The Grammy Awards claim to be music’s biggest night, an exciting spectacle of live performance and major upsets honoring the best in the biz. With 84 categories, it’s easy to get lost in the fanfare of an awards ceremony that is as self-congratulating -- members of The Academy, i.e., people who have won a Grammy previously or qualify as an industry professional -- as it is exhaustive, recognizing everything from Record of the Year to Best Album Notes.
This year’s ceremony, which airs on Sunday on CBS live from Los Angeles, promises some historic moments, including in memoriam tributes to Prince and George Michael, Katy Perry’s first performance of “Chained To The Rhythm,” her new song featuring Skip Marley, and a genre-scrambling union of Lady Gaga performing with Metallica.
For those who want to play catch up on a year of music or want a guide map of what to expect when it comes to the winners and losers, Vanyaland presents its prediction of the winners in 10 of the Grammys’ biggest categories.
Best Pop Solo Performance
“Hello” by Adele
“Hold Up” by Beyoncé
“Love Yourself” by Justin Bieber
“Piece By Piece (Idol Version)” by Kelly Clarkson
“Dangerous Woman” by Ariana Grande
Who Will Win: This is an award for best pop vocals, not best song or best sales. The Academy does not consider public reception, but instead focuses on emotion, tone, and technical ability. RCA was smart to nominate the American Idol live version of “Piece By Piece” because the performance saw Kelly do what Kelly does best: emote. Emotions on blast because of her then-pregnancy and her return to the final season of the show that launched her career, “Piece By Piece (Idol Version)” is the sound of Kelly singing through an avalanche of emotion. Not to mention, the song is about her drawing comparisons between her husband and her neglectful father. You can feel the full magnitude of that in her vocal.
The Dark Horse: The technical difficulty of “Hello” by Adele makes this an easy pick, particularly if The Academy doesn’t recognize Adele in the other categories for which she is nominated.