The Grammys have always been ridiculous, but this year there was even more to side-eye than usual. Without even getting into omissions (too many to name), here are several that stand out:
Sara Bareilles, “The Blessed Unrest” for Album of the Year
Nobody seems to have known this existed until it was nominated. The ones who did are as confused as to why this nonentity got the nod as the rest of us.
James Blake for Best New Artist
Likely this was due to Blake, an English electronic singer-songwriter, winning the Mercury Music Prize for “Overgrown.” If the Grammys looked closer, they’d notice his self-titled debut was also nominated for the Mercury Prize two years ago.
Katy Perry, “Roar” for Best Pop Solo Performance
Whatever you think of her songs — not much, in my case — she’s a distinctly lousy singer, overstated and colorless.
Led Zeppelin, “Kashmir” for Best Rock Performance
You know, from their reunion concert. Previous number of nominations: one, in 1970 — they lost to Crosby, Stills & Nash.
Imagine Dragons, “Radioactive” for Best Rock Performance
The twinkly synths make this sound more like a weird, aggro Postal Service than “rock,” per se.
Macklemore & Ryan Lewis, “Thrift Shop” for Best Rap Performance
Macklemore doesn’t deserve any nominations at all, but this one will stand in for the rest because — beginning, middle and end — he’s not a good rapper.
Jay Z, two nominations in Best Rap/Sung Collaboration
His new album doesn’t deserve any nominations — and he got nine this year, the most of anyone.
The extremely confusing, conflicting R&B categories
What is going on over there? How many different, weirdly overlapping R&B categories do they need? Apparently, Tamar Braxton and Fantasia each made one of the Best Urban Contemporary Albums, but Braxton is up for Best R&B Performance and Fantasia for Best *Traditional* R&B Performance. Best R&B Album features NO ONE from any of the performance categories at all. Whatever your theory is, it’s probably clearer than the Grammys’.