Album Of The Year

Should Win: Golden Hour– Kacey Musgraves or Dirty Computer– Janelle Monáe

Will Win: Dirty Computer– Janelle Monáe

Drake and Post Malone are clearly more mainstream here, but one of the culprits of Grammys past has been the “genre-splitting” phenomenon. Compared to other award shows, voters here tend to lean toward a specific genre more than they would in voting for movies or television. In instances where multiple artists of the same genre compete for non-genrefied awards (basically all the biggest prizes of the night), the votes tend to get divvied up between them, resulting in all parties getting screwed. This year, hip-hop-leaning voters will choose from Cardi B, Post Malone, Drake, and the rap/R&B hybrid Black Panther album. Therefore, Musgraves and Monáe have a clear advantage this time around.

That’s not to mention the acclaim of their two LPs. Both were able to land on many year-end best lists in 2018, including SCAD Radio’s. Musgraves’ fantastic Golden Hour made a heavy impact outside of the country music realm and became a critical darling with its beautiful acoustics and pleasing songwriting. Dirty Computer doubled as an anthemic pride album and a sci-fi epic of a short film. Both are equally deserving of the night’s final prize, but expect Monáe to come out on top just because she’s a little more popular than the often-overshadowed country genre.

Record Of The Year

Should Win: “This is America”- Childish Gambino

Will Win: “God’s Plan”- Drake

This one almost always goes to something that got tons of radio play, and Drake’s “God’s Plan” takes the cake for most FM cranks. It’s a tough call, because “All the Stars”, “rockstar”, and “Shallow” have also gotten a fair amount of air time, but the lead single to Scorpion will land Drake his first Record of the Year victory. This is Gambino’s 2nd time in the category (was up last year for “Redbone”), and “This is America” certainly made waves with its politically fueled music video. He’ll be a sure bet to score Best Music Video, but probably not here.

Song Of The Year

Should Win: “This is America”- Childish Gambino

Will Win: “Shallow”- Lady Gaga & Bradley Cooper

For those that don’t know, Song of the Year focuses solely on the lyrical composition of the music, whereas the former centers on how the songs sound. With that being said, expect the Star is Born duo to nab the first Song of the Year from a movie since Titanic’s “My Heart Will Go On”. The musical-drama grossed more than $400 million worldwide, and its use in the film was more relevant than end credit nominee “All the Stars” from Black Panther. It’s got all the emotion and epicness of Celine Dion’s hit, but it’ll likely come above “This is America” due to the Grammys’ sordid history with the hip-hop genre.

Best New Artist

Should Win: Dua Lipa

Will Win: Dua Lipa

Jorja Smith had a respectable debut last year and is undeniably a talented R&B singer, but Dua Lipa’s hits like “New Rules” and “IDGAF” top all the other nominees. No one else here is as big of a name as the British pop star, either, a huge factor in the Grammys these days. Perhaps the only competition she has is the divisive Led Zeppelin ripoff/tribute (depending on your perspective) band Greta Van Fleet, whose love ‘em or hate ‘em style caught the attention of many voters. It’s also worth noting H.E.R. is in this field, as well as Album of the Year, but it isn’t always a shoo-in that she’ll score the Best New Artist trophy.

The remainder of the field is extensive, but there are some noteworthy possibilities. Experimental EDM artist Sophie could become the first-ever transgender Grammy winner with her album Oil of Every Pearl’s Un-Insides. Black Panther could make history yet again if its album scores AotY, with the film’s Best Picture bout waiting in the wings at the upcoming Oscars. There’s never been a movie that scored the top Academy Award and whose album garnered the top Grammy trophy as well. The nominations do raise a few eyebrows here and there (Weezer’s Pacific Daydream? Seriously?). This is, after all, the Grammys. Alicia Keys hosts the show on Sunday.

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Fans of Gaga and Pilots foresaw this issue with the similar release date and took to social media to voice their opinions, hyping the situation up into what they now call the chart ‘battle’.

After almost two weeks of being released, A Star Is Born continues to take the #1 and #2 spots while Trench has already sunk down to #10 (the Greatest Showman soundtrack has even surpassed it) on the iTunes album chart. Twenty One Pilots released their singles for their new album back in August to help hype the release. However, A Star Is Born waited to release all their music until the day of the film entered in theaters. The exception is the song “Shallow”, which dropped just a few days prior. “Shallow” continues to sit at #1 on the iTunes charts with various other songs from the film sitting at #2, #7, #13, and so on. Billboard predicted “Shallow” to reach number one this week, but it currently stands at #5. They’re pretty sure it’ll climb next week as well, but we’ll have to keep an eye out for that. The soundtrack itself did hit #1 on the Billboard 200.

The instant success that A Star Is Born received definitely seemed to stir some controversy within Twenty One Pilots’ fan base. If you’re on Twitter, you might’ve seen Twenty One Pilots recreate the Star Is Born poster but with Tyler Joseph and Josh Dun in place of Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper with the new title, A Trench Is Born. This joke didn’t bode over well with fans due to the plot of the film and how unsportsmanlike it was to the viewers and listeners. However, neither Pilots, Gaga, nor Cooper responded to said tweet, so it’s safe to assume there really isn’t much bad blood here. However, both audiences were still very passionate for these releases. For Gaga fans, the movie was definitely a climax in her career, for she loved Judy Garland and has wanted a chance to act in a big blockbuster for a long while. For Pilots, they’ve been on an extreme hiatus for the past year and been radio silent until they announced Trench back in July. Fans have been itching for both artists’ returns, and they just so happened to get them on the same day.

So, where is A Star Is Born’s album success coming from? Well, the blockbuster itself is a raging success, just topping $200 million. The film itself is a recreation of previous versions of A Star Is Born. The first film was released in 1937 with Janet Gaynor (in her only Technicolor film) and Fredric March (his Technicolor debut). The 1954 version was written by Moss Hart, and Judy Garland played the female lead, Esther Blodgett. The third rendition was released in 1976 and starred Barbara Streisand and Kris Kristofferson. Cooper’s new interpretation brings in various listeners, from his and Gaga’s fans, to country music and pop lovers. The rest of the cast includes Anthony Ramos (best known for his work in Hamilton on Broadway) and a few drag queens that were on Rupaul’s Drag Race named Willam and Shangela. All three of these actors have music careers of their own, which really adds to the narrative. This remake utilized various strategies to appeal to a wide audience.

The soundtrack for A Star Is Born is very unique in comparison to most music soundtracks. They took a format similar to Stranger Things when it came to music. Stranger Things changed the game for Spotify listeners, particularly when they fused music from the show with sound bites from classic moments in the series. Listeners really supported this concept, for it made them feel that they were more immersed in the world just from playing the soundtrack through their earbuds.

As you begin listening to the album, you hear the intro to the film and get thrown into the narrative with Cooper’s performance of “Black Eyes.” Then, we hear heels click as Gaga begins to hum the tune of “Somewhere Over the Rainbow”. If you have seen the movie and know its history, this moment gave you chills when watching. It was brilliant and is even more brilliant to include on the album.

Overall, I suggest going and checking both albums out, especially A Star Is Born. I’d recommend you give just the songs from the film a listen beforehand and hear the whole thing after you’ve watched the film. This album is definitely upping the music standards on the charts and is giving all of the other pop artists and musicians a run for their money.

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