1. The award for "Best Dance Recording"
Nominees: Raise Your Weapon -Deadmau5 & Greta Svabo Bech; Barbara Streisand - Duck Sauce; Sunshine - David Guetta & Avicii;Call Your Girlfriend - Robyn; Scary Monsters And Nice Sprites - Skrillex; Save The World - Swedish House Mafia
It has been a particularly awesome year for dance music. The Grammy's seem to have noticed, and are responding with a performance mash-up of David Guetta, Deadmau5, Lil' Wayne, & Chris Brown in a tribute to the genre. I have serious doubts about this particular line-up. I understand the reasoning behind it, but I'm predicting a train wreck.
What is actually awesome is the field for the award for "Best Dance Recording". The competition in this category is fierce! Yes, dance-pop is a simple and indulgent approach to music. And I certainly question my new-found love for it, as I am a grown-ass man and all. But I'll be damned if this electricity-fueled-dance-meth doesn't get asses out on the dance floor. All the nominees are pretty great songs, but all my money is on Robyn. She is the sauce. Three of the nominees have absolutely awesome videos that you should check out below.
You gotta see the heroic pooches of Save the World by Swedish House Mafia.
Duck Sauce's video for Barbra Streisand, an unabashed love-letter to New York, is also fun.
You can see it here
And of course Robyn's original Call Your Girlfriend I posted about earlier. Here is a hilarious rendition by Taran Killam of SNL, caught behind the scenes at 4:00 a.m. the week Robyn was the musical guest.
2. Adele is scheduled to perform
This is, for me, the most anticipated moment of the coming show. At first look, 2011 certainly seemed like the year of Adele. She followed the huge breakout success of her first album with a strong sophemore effort, "21". The album earned her six Grammy nominations, her music is played on all kinds of radio stations, and is topping charts across the world. And then came the news that she ruptured a vocal cord. Think of that. Seriously. Ruptured vocal cord. She underwent serious throat surgery, and the future of her singing career has been in doubt ever since. The Grammy appearance marks her first public performance since surgery and 8 weeks of doctor-ordered silence. Here is to hoping her recovery allows her to still sing like this.
3. Grammy Drama: Cutting the Awards Categories
There is usually a juicy story or two attached to the Grammy's. This year one of the most interesting things about the Grammy's is something that may not even get mentioned in the show itself. The National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences who run the event streamlined the award categories, cutting the number to 78 from 109. The once male/female categories in Pop, Rock, R&B, and Rap are no longer separated by gender. A bunch of categories were eliminated all together, including Latin jazz, zydeco, traditional blues, American Indian and gospel music. These changes have a lot of artists and fans pissed off, with the argument being that these moves further degenerate an awards event already overly-focused on popularity and record sales versus quality music. The anger around this has sparked enough frustration that there is going to be a protest against the alterations outside the Staples Center, followed by a concert called, "The Not Those Awards All-Star Latin Jazz Jam". I doubt any of this will get airtime, but I am curious to see if any award winners take a minute onstage to call out the controversial changes.
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