The nominees for the 56th Annual GRAMMY Awards were revealed last night during a televised ceremony on CBS, and we were psyched to see tons of new LMB favorites make the list as well as ones we feel deserve the attention. Daft Punk, James Blake, Pretty Lights, Macklemore & Ryan Lewis, Alabama Shakes, Jack White, Primus, Disclosure and tons more all get some attention on the list. Some surprises in there also. Read on for some of our highlights.
For Record of the Year, Pharrell gets nominated twice with Daft Punk’s “Get Lucky” and Robin Thicke’s “Blurred Lines” and he will be going up against Lorde’s “Royals” for the win there. Daft Punk Random Access Memories got a slot on the Album of the Year along side Macklemore & Ryan Lewis The Heist. Song of the Year could go to Lorde or Macklemore & Ryan Lewis, and we’re beyond psyched to see James Blake get a chance at Best New Artist. Lorde is against on the list for Best Pop Solo Performance up against “Mirrors” by Justin Timberlake, while “Get Lucky” is up against “Blurred Lines” and “Suit & Tie” for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance. Lana Del Rey gets a slot on the Best Pop Vocal Album category against Lorde, Bruno Mars, Robin Thicke and Justin Timberlake.
Zedd’s “Clarity” made the list for Best Dance Recording, and the biggest surprise to us is seeing Pretty Lights on the Best Dance/Electronica Album. Not surprise in a bad way, just totally amped that he got some recognition for A Color Map of the Sun. He’s up against Daft Punk, Disclosure, Calvin Harris and Kaskade; tough competition there, especially because Settle is so good. Cee Lo Green has someone been relegated to the Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album alongside Tony Bennett, Michael Bublé, Gloria Estefan and Dionne Warwick.
Best Rock Performance has newcomers like Alabama Shakes going up against Led Zeppelin and David Bowie, and Gary Clark Jr. gets a nod for Best Rock Song against the Paul McCartney + Nirvana track “Cut Me Some Slack” and The Rolling Stones’ “Doom and Gloom”. Best Rock Album nominees include Black Sabbath, David Bowie, Led Zeppelin, and Neil Young With Crazy Horse as well as Kings of Leon and Queens of the Stone Age. Best Alternative Music Album has Neko Case, The National, Nine Inch Nails, Vampire Weekend and LMB fave Tame Impala getting a nominee for their incredible Lonerism album. Snarky Puppy lands a nominee under Best R&B Performance and Gary Clark Jr. appears again on the Best Traditional R&B Performance.
Eninem, Drake, Jay Z, Kendrick Lamar and Macklemore & Ryan Lewis are all competing for Best Rap Performance of the year, while Jay Z makes the Best Rap/Sung Collaboration twice with “Part II (On The Run)” with Beyonce vs. his “Holy Grail” performance with Justin Timberlake. Kanye West makes his first appearances on the lists with “New Slaves” as potential for Best Rap Song and his Yeezus release is up against Jay Z, Drake, Kendrick Lamar and Macklemore & Ryan Lewis (again) for Best Rap Album. And conspicuously missing from the Rap categories but up for the win on the Best Reggae Album is Snoop Lion’s Reincarnated.
It’s great to see Stephen Colbert up against David Sedaris and Billy Crystal for Best Spoken Word Album. Sound City: Real to Reel gets a chance at Best Compilation Soundtrack for Visual Media. Random Access Memories is up for Best Engineered Album (as it should be) while Jeff Tweedy could win the Producer of the Year, Non-Classical category (up against Pharrell). Primus gets a nod for Best Surround Sound Album for their Sailing the Seas of Cheese deluxe edition.
Finally, Best Music Video gave nods to Capital Cities “Safe and Sound”, Jay Z “Picasso Baby”, Macklemore & Ryan Lewis “Can’t Hold Us”, Justin Timberlake w/ Jay Z for “Suit & Tie” and Jack White’s “I’m Shakin'”
There’s tons more nominees on the list that we’ve skipped over, but we’ve snagged the whole thing and pasted it on the next page if you want to read the entire massive list. Or head over to http://www.grammy.com/nominees.
