Before the Grammys

With the 56^th annual Grammy Awards premiering Sunday, the questions being asked among the fans is if their favorite artist will walk away with one of the prestigious prizes.

All the competition is tough this year especially in the Album of the Year category. The Blessed Unrest (Sara Bareilles), Random Acess Memories (Daft Punk), good kid, m.A.A.d. city (Kendrick Lamar), The Heist (Macklemore & Ryan Lewis), and Red (Taylor Swift) are the artists nominated in that category. It’s hard to say who had the bigger year among those artists.

Daft Punk dominated the summer with singles such as “Get Lucky” and “Lose Yourself to Dance,” Macklemore & Ryan Lewis showed that you do not have to be signed to a major label to be successful in the music industry, and Kendrick Lamar had a huge 2013 without having to release an album.

The competition for Record of the Year includes Daft Punk’s “Get Lucky” featuring Pharrell, Imagine Dragons’ “Radioactive,” Lorde’s “Royals,” Bruno Mars’ “Locked Out Of Heaven,” and Robin Thicke’s “Blurred Lines” with T.I. and Pharrell.

Daft Punk had a part in the great music that came out during the summer of 2013, but Robin Thicke and his number one song “Blurred Lines” was playing on all radio stations in summer 2013. This was Thicke’s first to top the charts and it was number one for twelve weeks before being dethroned by Katy Perry and her song “Roar.” Imagine Dragons blew up over the summer with their nominated song “Radioactive” and “Demons” while Bruno Mars’ continued to solidify himself as a great artist with songs like the nominated “Locked Out of Heaven” and “Treasure.” The 17-year old New Zealand sensation, Lorde, burst onto the scene with her hit song “Royals” and was able to dethrone Katy Perry’s “Roar” from the number one spot. For a 17-year old artist to reach number one with her first single is impressive within itself. 

The category that I’m most eager to see the winner of is Best Rap Album. The Grammys has been notorious for snubbing that category out of the actual show, but with artists the caliber of Drake, Jay-Z, Kendrick Lamar, Macklemore & Ryan Lewis, and Kanye West nominated in the category; needless to say hip-hop fans would be disappointed. The albums of all the artists nominated have all went platinum and are fan favorites among the masses. In personal opinion, there is not a clear-cut winner in that category this year unlike previous years. Drake’s Nothing Was the Same added to the already great resume he has put together since he arrived in the world of music. Drake even took home the Grammy for this category last year for his album Take Care. In 2013, Jay-Z released Magna Carta… Holy Grail; his first solo album since 2009’s The Blueprint III. The album featured one the biggest hits of the summer with the Justin Timberlake-assisted “Holy Grail” along with other great hits such as “Tom Ford” and “Part II (On the Run)” which features his wife, Beyonce. Jay-Z’s outspoken Watch the Throne brethren, Kanye West, not only released the great, unique album Yeezus, but also kept the media talking with his infamous rants and actions. Macklemore & Ryan Lewis took independent success to a whole new level with the release of their album The Heist. The Heist featured songs such as “Thrift Shop” featuring Wanz, “Same Love” featuring Mary Lambert, “Can’t Hold Us” featuring Ray Dalton, and “White Walls” featuring TDE’s ScHoolboy Q. The independent duo without a doubt changed the game with the success of their highly beloved album. Kendrick Lamar has been considered one of the top rappers since he the release of the classic good kid, m.A.A.d. city. Lamar did not release an album in 2013 because of the artists he worked with on features including A$AP Rocky (“Problems,” “1 Train”), Robin Thicke (“Give It 2 U (Remix)”), his labelmate ScHoolboy Q (“Collard Greens”), and not to mention his fierce, name-dropping verse on Big Sean’s “Control.” 

Twitter: @OddKingz