Chad Batka for The New York Times
So does this year’s show run the risk of being a snooze? Fear not, music
fans, there are plenty of minidramas to watch for that could make the
evening’s proceedings, to be broadcast on CBS at 8 p.m. Eastern time
from the Staples Center in Los Angeles, interesting.
For starters the pop-rock trio Fun. is the first act since Amy Winehouse
in 2007 to have a shot at sweeping all four of the prestigious general
awards. This Brooklyn group, whose “Some Nights” album spun off the
smash hit “We Are Young,” is nominated for record, album and song of the
year, as well as best new artist. The only artist in the 55-year
history of the awards to win all four awards was Christopher Cross in
1980. (The feat seemed to be a kiss of death for Mr. Cross, whose career
has sputtered since.)
Can Fun. do it? “It seems like a long shot,” said Nate Ruess, the band’s
frontman. The group faces stiff competition for record of the year
(which is for a single) from Gotye’s “Somebody That I Used to Know,” the
best-selling single of the year. In the contest for song of the year,
an award for songwriters, Fun.’s “We Are Young” must outpoll the British
newcomer Ed Sheeran, whose song about a drug-addicted prostitute, “The A
Team,” was a sleeper hit, and Carly Rae Jepsen’s ubiquitous summer
anthem “Call Me Maybe.”
Still, Fun. has a fighting chance to take the coveted album of the year
award. That contest seems dominated by rock of various flavors — poppy,
bluesy, folksy — and is notable more for what is not there than what is.
There are no female artists, no pop divas, no rappers, no country
crooners.
Instead the category has groups heard frequently on alternative rock
stations: Mumford & Sons, the Black Keys and Jack White. Mumford
& Sons have yet to win a Grammy, even though their stomping folk
style has spearheaded a revival of folk-rock. The Black Keys and Jack
White both produced howling blues-rock records that typically do well
with Grammy voters.
The last contender is Frank Ocean, the R&B singer whose debut solo
album, “Channel Orange,” was on many critics’ Top 10 lists for the year.
Mr. Ocean gained importance as a public figure when he broke an
unspoken code in the R&B world and announced before the album was
released that his first love had been a man.
“Frank Ocean has become a really strong dark-horse pick,” said Bill
Werde, editorial director of Billboard. “He’s a fashionable artist in
the music business these days, because he has that great mix of critical
respect and commercial appeal.”
Also nominated in the album and song of the year categories, Mr. Ocean
will probably be Fun.’s closest rival in the best new artist category as
well. Two of the other hopefuls for that prize are darlings of the
alt-rock world: the folksy Lumineers and the R&B-inflected Alabama
Shakes. Hunter Hayes, a country wunderkind, rounds out the list. “It’s
beyond flattering,” Mr. Ruess said. “Win or lose it’s just great and
cool to be nominated with that group.”
Another closely watched artist will be Nas, the veteran New York rapper,
who has never won a Grammy, despite nine previous nominations and six
No. 1 albums that each sold more than a million copies, starting with
the classic “Illmatic” back in 1994. This could be the year the National
Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, which bestows the Grammys,
finally recognizes his contributions. He is nominated in every rap
category — song, album, rap-sung collaboration (with Amy Winehouse) and
performance — for his album “Life Is Good,” which explored middle-age
themes like fatherhood and divorce.
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