The nominees for the 53rd Annual Grammy Awards were announced last night. And while the Grammys are (rightly) seen as a joke, it’s fun to speculate. Below are some of the nominees for the “big” categories, and my predictions for each.
1. Record of the Year
B.o.B. feat. Bruno Mars – Nothin’ on You
Eminem feat. Rihanna – Love the Way You Lie
Cee Lo Green – Fuck You
Jay-Z feat. Alicia Keys – Empire State of Mind
Lady Antebellum – Need You Now
Prediction: A surprisingly strong list of contenders, and while I’d be thrilled if Cee-lo got it, Eminem is too much of a Grammy favorite for LtWYL to get passed up.
2. Album of the Year
Arcade Fire – The Suburbs
Eminem – Recovery
Lady Antebellum – Need You Now
Lady Gaga – The Fame Monster
Katy Perry – Teenage Dream
Prediction: Firstly, I’d love to see Arcade Fire win. Secondly, who the hell thought Teenage Dream wasn’t an ugly abomination? Thirdly, after last year’s snub, it makes sense for Gaga to walk away with this one. I’m pretty OK with that.
3. Song of the Year
Ray LaMontagne – Beg Steal or Borrow
Cee Lo Green – Fuck You
Miranda Lambert – The House that Built Me
Eminem feat. Rihanna – Love the Way You Lie
Lady Antebellum – Need You Now
Prediction: Grammy darling Eminem strikes again, but Fuck You is a much better song and went from YouTube clip to one of the year’s biggest hits without playing the industry game. But watch Miranda Lambert’s sleeping pill win.
4. Best New Artist
Justin Bieber
Drake
Florence + the Machine
Mumford & Sons
Esperana Spalding
Prediction: I refuse to acknowledge that Bieber’s in this category. I think it boils down to Drake or Florence; Drake’s had the bigger career to date, but Florence can be pigeonholed as a British Lady Gaga in that “pop singer that’s weird as fuck” way. Either one works for me, but I’d be less surprised if Drake got this one.
Best Pop Album
Justin Bieber – My World 2.0
Susan Boyle – I Dreamed a Dream
Lady Gaga – The Fame Monster
John Mayer – Battle Studies
Katy Perry – Teenage Dream
Prediction: Boyle’s got the outside chance just for The Susuan Boyle Story, but other than that, Gaga by a landslide.
Best Rock Album
Jeff Beck – Emotion and Commotion
Muse – The Resistance
Pearl Jam – Backspacer
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers – Mojo
Neil Young – Le Noise
Prediction: Backspacer is probably the strongest in the category, but I could see any of these guys winning.
Best Alternative Music Album
Arcade Fire – The Suburbs
Band of Horses – Infinite Arms
The Black Keys – Brothers
Broken Bells – Broken Bells
Vampire Weekend – Contra
Prediction: Arcade Fire comes out on top over a fairly competitive category. Also, High Violet more than deserves to be here.
Best Rap Song
Jay-Z feat. Alicia Keys – Empire State of Mind
Eminem feat. Rihanna – Love the Way You Lie
Eminem – Not Afraid
B.o.B feat. Bruno Mars – Nothin’ on You
Jay-Z feat. Swizz Beats – On To the Next One
Prediction: Slim vs. Jigga. Empire State gets close, but I gotta go with No Afraid.
Best Rap Album
B.o.b – The Adventures of Bobby Ray
Drake – Thank Me Later
Eminem – Recovery
Jay-Z – The Blueprint III
The Roots – How I Got Over
Prediction: Even though Eminem’s the favorite, Recovery’s a flawed album (weak production, too long, filler). Drake’s album was miraculously able to live up to his hype, making that my prediction (although The Roots are my choice pick).
Producer of the Year
Rob Cavollo (Paramore, Adam Lambert, Green Day)
Danger Mouse (Broken Bells, The Black Keys)
Dr. Luke (Katy Perry, Ke$ha, B.o.B)
RedOne (Lady Gaga, Usher, Enrique Iglesias)
The Smeezingtons (Travis McCoy, Cee lo Green, Bruno Mars)
Prediction: Cavollo does solid work, but being Lady Gaga’s right hand man speaks volumes for RedOne. Dr. Luke is the reason all pop sounds the same.
Best Short Form Music Video
Johnny Cash – Ain’t No Grave
Eminem feat. Rihanna – Love the Way You Lie
Gorillaz – Stylo
Cee lo Green – Fuck You
Lady Gaga – Bad Romance
Prediction: RAH RAH RA AH AH.
Tune into the Grammy Awards next February on CBS.
Ranting About Music! 
http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1652775/20101121/bieber_justin.jhtml
Look at “Artist of the Year”
This has happened. Just warning you.
I’m terribly aware of America’s great judging error. However, there’s this, taken from the AMA’s Wiki page.
While the Grammy Awards are awarded based on votes by members of the entertainment industry, the AMAs are determined by a poll of music buyers, and as a result is more of a representative of public opinion.The “big three” established awards shows (AMAs, Billboard Music Awards, and Grammy Awards) compete for prestige and television ratings, with the Grammy Awards nominally rewarding quality and both the AMAs and Billboard Music Awards rewarding popularity
It’s like comforting to hear that.
And besides, the Grammys are kind of a joke anyway. Just fun to predict/hope for good judgment.
Also “Love the Way You Lie” music video was almost enough to get me blogging again, I thought it was that good. That’s the first time I’ve ever wanted to write about a *good* video, so I’m hoping for that one in the last category.
LtWYL’s video was great., it’s only problem is that it’s going against Bad Romance. Then again, the Grammys really like Eminem, so LtWYL has a fair shot.
I would love for this to come true. Lady Gaga has the best album nominated for AOTY and deserves some shine after all that she’s done in the past few years. She’s really rattled the industry and become a global icon through this album.
Don’t worry, The Jonas Brothers were nominated for Best New Artist not too long ago but lost to Adele… so there is hope Justin Bieber doesn’t win. I’m going for Drake since he does have the more realistic chance of winning imo. His dad was the drummer for Jerry Lee Lewis so he could get some respect from the Grammy Judges,