jazmine sullivan

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Gimme A Grammy

Posted by John on February 7, 2009
Posted in: awards, commentary, music industry. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , . 6 Comments

It’s time to do the Great Swami predictions for the Grammy Awards, and while I have some clear favorites, this year seems to be just a tad more difficult to predict, due to some bizarre wins over the past few years. I’ll give it a go here, but please let me know what you all think.

krauss-plantALBUM OF THE YEAR
Alison Krauss & Robert Plant, Raising Sand (Prediction)
Coldplay, Viva La Vida (Pick)
Ne-Yo, Year Of The Gentleman
Lil Wayne, Tha Carter III
Radiohead, In Rainbows
While I gave the Ne-Yo CD a great review this past year, I just feel like he’s in over his head in this category. Lil Wayne pulled a great collection of tracks together, and Radiohead did their thing, but I really think this is going to be between the ubiquitous Coldplay and the critical darlings Krauss & Plant. The Nashville voting block has become much stronger over the past few years, so Raising Sand gets the edge.

adele liveBEST NEW ARTIST
Adele (Prediction) (Pick)
Duffy
The Jonas Brothers
Lady Antebellum
Jazmine Sullivan
My concerns of Adele and Duffy canceling each other out have faded, as Adele’s popularity peaked at exactly the right time. Everyone else’s efforts really feel like debuts, while Adele’s 19 has the soul of a veteran, and should triumph.

M.I.A.RECORD OF THE YEAR
Adele, “Chasing Pavements”
Coldplay, “Viva La Vida” (Pick)
Leona Lewis, “Bleeding Love”
M.I.A., “Paper Planes” (Prediction)
Robert Plant and Alison Kraus, “Please Read The Letter”
Since Record of the Year addresses production, you really have to give credit to Coldplay, who took their usual formula and gave it enough of a tweak to result in a truly uplifting record, but I have a hunch that M.I.A. will be the hipster pick of the night.

coldplaySONG OF THE YEAR
“American Boy,” William Adams, Keith Harris, Josh Lopez, Caleb Speir, John Stephens, Estelle Swaray & Kanye West, songwriters
“Chasing Pavements,” Adele Adkins & Eg White, songwriters (Pick)
“I’m Yours,” Jason Mraz, songwriter
“Love Song,” Sara Bareilles, songwriter
“Viva La Vida,” Guy Berryman, Jonny Buckland, Will Champion & Chris Martin, songwriters (Prediction)
The hardest category for me to pick, since all of the songs on this list appeared on my Top Songs of 2007 and 2008. From a songwriter’s standpoint, voters will be hard-pressed to vote for Estelle’s seven songwriters. I’m not sure that Adele and Sara have enough clout with their records, so the prediction comes down to Coldplay and Jason Mraz. Edge definitely goes to Coldplay, although Mraz was still on the radio when the voters got their ballots.

S SparroAnd to mix things up a bit…
BEST DANCE RECORDING
Daft Punk, “Harder Better Faster Stronger” (Prediction)
Hot Chip, “Ready For The Floor”
Lady Gaga & Colby O’Donis, “Just Dance”
Madonna, “Give It 2 Me” (Pick)
Rihanna, “Disturbia”
Sam Sparro, “Black & Gold”
With Kanye’s “Stronger” having been everywhere at the end of 2007, I fear that this live version of Daft Punk will get the nomination, but for my money, the true dance song on the list is Madonna. Having said all of this, Sam’s record seemed to be the hip “go-to” record at wildly different concerts throughout the year, so I’m wondering if there might not be an edge in there.

cyndi_night_lifeBEST ELECTRONIC/DANCE ALBUM
Brazilian Girls, New York City
Daft Punk, Alive 2007
Cyndi Lauper, Bring Ya To The Brink (Pick) (Prediction)
Kylie Minogue, X
Moby, Last Night
Robyn
Y’all know I love me some Robyn, and the album is terrific, but Cyndi’s record IS a dance album. Brilliant album, and should grab the Grammy. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Kylie pick this up, though. Dance seems to be the only category she can win in.

