SUPER SHOW: Superstar songstress Taylor Swift hosts the Grammy- nomination CBS special last night, while the band Maroon 5 (left) rocks the house and TV sets nationwide. (
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NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The Grammy Awards celebrated the diversity of music as half a dozen artists tied for the most nominations at six — Kanye West, Jay-Z, Frank Ocean, Dan Auerbach of The Black Keys, Mumford & Sons and Fun.
Auerbach received five nominations as a member of the Keys and also is up for producer of the year, earning a spot with the others at the top of the list as the Grammy’s CBS primetime television special came to his hometown last night.
“We’re speechless,” Auerbach said from Germany, where he’s on tour with Patrick Carney.
The rockers little resemble any of the other acts at the top of the list. The top nominations for Jay-Z and West, two of hip-hop’s most important figures, is a familiar refrain. Each has routinely been at or near the top of the nominations list for the several years.
Indie pop band Fun (which the band spells as “fun.”), a featured performer during the show, rode the success of its anthemic hit “We Are Young” featuring Janelle Monae to sweep three of the major categories, earning nods for Best New Artist, Song and Record for “We Are Young” and Album of the Year for “Some Nights.” The band’s producer, Jeff Bhasker, is up for four nominations.
“When you call your band “fun.”, with a period at the end of the sentence, you set a very high standard for yourself and for fun itself,” Taylor Swift, the concert’s co-host, said in introducing them.
“Fortunately, this band from New York has lived up to the name in the best possible way.”
R&B singer Ocean scored nominations for Best New Artist, Record for “Thinkin Bout You” and Album of the Year.
And British folk-rock band Mumford & Sons, which made an auspicious debut in front of an international audience during the 2011 Grammys, is up for album of the year for “Babel,” one of 2012’s best-selling releases.
Miguel, who helped Ocean shake up the R&B world this year, and jazz great Chick Corea have five nominations apiece. Nas and recording engineer Bob Ludwig garnered four nods.
There were no major snubs. Most of 2012’s inescapable hits are represented in some way — Gotye’s “Somebody That I Used To Know” is up for Record of the Year and Carly Rae Jepsen’s “Call Me Maybe” garnered a Song of the Year nod. Drake, Rihanna and Nashville residents Swift, Kelly Clarkson, Jack White and Best New Artist nominee Hunter Hayes were among 16 nominees with three nods.
In many ways, the nominations reflect a singles-driven year when no album rose to the level of acclaim as Adele’s “21” or West’s “My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy,” which dominated the Grammys last February.