2008 Grammy Nominees Announced!
Thursday December 6, 2007
Well, the 2008 Grammy Awards Nominees are in and, as usual, I have mixed feelings about the nominees. In the contemporary world music category, three out of the five nominees are Brazilian... while I absolutely love Brazilian music, I'm inclined to categorize it in the Latin music category (yes, they speak Portuguese in Brazil, and yes, Portuguese is a Latin-based language). Angelique Kidjo's Djin Djin was also nominated in that category, despite containing the worst song ever (a laughably bad duet with the perpetually obnoxious Josh Groban), as was Loreena McKennitt's An Ancient Muse.
One major victory for world music is the new Cajun and Zydeco category, whose inaugural class has seven (!) nominees, the result of several ties, apparently. However, there are still no categories for Celtic music (it gets nebulously lumped in with other things: sometimes folk, sometimes world music), nor are there categories for any genres of Caribbean music other than reggae.
If you got to create any new Grammy categories, what would they be? Also, who do you think is missing from the nominees list? Leave a comment and let us know!
More Info on Grammy Nominees:
One major victory for world music is the new Cajun and Zydeco category, whose inaugural class has seven (!) nominees, the result of several ties, apparently. However, there are still no categories for Celtic music (it gets nebulously lumped in with other things: sometimes folk, sometimes world music), nor are there categories for any genres of Caribbean music other than reggae.
If you got to create any new Grammy categories, what would they be? Also, who do you think is missing from the nominees list? Leave a comment and let us know!
More Info on Grammy Nominees:
- World Music Grammy Nominees
- Folk Music Grammy Nominees
- Latin Music Grammy Nominees
- Christian Music Grammy Nominees
- Country Grammy Nominees
- Dance Music Grammy Nominees
- Heavy Metal Grammy Nominees
- Jazz Grammy Nominees
- Hip-Hop Grammy Nominees
- R&B Grammy Nominees
- Pop and Rock Grammy Nominees
- Oldies Grammy Nominees
Comments
Actually, I have a couple of questions. Why isn’t there a “classical music” grammy nominee? I admit that I haven’t bought much music lately but isn’t there usually a classical nominee or two? Aren’t artists still recording performances of long-beloved works in their own unique interpretations? Aren’t they still performing the more obscure pieces from time to time? I would be saddened if they weren’t but then, maybe I should go to the classical music section. Another question I have is why isn’t there a children’s music nominee or two? They are still producing CDs and videos of that. I’m a music teacher so that I should know.
Does anyone do comedy albums anymore (Bill Cosby and Tom Lehrer come to mind as well as the many presidential impersonators. In the sixties, at the height of the Cold War, there was even a comedy album about khrushchev after the First Family one came out. Not to be outdone, Vaughn Meter came out with another First Family II shortly before Kennedy’s assassination. Presidential impersonations went out of fashion for awhile till one about Reagan came out. I think it’s strange that a George Bush one hasn’t come out. He’s so, hmmm well, imitatable and his manipulation of the language can be humorous. Then, of course, there was Allan Sherman with his ever-popular song about Camp Granada and he actually did quite a few albums. My main problem with him though was that he really sang off-key. I don’t know if he did it on purpose just to be funny or not. Sometimes he did it more than others. Tom Lehrer’s stuff is a bit outdated, at least some of it, and I don’t think he’s done anything lately but the point is, aren’t there anymore commedy albums being done? I know there are several Christian commedians but I don’t know if they’ve done any comical music. Bill Cosby didn’t do any music, to my knowledge, but his albums were very popular for awhile. Can anyone forget his rendition of “Noah”? So what about classical, kids’ music, commedy and, oh yes, musical soundtracks, (soundtracks of the songs in movies and broadway musicals (things such as the sixties musical “Hair” and the many Rogers and Hammerstein musicals. I know they still have them. So what do you think?
They have categories for all of the above – my list just includes the World Music categories, and other guides have covered their own topics. If you go to http://www.grammy.com, you can see all of the other topics, which include spoken word, musical theatre, and so on.
Snarky comment about Josh Groban – how can you listen to Angels We Have Heard on High from his new CD Noel, and even say that?
