November 30, 2011

Grammy nominations 2011: Adele, Lady Gaga, Nicki Minaj predicted to be award show favorites

Nominees to be announced during CBS special Wednesday.


Adele is expected to be nominated in the three top categories: Album, Song and Record of the Year.
Jon Kopaloff/FilmMagic/FilmMagic
Adele is expected to be nominated in the three top categories: Album, Song and Record of the Year.

She’s already the biggest-selling artist of the year (4.6 million and counting). Wednesday night, Adele should become the most Grammy-nominated.
At 10 p.m., CBS will run a one-hour special announcing the top nominees for 2011’s golden statues. (The Daily News website will have a compete story wrap-up of the results by 11 p.m.). Already several contenders seem so likely, you can bet the proverbial rent.
Besides Adele — a shoo-in in the top three categories: Album (“21”), Song and Record of the Year (“Rolling in the Deep”) — expect multiple mentions for Lady Gaga’s “Born This Way,” Jason Aldean’s “My Kinda Party” Jay-Z and Kanye West’s collaboration “Watch the Throne,” Rihanna’s “Loud,” Lil Wayne’s “Tha Carter IV” and Beyoncé’s “4.”
Those albums dominate the year’s top sellers list, and while there’s no automatic correlation between commercial success and creative value, you wouldn’t know it from the way Grammy nominees tend to go. True, final winners can be surprising and relatively obscure, like Herbie Hancock’s modest-selling tribute to Joni Mitchell winning Best Album in 2007, or Esperanza Spalding taking Best New Artist over Justin Bieber last year. But the general nominees tend to follow the money.
On that score, Adele has the best of both worlds. She’s critically adored as well as a popular colossus. It doesn’t hurt that she bagged the Best New Artist for her first CD, “19,” in 2009.
This year’s Best New Artist lineup will likely see bids for Nicki Minaj, Foster the People and — for a left-field choice — the beloved country duo the Civil Wars. Bon Iver may also squeeze in there, despite having already released two albums. (“New” refers to when Grammy voters get around to noticing you, not to actual newness).
The top nominees list will likely be light on rock and heavy on hip hop, R&B and pop — reflecting prevailing trends.
Some stars who haven’t sold that well lately may yet get big votes based on their overall reputation. These include Paul Simon for his “So Beautiful or So What” CD and Radiohead’s “The King of Limbs.”
Of course, every year’s list features some “what were they thinking?” choices. Their inclusion will give tonight’s roll call a shot of fun.
As for the actual awards, they’ll be doled out Sunday Feb. 12 from the Staples Center in Los Angeles.

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