If Adele falters, there are plenty of frequently-nominated artists to take her place, including Kanye West, Foo Fighters and Lil Wayne.
The music industry will celebrate its biggest night of the year on Sunday, when the 54rd annual Grammy Awards’ ceremony is broadcast live on CBS from the Staples Center in Los Angeles.
It’s looking to be a very big night for Adele, the young British singer with the powerhouse, soulful voice. And if she falters, there are plenty of frequently-nominated artists to take her place, including Kanye West, Foo Fighters, Bruno Mars and Lil Wayne.
Grammy voters will be selecting winners in more than 75 categories. We’ll take things in simpler style, narrowing the field down to eight major awards with predictions on possible outcomes, as well as a critical look as to who deserves to win the categories in question:
Record of the Year
· “Rolling In the Deep,” Adele (Paul Epworth, producer; Tom Elmhirst and Mark Rankin, engineers/mixers).
· “Holocene,” Bon Iver (Justin Vernon, producer; Brian Joseph and Justin Vernon, engineers/mixers).
· “Grenade,” Bruno Mars (The Smeezingtons, producers; Ari Levine and Manny Marroquin, engineers/mixers).
· “The Cave,” Mumford & Sons (Markus Dravs, producer; Francois Chevallier and Ruadhri Cushnan, engineers/mixers).
· “Firework,” Katy Perry (Mikkel S. Eriksen, Tor Erik Hermansen and Sandy Vee, producers; Mikkel S. Eriksen, Phil Tan, Sandy Vee and Miles Walker, engineers/mixers).
Who will win: “Rolling in the Deep,” Adele. This is going to be Adele’s night. The woman who saved the music industry in 2011 should be lauded for triggering people to buy music again.
Who should win: “Rolling in the Deep,” Adele. A hugely successful song that also happens to be good and soulful. Give the trophy to Adele then move on.
Adele· “21,” Adele (Jim Abbiss, Adele, Paul Epworth, Rick Rubin, Fraser T. Smith, Ryan Tedder and Dan Wilson, producers; Jim Abbiss, Philip Allen, Beatriz Artola, Ian Dowling, Tom Elmhirst, Greg Fidelman, Dan Parry, Steve Price, Mark Rankin, Andrew Scheps, Fraser T. Smith and Ryan Tedder, engineers/mixers; Tom Coyne, mastering engineer)
· “Wasting Light,” Foo Fighters (Butch Vig, producer; James Brown and Alan Moulder, engineers/mixers; Joe LaPorta and Emily Lazar, mastering engineers)
· “Born This Way,” Lady Gaga (Paul Blair, DJ Snake, Fernando Garibay, Lady Gaga, Robert John “Mutt” Lange, Jeppe Laursen, RedOne and Clinton Sparks, producers; Fernando Garibay, Bill Malina, Trevor Muzzy, RedOne, Olle Romo, Dave Russell, Justin Shirley Smith, Horace Ward and Tom Ware, engineers/mixers; Chris Gehringer, mastering engineer)
· “Doo-Wops and Hooligans,” Bruno Mars (B.o.B, Cee Lo Green and Damian Marley, producers; Ari Levine, Manny Marroquin and Graham Marsh, engineers/mixers; Stephen Marcussen, mastering engineer)
· “Loud,” Rihanna (Drake, Eminem and Nicki Minaj, producers; engineers/mixers; Chris Gehringer, mastering engineer)
Who will win: “21,” Adele. An amazingly consistent album that brought us a new superstar for life. This is a very very tough category, with Adele up against Rihanna, Lady Gaga etc. It may be close but it’s Adele’s.
Who should win: “21,” Adele. By the end of the night she may need a truck to help her away with her loot. The most inspired album of all the competitors.
