This year’s Grammy Awards air on Sunday, February 8, and country music will be represented with performances Eric Church, Miranda Lambert, and the tantalizing pairing of Brandy Clark and Dwight Yoakam. Most of the awards will be handed out before the show, and we will post the relevant winners here, as part of a Grammy Open Thread where CU readers and writers can share their thoughts on this year’s awards.
Four CU writers, including myself, have shared our predictions and personal picks for the general and country-related categories below. Of course, one of the coolest things about the Grammys is that it celebrates a wide range of music from the past year, and as you’ll see by our varying levels of participation, our tastes here at CU run the gamut.
This year, I’m as excited about the performances by Madonna, Kanye West (twice!), and that Hozier and Annie Lennox duet as I am about any of the country performers, and I’ll be rooting for West and Childish Gambino to sweep the Rap and Hip-Hop categories.
Who do you think will be the big winners on Sunday night, and who are you hoping will win and looking forward to seeing perform? As always, share your thoughts in the comments!
Record of the Year
Will Win:
- Iggy Azalea featuring Charli XCX, “Fancy”
- Sia, “Chandelier”
- Sam Smith, “Stay With Me” (Darkchild Version) - Kevin, Leeann, Jonathan, Ben
- Taylor Swift, “Shake it Off”
- Meghan Trainor, “All About That Bass”
Should Win:
- Iggy Azalea featuring Charli XCX, “Fancy”
- Sia, “Chandelier” – Jonathan
- Sam Smith, “Stay With Me” (Darkchild Version)
- Taylor Swift, “Shake it Off”
- Meghan Trainor, “All About That Bass” – Kevin, Leeann
Kevin: In a decent year for pop music, any one of these records could credibly represent the year. I think Sam Smith is Grammy catnip, so I expect him to win big. I think “All About That Bass” was the most creative and interesting record of the five.
Leeann: I’m a fan of the Sam Smith song, but I agree with Kevin that “All About That Bass” is the most creative and interesting, not to mention the catchiest.
Jonathan: I actually thought it was a weak year for mainstream pop, as reflected by this fairly poor slate of nominees. Smith is right in that Adele / Norah Jones adult-pop wheelhouse that Grammy voters love, so he’s the most likely winner. Sia’s “Chandelier” is the most progressive take on pop music among the five, though, if “Shake it Off” were to win anything, this would probably be the least egregious place to recognize Swift’s hit. I would have gladly rooted for the mash-up between Iggy Azalea’s and Reba’s respective takes on “Fancy.”
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In early February, Zac Brown Band kicked off a brief cycle of Twitter Outrage when they performed a cover of Jason Isbell’s “Dress Blues,” which they are rumored to have cut for their upcoming album, during a high-profile ESPN gig. Some of Isbell’s devoted fans were livid that a mainstream country performer had covered Isbell’s song, insisting that it should be Isbell with the multi-platinum stats and sold-out arena tours.
