Trap of the Day: Grammy Awards
I’m going to let you in on a secret: The Grammy Awards will never be hip. But to quote the brilliant New Yorker music critic Sasha Frere-Jones, the awards “present an entirely reasonable take on the pop landscape.” Salon.com was also pleasantly surprised at this year’s picks, announced last week and selected from music released October 1, 2010 through September 30, 2011.
Here’s the buzz leading into the awards, airing Feb. 12 on CBS:
The Sweep & The Snub: Kanye West swept with seven Grammy nominations including Song of the Year, Best Rap Song and Best Rap Album for 2010’s My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, but was glaringly absent among the nominees for Album of the Year. Never one to miss an opportunity to tout his own artist prowess, Kanye “blames himself” for releasing two equally-amazing albums in the same year (My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy and Watch The Throne, his joint album with Jay-Z). How could he expect them to choose?
The Next Arcade Fire: Last year, upon the announcement of Arcade Fire winning Album of the Year, Twitter exploded with hilarious questions such as “Who are The Suburbs?” (The Suburbs is the Canadian indie rock band’s third album, which deservedly received the honor). It even spawned a Tumblr account Who Is Arcade Fire?. Indie’s sensitive, singer-songwriter https://trap.it/Ud5e3U”>Bon Iver is up for four awards. Expect his name to be mispronounced among confused viewers across the country just as Rihanna did while making the announcement. Don’t make the same mistake.
The Dark Horse: It’s been a huge year for 23-year-old dubstep producer and DJ Skrillex, but even he was “surprised” at his five nominations, including Best New Artist.
The Favorite: With six nominations and smash-hits that enjoy airplay on both Top 40 and college radio stations, Adele is favored to take home Album of the Year for her ultimate breakup album, 21.
The Celeb: Dan Radcliffe aka Harry Potter and his co-stars in the Broadway revival How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying are nominated for Best Musical Theater Album, up against Anything Goes and The Book of Mormon.
Read more about all the nominees in advance of the big show and happy listening!
–Whitney