Song of the Year
· "All Of The Lights,” Jeff Bhasker, Stacy Ferguson, Malik Jones, Warren Trotter and Kanye West, songwriters (Kanye West, Rihanna, Kid Cudi and Fergie)
· “The Cave,” Ted Dwane, Ben Lovett, Marcus Mumford and Country Winston, songwriters (Mumford & Sons)
· “Grenade,” Brody Brown, Claude Kelly, Philip Lawrence, Ari Levine, Bruno Mars and Andrew Wyatt, songwriters (Bruno Mars)
· “Holocene,” Justin Vernon, songwriter (Bon Iver)
· “Rolling in the Deep,” Adele Adkins and Paul Epworth, songwriters (Adele)
Who will win: “Rolling in the Deep,” Adele. Yup, she’s gonna get the songwriter’s award too. Don’t you wish you had bought stock in the young British singer about a year ago?
Who should win: “Rolling in the Deep,” Adele. Either this is going to be a night of shock and disappointment for Adele, or a night of pure jubilation. Look for the latter.
Bon Iver's Justin VernonBest New Artist
· The Band Perry
· Bon Iver
· J. Cole
· Nicki Minaj
· Skrillex
Who will win: Bon Iver: The only one who rises above completely boring in this category. Just barely.
Who should win: Nicki Minaj: Now if you want to propel a little fun and excitement into the awards’ ceremony, the award goes to the high-energy rapper Nicki Minaj.
Best Rock Album
· “Rock ‘n’ Roll Party Honoring Les Paul,” Jeff Beck
· “Wasting Light,” Foo Fighters
· “Come Around Sundown,” Kings of Leon
· “I’m With You,” Red Hot Chili Peppers
· “The Whole Love,” Wilco
Who will win: Foo Fighters: Again, a lot of tough competition in this category, but Dave Grohl and his mates deserve the gold.
Who should win: Some pretty good bands here. Kings of Leon, Red Hot Chili Peppers, etc. But over the course of their career Foo Fighters have been more consistent than any of them. Unless there’s a strong sentimental vote for Les Paul, go with Foo Fighters.
Best Alternative Music Album
· “Bon Iver,”Bon Iver
· “Codes And Keys,”Death Cab For Cutie
· “Torches,” Foster The People
· “Circuital,’ My Morning Jacket
· “The King Of Limbs,”Radiohead
Who will win: Radiohead. It gives the Grammy voters some credibility. Not Radiohead’s best album, but a good chance to win here.
Who Should Win: A lot of questions arise in this category, for starters, what is “alternative” in 2012? The best album in this category is My Morning Jacket’s “Circuital.” Whether that is “alternative” enough for everyone remains to be seen, but it is the best.
Nicki MinajBest Rap Album
· “Watch The Throne,” Jay-Z and Kanye West
· “Tha Carter IV,” Lil Wayne
· “Lasers,” Lupe Fiasco
· “Pink Friday,” Nicki Minaj
· “My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy,” Kanye West
Who will win: Nicki Minaj. Grammy voters have been notoriously tough on rap acts, but Minaj deserves this for keeping the genre fresh.
Who should win: Kanye West is always solid, Lil Wayne sold a lot of music and Jay-Z and Kanye West had their “Throne” to look down over the rest of us. That said, Minaj deserves this one too. This could be a very good night for her.
Best Country Album
Taylor Swift
· “My Kinda Party,” Jason Aldean
· “Chief,” Eric Church
· “Own The Night,” Lady Antebellum
· “Red River Blue,” Blake Shelton
· “Here For A Good Time,” George Strait
· “Speak Now,’ Taylor Swift
Who Will Win: Taylor Swift. She’s given the industry such a lift during the past several tough years and though this won’t be as big as past years she still should win this category. year. Swift wrote all the songs here, including several that take little imagination to decipher. Among the most notable is the six-minute-and-44 second total shredding of John Mayer on “Dear John,” and the acoustic-based power ballad “Innocent,” the latter which details her reaction to the infamous incident in which Kanye West attempted to take over the stage during Swift’s acceptance speech at the MTV Video Music Awards.
Who Should Win: Lady Antebellum. Just a hunch mind you but if Grammy voters go elsewhere from Taylor Swift, they won’t go too far. Lady A is just starting and still selling tons. Far be it from Grammy voters to be so commercial, but don’t be shocked.