Grammy Got Run Over By Lil Wayne

Posted by John on December 3, 2008
Posted in: commentary, music industry. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , . 4 Comments

kanye-lil-wayne1So if Kanye decrees that it’s Lil Wayne’s Year, does that make it so? Apparently it does, as Wayne picks up a crowd-leading 8 nominations for work associated with “Tha Carter III”. Close behind at seven is Coldplay, whose “Viva La Vida” not only scored a number one album, but also nabbed the group their biggest single to date with the title cut. Kanye, Ne-Yo, and Jay-Z all picked up six nominations to make this a very hip-hop Grammy year.

One nice surprise for me was seeing Adele not only get a Best New Artist nod, but also a hat tip for “Chasing Pavements”, which a year later still feels like a fresh blast, compared to most of the cookie-cutter music on the radio right now. Duffy also got a Best New nom, and Lady Antebellum received some well-deserved recognition. Honestly, I don’t get the Jonas Brothers personally, but I’m not gonna hate on the notice. I WILL hate on Jazmine Sullivan’s FIVE nominations, though. The talk about her being compared to Lauryn Hill is galling enough, but after seeing her open for Maxwell in October, she doesn’t even deserve to be in the same time zone with most of these artists. How many favors did Clive have to pull in for this one? And how did she get the nod over Leona? I mean, “Spirit” isn’t revolutionary, but give the people what they want, ya know? It was all but a given that Leona Lewis would be up in that piece, but someone seems to have forgotten how many records her debut sold.

Chart Notables – 11/06/08

Posted by John on November 6, 2008
Posted in: charts, music industry, singles. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , . 7 Comments

GaGa Fame– Folks, despite the burnout that we all may be experiencing out here in the blogosphere over Ms GaGa, “Just Dance” FINALLY secures hit status. It is #1 most added at Pop Radio this week, among the most increased played tracks of the week, and is the top debut on the Pop chart at #34. While the odds of this record going #1 are slim, since some stations have been on the record for a while, I would guess this one’s going Top 10 at the minimum. On the Hot 100, the track takes a big jump from 49 to 27. The full-length “The Fame” arrives in the U.S. at #17, with 24,000 units. That’s actually a pretty decent debut for a brand-new artist without a fully established hit.

ent_pink_chainsaw– Speaking of the album chart, AC/DC remain at #1 with “Black Ice”, P!nk scores her highest debut yet with “Funhouse” at #2 (although she sold more her opening week of “Missundaztood”). At first, it looked like it might be a lower debut, as iTunes never showed the album higher than #4, but her sales were split between a standard release and a Deluxe Edition. Other notables include John Legend at #4, Snow Patrol at #9, the Cure at #16, and Bloc Party at #18. Country music gets back-to-back debuts at #5 and 6 with Toby Keith and Rascal Flatts.

– T.I. once again has the #1 single on the Hot 100, but we’re back to “Live Your Life” with Rihanna. This is getting as annoying as trying to get through a revolving door that a couple of bratty kids keep going around and around and around. “Whatever You Like” is at 2, “So What” moves back up to 3, “Hot N Cold” inches up to 4, and Beyonce drops to #5 with “If I Were A Boy”.

brandy-human-hq1002– Ms Knowles’s “Single Ladies” continues to push through the chart, up another 12 spots to #44. Other notable moves on the Hot 100 include John Legend’s “Green Light” finally shifting into drive and moving 47 – 31, and Brandy makes a move for relevance, as “Right Here (Departed)” moves 63 – 53. Her “Human” CD has been pushed back to December, but it looks like she might actually have a hit single to help promote it. I still don’t get the appeal of Jazmine Sullivan, but her second release “Bust Your Windows” also climbs 10 spots to #48.

– In one last bit of chart news, Rihanna debuts at #37 on the Pop radio chart with “Rehab”, while the group Rehab drop one spot to #39 with “Bartender Song”. Which only proves that I am, as you already suspected, a chart geek. In the immortal words of Casey Kasem, “keep your feet on the ground, and keep reaching for the stars.”