Grammy Awards Snubs: Alicia Keys, “Hey Soul Sister,” R&B
Who can explain the wacky Grammy Awards and their weird nominations?
Last night, the announcement came on national TV. Justin Bieber and other prefab product dominated the screen. So weird, so like the Grammys of the past.
The biggest snub: Alicia Keys. While she and Jay Z got a Record of the Year (a single track) nomination for “Empire State of Mind,” the catchiest song of 2009 and 2010 missed Best Song. And the album from which it came was ignored altogether–“The Element of Freedom.” Where was Keys’s great single, “Try Sleeping with a Broken Heart”?
Keys, who’s probably the best new artist of the last decade, hasn’t gotten much love from the Grammys in recent efforts. Keys’ absence from Best Album means the category is all white, there’s no R&B, just people mimicking it like Eminem and Lady GaGa.
The other record of 2010 that got almost nothing was Train’s “Hey Soul Sister.” This had to have been one of the most played songs on the radio this year, and a good one. It has one nomination, and for a “live” version, not the studio record. Go figure.
The big winners in the nomination game: Eminem, Katy Perry, Cee Lo, Lady Antebellum, and the less Lady like, Lady GaGa.
Michael Jackson was nominated for his vocal on “This Is It,” a song co-written with Paul Anka and given a lackluster production last year. Still, it was nice.
Luckily, even though his machine tried to orchestrate something, the annoying Bieber was limited to just two nominations: Best New Artist, and Best Pop Album. If he wins either, it will be an embarrassment. But he’ll no doubt be all over the Grammy telecast promoting his concert film. It’s going to be released on the Friday before the Grammys. One can only hope he won’t be chosen to sing for Barbra Streisand at the MusiCares dinner.
[…] Element of Freedom, which I thought was a great album! Apparently, I wasn’t the only one who noticed the snub. Something in the milk ain’t clean with that […]
No, it was released on December 11, 2009. It was absolutely eligible.
The Element of Freedom was released before this Grammy year. It was also ineligible.
thanks for the info! i didn’t know that
I halfway agree with you Roger. However, give the Grammys credit for at least turning “younger”….No James Taylor, No Herbie Hancock…etc….so it is giving the younger kids more recognition. But yeh, Alicia Keys is one of the great modern songwriters, so I’m happy that at least she doesn’t have to depend on record sales to make money…she writes for everybody and anybody.
Drake and Bieber battling it out — that’s going to be interesting. I hope for revenge’s sake that Michael J. takes the best male pop singer award.
In the R&B category, I’m rooting for either Fantasia or El Debarge. And yeh, not too many black voices in the main categories like Best Album — wtf?
But the grammys are allegedly voted on by critics and the music industry itself; correct? Had it beeen the mainstream public, Bieber would have copped about 10 noms vs. 2; and Lady Gaga would have gotten more noms – which she doesn’t deserve IMO. She’s an over-the-top show horse…I’ll be glad when she takes off all the makeup and glitter and strips down to just her ordinary looks and performs….and kills all the hyped publicity.
Cee-lo got some love.
Not it will be a shame if J and Alicia are shut out. A shame.
amen..for once we agree on something :)
I think the members of the Grammy awards committees got as sick of “Hey Soul Sister” as the general public did. By the time it got to the top ten it was already so overplayed I couldnt’ wait for the damn thing to go away…it was 2010’s version of “You Light Up My Life” or “My Heart Will Go On”…no matter where you turned, there it was…and making you sicker and sicker of it…I mean, how many commercials and network promos managed to use it, in addition to it’s oversaturation on the airwaves?
“Hey Soul Sister” was ineligible as it was released prior to last year’s cut-off date (hence why the live version was nominated).