tony Bennett and Diana Krall; “Shallow”, Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper; “Girls Like You”, Maroon 5 and Cardi B; “Say Something”, Justin Timberlake and Chris Stapleton; “The Middle”, Zedd, Maren Morris and Grey.

Best pop vocal album: “Camila”, Camila Cabello; “Meaning of Life”, Kelly Clarkson; “Sweetener”, Ariana Grande; “Shawn Mendes”, Shawn Mendes; “Beautiful Trauma”, Pink; “Reputation”, Taylor Swift.

Best traditional pop vocal album: “Love Is Here to Stay”, Tony Bennett and Diana Krall; “My Way”, Willie Nelson; “Nat ‘King’ Cole & Me”, Gregory Porter; “Standards (Deluxe)”, Seal; “The Music...The Mem’ries...The Magic!”, Barbra Streisand.

Best dance/electronic album: “Singularity”, Jon Hopkins; “Woman Worldwide”, Justice; “Treehouse”, Sofi Tukker; “Oil of Every Pearl’s Un-Insides”, SOPHIE; “Lune Rouge”, TOKiMONSTA.

Best rock album: “Rainier Fog”, Alice In Chains; “Mania”, Fall Out Boy; “Prequelle”, Ghost; “From the Fires”, Greta Van Fleet; “Pacific Daydream”, Weezer.

Best alternative music album: “Tranquility Base Hotel + Casino”, Arctic Monkeys; “Colors”, Beck; “Utopia”, Bjork; “American Utopia”, David Byrne; “Masseduction”, St. Vincent.

Best urban contemporary album: “Everything Is Love”, The Carters (Beyonce and Jay-Z); “The Kids Are Alright”, Chloe x Halle; “Chris Dave and the Drumhedz”, Chris Dave And The Drumhedz; “War & Leisure”, Miguel; “Ventriloquism”, Meshell Ndegeocello.

Best R&B album: “Sex & Cigarettes”, Toni Braxton; “Good Thing”, Leon Bridges; “Honestly”, Lalah Hathaway; “H.E.R.”, H.E.R.; “Gumbo Unplugged (Live)”, P.J. Morton.

Best rap album: “Invasion of Privacy”, Cardi B; “Swimming”, Mac Miller; “Victory Lap”, Nipsey Hussle; “Daytona”, Pusha T; “Astroworld”, Travis Scott.

Best country album: “Unapologetically”, Kelsea Ballerini; “Port Saint Joe”, Brothers Osborne; “Girl Going Nowhere”, Ashley McBryde; “Golden Hour”, Kacey Musgraves; “From A Room: Volume 2”, Chris Stapleton.

Best jazz vocal album: “My Mood Is You”, Freddy Cole; “The Questions”, Kurt Elling; “The Subject Tonight Is Love”, Kate McGarry With Keith Ganz and Gary Versace; “If You Really Want”, Raul Midon With The Metropole Orkest Conducted By Vince Mendoza; “The Window”, Cecile McLorin Salvant.

Best jazz instrumental album: “Diamond Cut”, Tia Fuller; “Live In Europe”, Fred Hersch Trio; “Seymour Reads The Constitution!”, Brad Mehldau Trio; “Still Dreaming”, Joshua Redman, Ron Miles, Scott Colley & Brian Blade; “Emanon”, The Wayne Shorter Quartet.

Best compilation soundtrack for visual media: “Call Me By Your Name”; “Deadpool 2”; “The Greatest Showman”; “Lady Bird”; “Stranger Things”.

Producer of the year, non-classical: Boi-1da; Larry Klein; Linda Perry; Kanye West; Pharrell Williams.

Best music video: “Apes--t”, The Carters; “This Is America”, Childish Gambino; “I’m Not Racist”, Joyner Lucas; “PYNK”, Janelle Monae; “MUMBO JUMBO”, Tierra Whack.

Best music film: “Life In 12 Bars”, Eric Clapton; “Whitney”, (Whitney Houston); “Quincy”, Quincy Jones; “Itzhak”, Itzhak Perlman; “The King”, (Elvis Presley).

Every year, in the hours after the nominees for the Grammy Awards are announced, howls of outrage can be heard across the globe. With all of that in mind, they never lose their ability to surprise, and there is no shortage of surprises and snubs in this year’s nominee list.

Drake

Surprises

Brandi who? H.E. who?: There’s little question that the biggest surprises are the big looks for veteran singersongwriter Brandi Carlile – who has a whopping six nominations, second only to perennials Kendrick Lamar and Drake – and R&B newcomer H.E.R., who has five, along with superstars Lady Gaga, Cardi B and Childish Gambino. While both saw their number boosted with genre categories, both are up for Album of the Year; Carlile is also up for Record and Song of the Year and H.E.R. for Best New Artist.

Kacey is still country: Just a few years after Taylor Swift publicly transitioned from being a country artist to a pop artist, we see Kacey Musgraves making a similar move with her “Golden Hour” album, but still has nominations in the country category – something that did not happen with Swift’s “1989”.

Rebellion in Best Music Video: Interestingly, the most politically outspoken category is probably Best Music Video: We have not just two expected nominees – Jay-Z and Beyonce’s “Apes--t” and Childish Gambino’s “This Is America” – but also Janelle Monae’s wildly same-sex-centic “PYNK”, newcomer Terra Whack’s “Mumbo Jumbo” and rapper Joyner Lucas’ “I’m Not a Racist”. Incidentally, all of the nominated artists in this category are people of color.

Snubs

Taylor draws a short straw: There’s little question that the biggest snub goes to 10-time Grammy winner and 31-time nominee Taylor Swift, who has just one nod for her controversial “Reputation” album. While the album definitely challenged some longtime fans with its more-controversial music and tone, this may actually reflect a move for change within the Academy’s nominating committees, as Swift has dominated the Grammys in many past years.

Soundcloud/Emo rappers shut out: However you want to term it, the emo/Soundcloud rap associated with artists like Juice Wrld, Tekashi 6ix9ine, Lil Pump and the late XXXTentacion and Lil Peep has been the fastestrising genre of recent years – yet those artists are completely absent from this year’s nominations, and no rappers at all are up for Best New Artist.