A year ago this week, the discussion was about a Grammy boycott among hip-hop/R&B musicians for having so few slots among the top nominations.
This year, there hasn’t been a peep about that as Jay-Z, Kendrick Lamar, Childish Gambino and Bruno Mars dominate the top categories of the 60th Grammy Awards Sunday at Madison Square Garden, along with the Latin smash “Despacito.”
In fact, the nominations guarantee that a person of color will step up to accept record of the year, and it could be rap legend Jay-Z, who leads the field with eight nominations and is still waiting for his first win in one of the major categories.
60th Grammy Awards When: It begins at 7:30 p.m. Sunday on CBS. The Premiere Ceremony, hosted by Paul Shaffer will be streamed live at 3 p.m. at GRAMMY.com/live and CBS.com. It will feature Body Count, India.Arie, Jazzmeia Horn, Taj Mahal & Keb’ Mo’, and Stile Antico.
If you’re into rock, metal, indie and music with guitars, you might want to see what else is on or click Netflix, because this is not your Grammys. That’s nothing new. U2 and Elton John (with Miley Cyrus) are scheduled to perform, along with Sam Smith, Alessia Cara, Cardi B, Childish Gambino, Daddy Yankee, Luis Fonsi, Kesha, Khalid, Lady Gaga, Little Big Town, Logic, Patti LuPone, Bruno Mars, P!nk, Ben Platt and SZA.
In between, they hand out a few awards. Here’s what to watch for:
1. Will Jay-Z win that first major Grammy?
“The greatest rapper alive,” by his own account and that of many others, has been nominated for 74 Grammys and won 21, tying him for 11th all time. That said, he’s not all that big of a Grammy winner. Many of those awards have been for his parts on songs like “Crazy in Love,” “Run This Town” and “Empire State of Mind.”
He’s won best rap album only once, in 1999 for “Vol. 2 … Hard Knock Life,” and he’s never won anything in the three major categories. This time, they made a correction, nominating the 48-year-old Brooklyn rap legend in all three of those: album of the year (“4:44”), song of the year (“4:44”) and record of the year (“The Story of O.J.”). He’s not the favorite here, having to contend with “Despacito” in the latter two and Kendrick Lamar, Lorde, Bruno Mars and Childish Gambino for album. He has a Grammy-leading eight nominations and could pass up his wife, Beyonce, who has 22 Grammys, if he wins a couple of categories — although she is nominated with him for “Family Feud” — the song, not the show.
2. Will “Despacito” roll?
It topped the charts in 47 countries on the way to passing Wiz Khalifa/Charlie Puth’s “See You Again” to become the most watched video in YouTube history (4.6 billion!), so it will be hard for the Grammys to ignore the Puerto Rican reggaeton smash remix by Luis Fonzi & Yankee Daddy with Justin Bieber (nominated for song of the year, record of the year and best pop duo/group performance).
Here’s why it will be historic: The last foreign-language track to win song or record of the year was “The Girl From Ipanema” in 1964. Before that, at the inaugural Grammys in 1959, Domenico Modugno’s “Nel Blu Dipinto Di Blu (Volare)” — which most people know from a car commercial — won both awards. “Despacito,” which won four awards at the Latin Grammys in November, would be a major coup for the Latin world.
3. … Or could a rap track win record or song of the year?
Over the past 20 years, Eminem, Kanye West, Jay-Z and Outkast have all been nominated in these top categories, but those Grammys have never gone to a rap song.
Jay-Z and Kendrick Lamar will try to change that. Here are the nominees:
Record of the Year
Jay-Z — “The Story of O.J.”
Childish Gambino — “Redbone”
Kendrick Lamar — “Humble”
Luis Fonsi & Daddy Yankee — “Despacito” (feat. Justin Bieber)
Bruno Mars — “24K Magic”
Song of the Year
Jay-Z — “4:44”
Julia Michaels — “Issues”
Luis Fonsi & Daddy Yankee — “Despacito” (feat. Justin Bieber)
Logic — “1-800-273-8255” (feat. Alessia Cara & Khalid)
Bruno Mars — “That’s What I Like”
If “Despacito” sweeps, rap’s dry spell will go another year.
4. Will Lorde run away with album of the year?
One of these artists will win this top honor for the first time:
Childish Gambino: “Awaken, My Love!”
Jay-Z: “4:44”
Kendrick Lamar: “DAMN.”
Lorde: “Melodrama”
Bruno Mars: “24K Magic”
Which one is not like the others?
The correct answer, of course, is Lorde, a young woman from New Zealand who makes edgy art-pop. If the four guys split the hip-hop/R&B vote, she could easily slide in for the win — especially with this being her only nomination. There might be some outrage, but there’s no denying that sophomore album “Melodrama” is another bold record from a first-rate artist.