Sorry, Groban is really not my thing – he’s much, much too cheesy and precious for my taste. I tend to prefer music with a little grit, funk, flavor… SOMETHING. He’s just a “pretty voice”, with (the way I see it) not much backing it up. Sorry!
Josh Groban’s beautiful voice is backed up by the biggest heart in the business (with the possible exception of Bono’s. My reference here is to his charity work). He’s not ashamed to show feeling in his music. For this I’m very grateful. Music doesn’t need to be gritty for my taste. It needs to be of good quality. Josh produces this without fail every time he makes an album. He has included many music styles on his albums, if you want to bother to listen. His vocal range is vast, his voice classically-trained and his eagerness to try new music is very well-known among his fans. Even if he is not your “cup of tea”, you might want to keep an eye on him. He might surprise you!
I still say that his duet with Angelique Kidjo gets my vote for worst song of the year. Not just the overly affected singing, but also the poorly-written lyrics (REALLY bad), the dull melody… they were going for a crossover, and instead ended up with something that’s just plain bad.
To Laura:
You should check out the George W. Bush Singers. They have really, really funny choral arrangements set to things Bush has said. Their Songs in the Key of W CD is really, really funny.
And, I’m with Megan on the cheesy Josh Groban comment. He’s got a fine voice, I just think his songs tend to be kind of cliche. But, I, too, appreciate more grit.
I really can’t deal with Josh Groban’s voice. I also think every song sounds the same, which tends to be a problem that every artist who makes pop music has. Honestly, if someone saw that I have a Josh Groban CD, I’d be pretty embarrassed. This is coming from the girl who owns both Bryan Adams’ Greatest Hits and the Ultimate Dirty Dancing Soundtrack, and I have no problem admitting it.
“Pearls” (the Kidjo/Groban duet) would have been better if it didn’t have the most sanctimonious lyrics this side of…well, I can’t even think of a good point of comparison.
But Djin Djin is otherwise a great album. And the duet with Joss Stone on “Gimme Shelter” is pure gold, even if the video is one of the weirdest things I’ve ever seen. Not Kidjo’s best stuff–it’s basically a duets album–but probably among her most accessible. And she has one of the best voices in the business.
About the sanctimonious lyrics on “Pearls”: It would have been much better if it were sung in the first person (e.g., if the narrator was the one looking for pearls). I once saw a brochure on racial profiling written by a well-meaning group of progressive white activists, intended for a racially diverse audience, that began “Imagine you’re a person of color…” I felt similarly about “Pearls.” The distance created by the third-person narrative made it sound patronizing. I didn’t like the song.
Um Josh Groban… words and the space provided can not be used to describe how cheesy and hackish (is that a word) he is. Tom Gilbert’s Turds have more talent, in the song writing department alone… I guess he can sing, but so can many many people.. but really a grammy…write a song, a good song, and get back to me Joshy…I’ll be over here teaching Gilbert’s Turds to sing
Hey, wait a minute. Hannah’s comparing Josh Groban to Bryan Adams?? Bryan Adams kicked ass through the early 80’s. Josh Groban will never kick ass.
Tom, you hit the nail on the head as per the sanctimonious lyrics. Who in their right mind would compare the absolute pure misery of living in poverty in Somalia with the pain of new shoes? First of all, new shoe pain is good pain (Ahem. Maybe not quite, but it’s pain that I’m willing to suffer… the price of fashion…). Secondly (and seriously, now), how many Somalis get new shoes on any sort of regular basis, if ever? It’s a horrific comparison. And Groban’s singing is just so inappropriately corny and completely lacking in dynamics – he really drags Kidjo down on that one. Worst song of the year.
That said, I did really like the version of “Sedjedo” featuring Ziggy Marley from the same album. I already loved that song, and I was expecting a watered-down or cheesily reggae-fied version, but it was done really tastefully and both Marley and Kidjo shone.
Heath and Hannah:
I think Michael Bolton might be a more accurate comparison than Bryan Adams. Classically trained, active in charities, known for their long, flowing locks… and musically, schmaltz-o-rama.
I guess I feel a need to chime in a bit with reference to Josh Groban. Some of the comments do sound a bit, um, dare I say elitist particularly since the only reference to specific Josh Groban music is the duet with Angelique Kidjo.
