The Nominees: Record Of The Year
You’d be forgiven if you forgot that the Grammys were happening one week from today. The Golden Globes were just held, the College Football Championship was just played, the Super Bowl is two weeks away, and the Oscars three. And that’s to say nothing of the presidential campaign and other ongoing significant world events. Of course, it may also have slipped your mind because the ceremony is considerably earlier than usual, by a month in fact, and its nominees were announced all the way back before Thanksgiving. But it is in fact almost time for “Music’s biggest night,” as the Grammys like to bill themselves, and as such, we will take this week to do an overview of the biggest awards of the night, culminating in a general predictions piece on the day of. A reminder, first of all, that each of the General Awards have seen their field expanded from 5 nominees to 8. First one up: Record of the Year.
Record of the Year is one of two awards to serve as a prize for a song in a general capacity, rather than a genre field (like Best Pop Performance, or Best Rap Song, etc.). The other, of course, is Song Of The Year. Annually, the inevitable question from reasonable people-- myself included --is, what is the difference between the two? To be honest, I've never really known a good answer, so, from the horse's mouth: "The Record Of The Year category recognizes the artist’s performance as well as the overall contributions of the producer(s), recording engineer(s) and/or mixer(s) if other than the artist. The Song Of The Year category recognizes the songwriter(s)." Essentially, I think what this is saying is that Record Of The Year is more a trophy for the general production of a song, while Song Of The Year is more about the bare-bones music and lyrics. That hasn't necessarily held up when considering the last few winners: Adele's "Hello" beat Beyoncé's "Formation" for both awards, despite the latter having unequivocally better production. In 2018, Bruno Mars' "24K Magic" beat out the extremely favored summer smash "Despacito." And last year, Childish Gambino's "This Is America" won both, which while wonderful, provided little clarity. So, despite what the award's stated intentions are, voting might simply come down to which one of the big radio hits the voters liked the most. All that being said, here are the nominees, in order from least to most likely to win, according to odds from GoldDerby.com.
"Talk" - Khalid
Odds: 19-2
Peak Chart Position (General): 3rd
Peak Chart Position (R&B/Hip-Hop): 2nd
Daniel's Production Value Ranking: 8/10
Young R&B singer Khalid has had a huge couple of years. His first album American Teen earned him Grammy nominations in 2018 for Best New Artist, Best R&B Song, and Best Urban Contemporary Album. Though he whiffed on all three of those, the 21-year old is no stranger to the big stage, and is nominated again here for the lead single off his 2019 album Free Spirit. Free Spirit was neither the commercial nor critical success of its predecessor, but "Talk" was a mainstay on the radio for nearly the entire year, and it's not hard to see why. Khalid employs the use of English electro duo Disclosure, and their simple electronic beat partners surprisingly well with the smooth vocals of the talented singer.
"Hey, Ma" - Bon Iver
Odds: 19-2
Peak Chart Position (General): n/a
Peak Chart Position (Alternative): 18th
Daniel's Production Value Ranking: 9/10
Especially in the young era of 8 nominees, it is fairly common for there to be a shock nominee in these General fields. This year, Bon Iver and "Hey, Ma" fit the bill. The indie, neo-folk group, largely the creative brainchild of Justin Vernon, is of course well-known and widely respected in the music industry. But in a category that inevitably finds itself stocked full of pop artists and radio smashes, an entry from Bon Iver, even if it is their best-performing single from the latest album, feels out of place. Unsurprisingly, it's a long shot to win, but that's a shame, as the production really is terrific: the building crescendo of beeps, horns, and drums give way to a restful, contemplative denouement.
"Hard Place" - H.E.R.
Odds: 9-1
Peak Chart Position (General): n/a
Peak Chart Position (R&B/Hip-Hop): 5th
Daniel's Production Value Ranking: 5/10
This song would also fit the bill of the aforementioned "shock nominee," perhaps even more so than the more ubiquitous Bon Iver, but given H.E.R.'s stunning Grammy nods just last year, the surprise of her inclusion is a little lessened this time around. Even though it wasn't on the eponymous album for which she was nominated in 2019, H.E.R. performed this song at last year's Grammys, and it was one of the more remarkable performances on the night. "Hard Place" is a wonderful song that should be listened to and re-listened to, but its nomination for Record of the Year is a bit bizarre. The production isn't bad by any means, but isn't particularly noteworthy. A backing gospel choir is a really nice touch, but otherwise, this song is pretty much down to H.E.R.'s voice and guitar.