5. Will Code Orange bring a Grammy home to Pittsburgh?
A Pittsburgh band winning a Grammy — believe it or not, that would be a first. Code Orange, however, has something special going on, being a rare hardcore band with tons of cred AND positive press from mainstream publications. It is clearly the band to beat for best metal performance (for album title track “Forever”), alongside August Burns Red, Body Count, Mastodon and Meshuggah. It also would be the first hardcore band to prevail in a category that’s been dominated by behemoths like Metallica, Slayer and Black Sabbath/Ozzy. This will likely be given out during the Premiere Ceremony that begins online at 3 p.m.
6. Will a teenager win best new artist?
The youngest artist to win this Grammy was LeAnn Rimes, who was a mere 14 when she won in 1997. The only other teenager to get it was Christina Aguilera, who was 19 when she won in 2000. This year’s frontrunner — in a field with Alessia Cara, Lil Uzi Vert, Julia Michaels and SZA — is the soulful 19-year-old R&B singer Khalid, who emerged from an El Paso, Texas, high school as a hitmaker with the songs “Location” and “Young Dumb & Broke.” He is also up for song of the year and best music video (“1-800-273-8255”), best R&B song (“Location”) and best urban contemporary album (“American Teen”).
7. Will best rap song go to a woman?
Historically, it’s a been a boys club in the rap categories, with Eminem and Kanye West dominating the field since 1996. The closest a woman has gotten to winning rap album or rap song was The Fugees (which featured Lauryn Hill) winning rap album for “The Score” in 1997. This year, there are two fresh female faces in the mix. Rapsody, who toured with Mac Miller in 2011 before she released her debut album, is up for best rap album for the follow-up, “Laila’s Wisdom.” She and Cardi B make up two of the five nominees for best rap song, with “Sassy” and “Bodak Yellow,” respectively, and Cardi is also up for best rap performance. They’ll have some stiff competition here from Jay-Z and Kendrick.
8. Who will get their first Grammy?
Guess who’s been filling stadiums for a decade without having ever won a Grammy. That would be Kenny Chesney, who was never even been nominated for best country album until this year when he made the list for “Cosmic Hallelujah,” a 16th album that had him stepping up his game. He’ll have to overcome five-time Grammy winners Lady Antebellum and 2016 winner Chris Stapleton.
A duel of potential first-time winners can be found for best alternative music album, where one of three critical darlings — The National (“Sleep Well Beast”), LCD Soundsystem (“American Dream”) or Father John Misty (“Pure Comedy”) — could emerge with a first Grammy. Tough call, as all three albums were really strong. Also, they’ll have to top 2011 album of the year winners Arcade Fire as well as Gorillaz, who also match up against LCD Soundsystem for best dance recording.
A sentimental choice for a first Grammy is Kesha, whose stirring power ballad “Praying” (best pop solo performance) addresses her comeback after her career was interrupted by her nasty legal disputes with producer Dr. Luke. It’s another competitive category with Lady Gaga, Kelly Clarkson, P!nk and Ed Sheeran, who was considered a snub in the top categories.
Other artists who could win their firsts are Sam Hunt, Sia, Brian Eno (as a performer) and Yusuf/Cat Stevens, the controversial folk-rock legend who just got his first nomination (best folk album) for “The Laughing Apple.”
9. Will any dead legends win?
Four different legends we lost in 2016-17 appear on the Grammy ballots, in contention against each other in two spots.
Leonard Cohen appears, oddly enough, under best rock performance for his haunting ballad “You Want it Darker.” It’s just his third nomination, and his only win was for his appearance on Herbie Hancock’s tribute album “River: The Joni Letters.” He shares this category with the late Chris Cornell, who won twice with Soundgarden, nominated this time for the title track to the movie “The Promise.” Also in the running are Foo Fighters, Kaleo and Nothing More, whose nomination had people scrambling to Google who they were.
Other than having a violin running through it, Mr. Cohen’s “Steer Your Way,” another song from “You Want it Darker,” is in the same vein as the title track, but it is nominated for best American roots performance. There it meets “Arkansas Farmboy,” one of the final songs we got from Glen Campbell, who spent the last years of life bravely playing through Alzheimer’s. It’s worth noting that that category also includes Grammy champ Alison Krauss (a cover of Willie Nelson’s “I Never Cared for You”), who has the second most wins (27) in 42 nominations.
Southern rock legend Gregg Allman, who won just once, for a live version of “Jessica” with the Allman Brothers in 1995, is nominated for best Americana album (“Southern Blood”) and best American roots song for “My Only True Friend.”
Posthumous Grammy winners include Ray Charles (2005), David Bowie (2017) and Amy Winehouse (2008).
10. Will the PSO win its first Grammy since 1992?
The Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra won its only Grammy for Lorin Maazel conducting the orchestra and soloist Yo-Yo Ma on works by Prokofiev and Tchaikovsky. This year, the PSO and Manfred Honeck are nominated for Shostakovich: Symphony No. 5; Barber: Adagio. The Boston Symphony Orchestra won last year for an album that included that Shostakovich piece.