I sometimes fear that many American music fans and critics spend so much energy trying to maintain their street cred and hip factor that they really do dismiss some artists in a knee-jerk reflexive manner. Josh Groban’s music will never be gritty or particularly funky…but I’m not confident that alone is a solid reason to dismiss his music.
Fair enough, Bill. However, I do write about world music – all that stuff that isn’t polished enough to make it into the American mainstream – so it saddens me when amazing world music artists like Angelique Kidjo do mediocre (at best) duets with shiny pop stars, for no clear reason other than (I imagine) the hope of a crossover hit. If it had been done well (and many of the duets on the album were – the aforementioned Joss Stone and Ziggy Marley duets come to mind), then I’m all for it, and I think if it brings some attention to obscure music, great.
It doesn’t make me like his singing style, or any of his other work that I’ve ever heard (which includes an ill-advised live concert that I walked out of), though. I’m sorry to say that my opinion is not a poorly informed one – I’ve given the poor guy a shot, and he really just doesn’t do it for me.
When Groban does slow-paced or heavily thematic material, I think he has a beautiful voice. When he tries to do fast-paced pop, he reminds me of Rick Astley, and that isn’t a compliment.
That said, the biggest problem with “Pearls” was the excruciatingly bad songwriting–Peter Gabriel could have taken Groban’s place on that track and it still would have sucked. Have you heard it…? It hurts like new shoes.
There’s no question that he is technically competent, but really good music, be it vocal or instrumental, has feeling and I don’t hear that coming from Groban. Perpetually obnoxious? You were being kind.
Okay, so Groban is classically trained, that doesn’t equate “good.” Having studied classical music for the first half of my life (15 years), if I learned anything, it’s that a good, well-trained musician focuses on fluidity–being able to fit ably into any musical genre.
There’s something elitist about what he does, not “sinking” to the level of a pop singer when he sings pop music. There’s a way to sing pop music, a way to sing rock, a way to sing soul and R&B, a way to sing what Kidjo does, and a way to sing classical music. If he were really that good, he’d be able to fit his voice into whatever genre he’s exploring. Or he’d at least try. There are a ton of classically-trained singers out there making a very good living singing pop music like pop singers. That’s not to say there’s not room for a classical-pop fusion genre, but I don’t know that there are enough classically trained artists interested in exploring that. Of course, I have no evidence to support that. Heh.
That said, I haven’t heard this song, so I can’t really speak to the sanctimonious lyrics, but that doesn’t surprise me at all.
Kim, you hit the nail on the head. Great post. I agree completely.
A good example of a successful classical-pop fusion artist, IMHO, is Meat Loaf. Pure opera voice. Steinman’s showtune-classical-pop fusion songwriting. But Mr. Loaf can adapt his operatic voice to faster-paced music. Groban just kind of plows through it, which does make it sound as if he doesn’t respect the genre, but I think it’s more that he’s trying to do something new. And if the ambiguously sanctimonious voice weren’t paired up with the unambiguously sanctimonious lyrics in “Pearls,” I think it might be a better track. I said above that the track would still suck if Peter Gabriel did it, but you know, he’d at least have pain in voice. Like he’s wearing, you know, new shoes.
I’m thinking of the Shakespearean actors who successfully transitioned to other work–Kenneth Branagh, Sir Laurence Olivier, even William Shatner–and what they all have in common is a willing to mold their work around whatever role they’ve chosen. Even in Shatner’s early work, where he used the Shakespearean tone in places where it was obviously not well-suited, you could tell he was trying–trying to meet the script halfway.
But then Shatner got better with age. Maybe Groban will, too…
Maybe Groban will get better with age – just like Michael Bolton did. Oh, wait…
Tom, I think your comparison to classically-trained actors is a great one. And Kim – right on the head. There are so many classically-trained musicians who are capable of fitting in elsewhere, and who use their classical training to their advantage – Bela Fleck, Jewel, Norah Jones, Andrew Bird, Lenny Kravitz, Stevie Wonder, Alicia Keys, Bruce Hornsby, Diana Krall…
I guess that, as a fan of real opera and classical music, I’m vaguely offended by watered-down versions of the genres. I can handle real opera; I can’t handle Groban’s cloying pop-era.
