Wednesday will be the biggest night of the year for the mainstream
music world, the 44th Annual Grammy Awards, which will be presented at
the Staples Center here and broadcast on CBS. The consensus is that
the nominations for most of the main awards are likely to prevent a
repeat of embarrassing episodes in which winners made the Grammys look
out of touch.
No doubt there will be gaffes and embarrassments this year, in
addition to the usual panache and revealing outfits, but here are some
other things to watch for: A manager joked recently that he wanted to
represent U2 so that he could “take them to the next level.” The joke
is that after a hugely successful album and tour in which U2 restaked
its claim as one of the most vital rock acts in the world, the band
could not possibly get any bigger. But at the Grammy ceremony, it
seems likely that it will. The band is nominated for eight awards
(more than any other act), including three of the top ones: best
album, best record (given to a single) and best song (presented to
songwriters). At the least, U2 seems likely to walk away with the top
honor, the album prize, for “All That You Can’t Leave Behind.” This is
good news for Grammy viewers, because Bono is not one to let the
opportunity for a speech go by without making it memorable.
What may prevent U2 from a near sweep of awards akin to Santana’s in
2000 is Alicia Keys, the singer and pianist, whose first hit,
“Fallin’,” is also a favorite for the record and the song prizes. Ms.
Keys was nominated for six awards, and in each of those categories she
is competing with the talented neo-soul newcomer India.Arie, who was
nominated for seven awards. Her CD, “Acoustic Soul,” was nominated for
best album, while Ms. Keys’s album, “Songs in A Minor,” was not.
This may show a slight quirk in a relatively recent Grammy
innovation, a screening committee of about 25 members who oversee the
final nominations in the top four categories. The committee was
created in 1995 by the organizers of the Grammys, the National Academy
of Recording Arts and Sciences, after Tony Bennett walked away with
the best album award for his “MTV Unplugged.”
True to its mission, the committee has selected a high-quality list
of recordings to compete for best album: Bob Dylan’s “Love and Theft”
(U2’s closest competition here), Outkast’s “Stankonia,” the “O
Brother, Where Art Thou?” soundtrack, “Acoustic Soul” and the U2 CD.
But it seems that the committee considered “Acoustic Soul” and “Songs
in A Minor” too similar to compete for top album and picked a favorite.
Mariah Carey’s woes didn’t begin this year. At the Grammys in 1996
she was nominated for six awards, tied with Alanis Morissette for the
most nominations. It was hard for her to conceal her disappointment
when she won nothing. This year, part of the suspense will be seeing
whether India.Arie and Train (up for four awards) are shut out by
competition with better brand recognition.
- The New York Times, Neil Strauss
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