55th Annual Grammy Awards Nominations Announced

The nominations for the 55th Annual Grammy Awards were announced earlier today. The luster-dust worthy list this year, like every other year, has a few surprises (Al Waser, One Direction), a major snub (Justin Bieber), a new poster child (Frank Ocean) and the usual suspects (Bruce Springsteen, The Black Keys, Kanye West…). The list has been created with a fine balance of “popularity” (read internet trolling and skimps) and record sales as major factors.

The interesting thing this year is that all major categories are ruled by a number of artists, making it mostly a sausage fest. The only two times women did make a clean sweep at the Grammy Awards was last year and in 2003, when Adele and Norah Jones did all the heavy lugging.

Still the list is promising. New artist Frank Ocean, alt rockers The Black Keys, R&B superstars Jay Z and Kanye West, Brit rockers Mumford & Sons and American indie poppers fun. have earned themselves six nominations each in all the major categories like  Album of the Year, Record of the Year, Song of the Year, Best Rock Album, Best Rap Album and so on. Gotye, who has been nominated for three Gammy Awards, will also be performing in India February 2013 as part of the Ozfest.

Here are the major nominations and our predictions of the winners.

Album of the Year:

• fun., Some Nights 
• The Black Keys, El Camino
• Mumford & Sons, Babel
• Frank Ocean, channel ORANGE (WINNER)
• Jack White, Blunderbuss

Record of the Year:

• The Black Keys, “Lonely Boy”
• Kelly Clarkson, “Stronger”
• fun. (feat. Janelle Monáe), “We Are Young”
• Gotye, “Somebody That I Used to Know” (WINNER)
• Frank Ocean, “Thinkin Bout You”
• Taylor Swift, “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together”

Song of the Year:

• Ed Sheeran, “The A Team”
• Miguel, “Adorn”
• Carly Rae Jepsen, “Call Me Maybe”
• Kelly Clarkson, “Stronger (What Doesn’t Kill You)” (WINNER)
• fun. (feat. Janelle Monáe), “We Are Young”

Best New Artist:

• Albama Shakes
• fun.
• Hunter Hayes
• The Lumineers
• Frank Ocean (WINNER)

Best Pop Vocal Album:

• Kelly Clarkson, Stronger (WINNER)
• Florence + the Machine, Ceremonials 
• fun., Some Nights 
• Maroon 5, Overexposed
• Pink, The Truth About Love

Best Pop Solo Performance:

• Adele, “Set Fire To The Rain (Live)” (WINNER)
• Kelly Clarkson, ”Stronger (What Doesn’t Kill You)”
• Carly Rae Jepsen, ”Call Me Maybe”
• Katy Perry, ”Wide Awake”
• Rihanna, ”Where Have You Been”

Best Rock Performance:

• Alabama Shakes, ”Hold On”
• The Black Keys, ”Lonely Boy”
• Coldplay, ”Charlie Brown”
• Mumford & Sons, ”I Will Wait” *
• Bruce Springsteen, ”We Take Care of Our Own” (WINNER)

Best Hard Rock/Metal Performance:

• Anthrax, ”I’m Alive”
• Halestorm, ”Love Bites (So Do I)”
• Iron Maiden, ”Blood Brothers”  (WINNER)
• Lamb of God, ”Ghost Walking”
• Marilyn Manson, ”No Reflection” *
• Megadeth, ”Whose Life (Is It Anyways?)”

Best Rock Album:

• The Black Keys, El Camino
• Coldplay, Mylo Xyloto
• Muse, The 2nd Law
• Bruce Springsteen, Wrecking Ball (WINNER)
• Jack White, Blunderbuss 

Best Rock Song:

• Jack White, “Freedom at 21″
• Mumford & Sons, “I Will Wait”  (WINNER)
• The Black Keys , “Lonely Boy”
• Muse, “Madness”
• Bruce Springsteen, “We Take Care of Our Own”

Best Dance/Electronica Album:

• Steve Aoki, Wonderland
• The Chemical Brothers, Don’t Think 
• Deadmau5, > Album Title Goes Here  < (WINNER)
• Kaskade, Fire & Ice 
• Skrillex, Bangarang

Best Rap/Sung Collaboration:

• Flo Rida Featuring Sia, “Wild Ones”
• Jay-Z & Kanye West (feat. Frank Ocean & The-Dream), “No Church in the Wild”  (WINNER)
• John Legend (feat. Ludacris), “Tonight (Best You Ever Had)”
• Nas (feat. Amy Winehouse), “Cherry Wine”
• Rihanna (feat. Jay-Z), “Talk That Talk”

Best Rap Performance:

• Drake (feat. Lil Wayne), “HYFR (Hell Ya Fucking Right)”
• Jay-Z & Kanye West, “Niggas in Paris” (WINNER)
• Nas, “Daughters”
• Kanye West (feat. Big Sean, Pusha T, and 2 Chainz), “Mercy”
• Young Jeezy (feat. Jay-Z and André 3000), “I Do”

Best Rap Song:

• Nas, “Daughers”
• Wale (feat. Miguel), “Lotus Flower Bomb”
• Kanye West (feat. Big Sean, Pusha T, and 2 Chainz), “Mercy”
• Drake (feat. Lil Wayne), “The Motto”
• Jay-Z & Kanye West, “Niggas in Paris” (WINNER)
• Snoop Dogg and Wiz Khalifa (feat. Bruno Mars), “Young, Wild & Free”

For the full list of nominations, visit the Grammy website. 

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