You know, the funny thing is that I used to hate Michael Bolton’s voice with the passion of a thousand burning suns, and now I kinda like him. Wouldn’t want to listen to him for longer than like 5 minutes at a time, but as grocery store muzak, it’s not bad. And I’m not sure I don’t prefer his version of “When a Man Loves a Woman” over Percy Sledge’s, where Sledge’s high notes are full of passion but the rest kind of sounds half-committed, like he’s trying to persuade himself he’s into all this relationship stuff because he doesn’t want to die alone, but truth be told he would personally rather crack open a beer and go watch a football game. Bolton, on the other hand, sounds like he’s got fire ants in his drawers. Must be love. Or something that the poor woman he’s singing to might catch.
Groban reminds me more of that upper-glass vegan guy who does gluteal stretches in public and claims that “Wonderful Tonight” is his favorite Eric Clapton song. You know the type. Beer and a football game, fire ants in the drawers, or gluteal stretches–fire ants in the drawers wins out every time, if only because the great vocalists are more entertaining to me when they sound like they’re in agony. Maybe that’s just what happens when they buy new shoes.
New shoes are NOT the issue here, Tom! I LOVE new shoes! But I digress.
I agree that all of my favorite vocalists are fire ants in the drawers singers, as you put it. Otis Redding made every song sound like his dying words, and I can’t listen to him for more than a few minutes without choking up – there’s just SO MUCH passion there. Groban is just so meh. I’d rather listen to Bob Dylan; he can’t sing, but he can SING, you know? I think people need to listen to some old Caruso records and THEN argue that Groban makes operatic singing sound emotional.
Ok, to start. Josh Groban is not obnoxious. He is a sweet man who just gave 1 million dollars of his own money to his charity foundation. That’s after his fans raised 1 million dollars. Josh will sign autographs after a concert way into the early morning hours if he was allowed. If someone here can say they have spoken to Josh personally then let me know. But if you haven’t none of you have the right to call him obnoxious. He is a gentleman with a heart of gold.
I recently heard Angelique at.. you guessed it.. A Josh Groban concert! She is phenomenal to say the least and although the lyrics to Pearls kinda make you go.. say what??? None of you have heard that song sung live. 5 rows from the stage I watched both of them pour their heart and souls into the song.
Whomever said Josh Groban doesn’t show feelings…you need to sit front and center at one of his concerts..He practically has tears in his eyes during the sadder songs.
This world..and the Grammy’s isn’t ready for Josh Groban apparently…You all just don’t GET IT yet..
I can’t wait till the rappers are all locked up in jail and there is no one left to listen to but Josh.. you will open your eyes and see things so much clearer…
Okay, just for a quick word on the racist generalizations about rappers: I LIKE rap music and think that it’s a valid form of folk music and a clear descendant of the various genres of African and African-American music that preceded it. (Check out FolkMusic Kim’s excellent write-up on the topic here: http://folkmusic.about.com/od/news/a/HipHopFolk.htm)
‘Nuff said about that. Okay, moving on. It’s not that I (or my fellow anti-Grobies) don’t “get it” – really. It’s that we know better. If I want to listen to an operatic tenor, I’ll listen to Pavarotti, Simon O’Neill, Jose Carreras, etc. If I want to listen to pop music, I’ll listen to flippin’ pop music. I do not need the two blended. Frankly, I think that only rarely does genre-blending create something new and exciting – usually it creates something that appeals to the lowest common denominator of listeners in either category.
I’m sure Josh Groban is a really wonderful human being and I certainly applaud his charity efforts. However, when I listen to his music, I feel like it drains all of my knowledge about good music out of my head and replaces it with marshmallows. Sort of like how reading a bad newspaper actually makes you know less about what’s going on than you did before you started reading, y’know?
Not good music. Say it with me now. NOT GOOD MUSIC.
Also, if all of the rappers go to jail (ahem.) and Josh Groban is the only one left to listen to (because, apparently, when all of the rappers go to jail, every folk, rock, reggae, zydeco, polka, blues and jazz musician will quit in protest? Or is it that there are only two kinds of music: rap and Josh Groban? I digress), I hereby pledge to have my ears surgically sewn shut.
what is the name of the comedy album about Khrushchev the came out after The First Family album/