San Diego Union-Tribune (Sunday)
All bets are off
Expect plenty of intrigue and surprises at the 2022 Grammy Awards, being held in Las Vegas for the first time
Place your bets! Olivia Rodrigo or Billie Eilish? Taylor Swift or Jon Batiste? Doja Cat or H.E.R.? And what about Justin Bieber? The above seven artists are the field-leading 2022 Grammy Awards nominees. On a list dominated primarily by young newcomers, Swift, 32, and Batiste, 35, are the oldest contenders in the highest-profile categories. The Murrieta-born Rodrigo, who turned 19 on Feb. 20, is the youngest, followed by 2020 Grammy queen Eilish, 20.
Not surprisingly, there are multiple scenarios for which of these seven nominees will emerge as the most triumphant when the winners are announced during next Sunday’s Grammys telecast on CBS.
The event is being held — for the first time in its 64-year history — in Las Vegas. The music world’s most prestigious annual awards fete was moved there after COVID-19 Omicron protocols led to the cancellation of the original Jan. 31 telecast in front of a live audience at Los Angeles’ Crypto.com Arena (formerly Staples Center).
Even less surprisingly, online sportsbooks are once again happily accepting bets in the four most prestigious categories: Album of the Year, Song of the Year, Record of the Year and Best New Artist. The other 81 categories are, at least for now, wagerfree — except, perhaps, among friends and family members of the nominees.)
“By nature, I am not a gambling man; I am the opposite of a gambler,” said Harvey Mason Jr., the CEO of the Recording Academy, under whose auspices the Grammys are presented.
“But moving to Las Vegas this year felt like a challenge, brought on by COVID, and using the opportunity to be in a new location has been really exciting.”
How exciting will Sin City be for this year’s most nominated artists at the music world’s most prestigious, comprehensive and sometimes contentious annual awards?
And will the telecast, hosted by comedian Trevor Noah, help the glittery, performance-dominated show rebound from last year Covid-restricted edition, which was held in a nearly empty — apart from the socially distanced performers — Los Angeles Convention Center? It drew just 8.8 million TV viewers, down 53 percent from the 19.7 million who tuned in for the 2020 Grammys.
Place your bets!
Grammy queen Olivia Rodrigo?
Here are four of the possible scenarios that could play out next weekend when the 2022 Grammy Awards take place at the 16,800-capacity MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.
Scenario 1: Disney TV star turned edgy confessional pop music sensation Rodrigo becomes the second-youngest artist to ever win Grammys for Album of the Year, Song of the Year, Record of the Year and Best New Artist (and only the third in Grammy history). The youngest to do so, in 2020, was the then-18-year-old Eilish, who is tied this year with Rodrigo at seven nominations apiece.
Scenario 2: Rodrigo wins in three of the above four categories, but not for Album of the Year. That award instead goes to Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga for “Love for Sale,” their heartfelt salute to jazz classics and favorites from the Great American Songbook. The now-retired Bennett becomes — at 95 — the oldest artist to ever win Album of the Year honors.
Scenario 3: Rodrigo wins in three of the above four categories, but not for Album of the Year. That award instead goes to Taylor Swift for “Evermore,” the well-crafted if emotionally detached sequel to her “Folklore,” last year’s Album of the Year winner.
Scenario 4: None of the above. Joker’s wild!
For the record, Batiste — the singing and keyboard-playing musical director of TV’S “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” — leads this year’s field with 11 nominations, including for Album, Record and Song of the Year.
That’s three more nominations than the eight given to Bieber, 28, singer/ rapper Doja Cat (real name Amala Ratna Zandile Dlamini), 26, and singer/ guitarist H.E.R. (real name: Gabriella Sarmiento Wilson), 24. And it’s four nominations more than Rodrigo and Eilish.
But there’s a major caveat. After the votes are tallied, having the most Grammy nominations won’t necessarily ensure success for Batiste when the awards are handed out next Sunday.
Just ask hip-hop legend Jay Z. He entered the 2018 Grammy telecast with a field-leading eight nominations. He went home winless.
Or ask his even more famous wife, Beyoncé.
In 2017, she had a field-leading nine nominations. She ended up winning just two Grammys, both in minor categories. And while Beyoncé last year overtook Alison Krauss as the female artist with the most Grammy wins (28 to Krauss’ 27), she has yet to win for Album, Record or Song of the Year.
Neither has Lizzo, who had a fieldleading eight nominations in 2020 — including for Album, Record and Song of the Year, but lost to Eilish in all three of those categories.
“This Is America” rapper Childish Gambino, aka Donald Glover, is the only Black solo artist since 2009 to win a Grammy for Song of the Year, while jazz piano great Herbie Hancock is the only Black artist to win Album of the Year honors since 2008. Since the Grammys’ inception in 1957, only 10 Black artists have won for Album of the Year.
Five of this year’s Album of the Year contenders are Black — Batiste, H.E.R., Kanye West, Doja Cat and Lil Nas X. According to several Vegas betting lines, the Filipino American Rodrigo is the clear front-runner to win.
No-go for Adele this year
Providing further intrigue for next Sunday’s telecast, this is the first year that the number of nominations in the four most prestigious categories has been expanded.
This move encourages a greater range and diversity of nominees, as evidenced by this year’s Best New Artist nomination for borders-blurring Pakistani American polymath Arooj Aftab.
But the expansion to 10 nominees is also likely to split the vote more than in any year since 2018, when the number of nominees rose to eight after holding steady at five nominees for the previous 60 years.
Want more intrigue?
The best-selling release of 2021, county music upstart Morgan Wallen’s “Dangerous: The Double Album,” did not receive any nominations. Neither did Wallen, whose record company had submitted him in in eight Grammy categories. His dearth of nominations reflects the national controversy he ignited last year after a video of a drunken Wallen using the N-word went viral on social media.
Also missing: Taylor Swift, who did not submit the newly re-recorded version of her 2008 album “Fearless” for Grammy consideration; Drake, who was nominated this year in two rap categories but withdrew both nominations; and Adele, whose multimillionselling album “31” came out on Nov. 19 of 2021, 70 days after the eligibility period ended.
This year’s expanded number of nominees could help shift the balance toward greater inclusivity. Of the seven leading nominees for the 64th annual Grammy Awards, four are artists of color and four are women. Canadianborn Bieber is the only White male.
Place your bets!
george.varga@sduniontribune.com