"Sunflower" - Post Malone and Swae Lee
Odds: 17-2
Peak Chart Position (General): 1st
Peak Chart Position (R&B/Hip-Hop): 1st
Daniel's Production Value Ranking: 8/10
The only nominee to be an original song off of a motion picture soundtrack, "Sunflower" didn't just play a part in the Oscar-winning Spider-man: Into the Spider-verse, but went on to become a radio mainstay, as evidenced by its chart performance. Its success shouldn't be surprising: it partners Swae Lee, who has quickly become one of the most featured vocalists in the Hip-Hop world, and Post Malone, who has become one of the most recognizable figures in popular music, and the latter was nominated for this award just last year thanks to his collaboration with 21 Savage on "Rockstar." Oh yeah, and there's the fact that it's remarkably catchy despite being short in length, making good use of the thumping drums and guitar strums.
"7 Rings" -Ariana Grande
Odds: 8-1
Peak Chart Position (General): 1st
Peak Chart Position (Pop): 1st
Daniel's Production Value Ranking: 10/10
Ariana Grande, who even the most ardent Taylor Swift or Katy Perry fans must concede has become the undisputed Queen of Pop in the last two years, is seeing a lot more Grammy love for her 2019 release thank u, next than she did for her last album Sweetener. That said, of an album that featured at one time the #s 1, 2, and 3 songs in the Billboard Hot 100, "7 Rings" is a disappointing track to see nominated. It features Grande doing a disservice to her talent by attempting a cheap imitation of Soulja Boy, and doing a disservice to her maturity and thoughtfulness by bragging about her absurd material wealth. So this begs the question, how did it perform so well in the charts? A large amount of credit has to go to the song's producers, who are the nominees in this category, after all. I never thought a Sound of Music song could have me nodding my head and bopping along to it the way this did; its beat and musical background are so expertly crafted, it almost makes you forget how dumb of a song this is. Almost.
"Truth Hurts" - Lizzo
Odds: 11-2
Peak Chart Position (General): 1st
Peak Chart Position (Hip-Hop): 1st
Daniel's Production Value Ranking: 9/10
How does a song released in Fall of 2017 get nominated for Record of the Year in 2020? Well, in the wake of its sudden popularity on the social app TikTok, as well as its appearance in the film Someone Great, singer/rapper Lizzo and her team re-released the song as a radio single in Summer of 2019, to mass success. It's unclear whether immediacy of Lizzo's rise to mainstream popularity helped this particular song's chart performance, or if the song fueled the rise in the first place, but regardless, it was one of the hottest tracks of the year. It's a deserving nominee here, too; though the heart and soul are Lizzo's strong vocals and emotionally vulnerable lyrics, the production is near-flawless. The trap beat is addictive, and the opening piano hook has become one of the more recognizable song intros in recent years.
"bad guy" - Billie Eilish
Odds: 5-1
Peak Chart Position (General): 1st
Peak Chart Position (Pop): 1st
Daniel's Production Value Ranking: 10/10
Equalling Lizzo in both the instancy and surprise of her rise to popularity was young Billie Eilish, who just turned 18 last month. Of course, many fans of the singer, whose soft, almost whispered vocals look incongruous with her oft-punk rock appearance, will tell you that her instant success is only surprising because we haven't paid attention. She had built quite an online following before exploding onto pop radio. The biggest contributor to that breakthrough? This song. "bad guy" was everywhere from Summer onward, and had everyone from fellow to teenage girls to middle-aged men singing along to the catchy, playfully-boasting trash talk anthem. Many of Eilish's fans and detractors alike are quick to point to how much of her success she owes to her older brother, Finneas, who collaborates musically and serves as her producer. In this case, there can be little doubt: to borrow a hip colloquialism, Finneas "snapped" on this track. The booming beat, the snapping fingers, the eerie electro-pop hook that always follows the chorus...it's brilliant production, perhaps the best of the year.
"Old Town Road" - Li'l Nas X and Billy Ray Cyrus
Odds: 9-2
Peak Chart Position (General): 1st
Peak Chart Position (R&B/Hip-Hop): 1st
Daniel's Production Value Ranking: 9/10
When Billboard announced it was removing 19-year old rapper/singer Li'l Nas X's "Old Town Road" from the Country charts for "not fitting the definition of Country," they could not have foreseen the reaction they would get, nor what that reaction would bring about. Like Lizzo and Billie before him, Nas had found success through social media and apps like TikTok, and Billboard's removal of the possibly ironic, possibly serious "Country Rap" track infuriated legions of young fans, who found the song legitimate and Billboard's reasoning to be not-so-subtly steeped in racial bias. In the midst of the maelstrom, country singer Billy Ray Cyrus hopped on a remix to provide a guest verses, and though this gesture did not get the song re-instituted on the Country charts, it did shoot "Old Town Road" to the top of the Billboard Hot 100, where it stayed at #1 for a record-breaking nineteen weeks. The track's production is, unsurprisingly, a large reason why, expertly weaving together the catchiest aspects of both Country and Hip-Hop beats. This song would be an abnormal winner of Record of the Year, but based on the year it had, surely couldn't be considered a suprising one.