Hollywood prepares for music industry’s biggest night
With the Grammy Awards less than a week away, the buzz is starting. Who is going to be the big winner this year? How can U2 be nominated for songs off the same album two years in a row?
Grammy nominees are chosen by the Recording Academy’s voting members. To be eligible, the recording must have been released within a year period as specified by the Academy. The period for this year is Oct. 1, 2000 through Sept. 30, 2001. U2’s “All that You Can’t Leave Behind” was released Oct. 31, 2000, which makes it eligible for this year. The single “Beautiful Day” was released before the album debuted, which made it squeak by the deadline. Subsequently, “Beautiful Day” won three Grammy awards last year.
Who is likely to be the front runner this year? U2 is nominated for eight awards, and India Arie is close behind with seven nominations. Songstress Alicia Keys is up for six awards, and Outkast and Brian McKnight both have five nods.
The award for record of the year goes not only to the artist who performed the single nominated, but also to the engineers, producers and mixers. This award is for the overall technical merit of the song, not just the actual song. U2, Alicia Keys, India Arie, Train and Outkast are all up for their various singles released this year.
“Album of the Year” nominations are more eclectic than has been seen in the past. India Arie’s “Acoustic Soul” will fight it out against American songwriter extraordinaire Bob Dylan who is nominated for “Love and Theft.” Rappers Outkast are nominated with “Stankonia,” while U2 hopes to garner more awards with “All That You Can’t Leave Behind.” The soundtrack to the Coen brothers’ “O Brother, Where Art Thou” hopes to bring bluegrass to the mainstream with a win in this category.
A debatably important award, the award for best new artist offers variety as well. Sometimes jokingly called the “kiss of death” award, it has been awarded to some of the most notorious and forgettable acts in the past. After all, sharing an award that has been won by such greats as Milli Vanilli can be a little intimidating. Nonetheless, India Arie, Nelly Furtado, of “I’m Like a Bird” fame, David Gray, “Babylon,” Alicia Keys, and Linkin Park are still in fierce competition to earn the recognition they deserve.
Grammy awards are given in 27 fields, including packaging, for the overall packaging of the album and album notes. And, of course, there are fields for every major form of music, from rap to new age, from polka to reggae, and from children’s to spoken word. So, there is more than you might expect to find in an awards ceremony. The awards for polka, packaging and album notes are not presented at the big show on TV, but they are awarded during a smaller ceremony, much like the technical Oscars are handled.
The Grammy Awards can be seen Feb. 27 at 7 p.m. on CBS.
Christina Beard