The Nominees: Album Of The Year
The last general category up in our pre-Grammys preview is also the biggest award of the night: Album of the Year.
As has been discussed on this blog the last few years, this is the closest equivalent to a Best Picture for the Grammys. Album of the Year recognizes a full catalog of musicianship, and historically, this is the one category the Grammys have actually done a fairly good job of nominating the best in addition to the biggest. That being said, that has not always (or even often) translated to the best body of work actually winning the prize. Case in point: in alternating years, Kendrick Lamar and Beyoncé lost the award despite having the biggest AND best albums of their respective eligibility periods. The last two winners haven't provided much clarity either: where Kacey Musgraves' victory last year for Golden Hour might have signified a change in the tide in that regard, Billie Eilish's clean sweep of the major awards, including a win in this category for When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? was a reversion to "biggest name wins."
The Album of the Year race this year is unlike the several that preceded it. The last two years saw a wide open contest, with nearly every nominee in both 2019 and 2020 having a legitimate belief they could win. The years before that saw more of a defined two-horse race, but often it was a battle between the critical favorite vs. the commercial favorite: Kendrick Lamar's DAMN. vs. Bruno Mars' 24K Magic, or the former's To Pimp A Butterfly vs. Taylor Swift's 1989 or Beyoncé's Lemonade vs. Adele's 25. This year, it is more than likely a two-horse race again, but the two horses in question, Swift and Dua Lipa, have pretty much equal standing commercially AND critically. Throwing a spanner in the works is the fact that the rest of the field is full of wild cards. And I mean wild cards. In my preview of the contenders for this award last fall, a grand total of 5 (!!) of the 8 nominees weren't even on my radar. Furthermore, if the last year has taught us anything, it's to expect the unexpected. So, let those guessing games begin!
In order from worst to best odds, according to GoldDerby.com:
Djesse Vol. 3 - Jacob Collier
Odds: 19-2
Peak Chart Position (Billboard): n/a
Metacritic rating: n/a
Strongest Song: "All I Need"
Weakest Song: "Count The People"
Daniel's Overall Ranking: 5.5/10
Just how underground is Jacob Collier and his nominated album? Djesse Vol. 3 both didn't chart in the Billboard Top 200 and registered so few critical reviews that it doesn't have a score on review aggregator Metacritic. In a year full of surprise nominees-- to put it mildly --this is easily the most stunning of the bunch. Collier, the 26-year old British R&B/electronica artist, is clearly a musical savant; one just has to watch his YouTube videos to figure that out. But Djesse Vol. 3 is just a bit too much. Its R&B-heavy highs are frequently offset by over-produced computer-noise-infested tracks. It's a weird Album of the Year nominee, and an understandable longshot.
Black Pumas - Black Pumas
Odds: 9-1
Peak Chart Position (Billboard): 160th
Metacritic rating: 77
Strongest Song: "Colors"
Weakest Song: "Stay Gold"
Daniel's Overall Ranking: 8/10
Black Pumas' Album of the Year nod, for their self-titled album, was also shocking. But like H.E.R. before them, there was at least a little forewarning for the stunning inclusion, as the little-known also landed a surprising Best New Artist nomination last year. Still, for the little-known psychedelic soul duo to get the Grammys' premier recognition with their debut album, a quite underground release, is extremely unexpected. That said, I genuinely don't think it's outside the realm of possibility that Black Pumas scores an upset victory. The album slaps, and though name recognition puts them at a serious disadvantage, if all of the Academy voters genuinely listen to each album before voting on a winner, they may find it hard to resist.
Chilombo - Jhené Aiko
Odds: 9-1
Peak Chart Position (Billboard): 2nd
Metacritic rating: 62
Strongest Song: "Lightning & Thunder"
Weakest Song: "None Of Your Concern"
Daniel's Overall Ranking: 6/10
Jhené Aiko has garnered a nice reputation for herself as a respected R&B artist. So it's a bit surprising that this album, her least acclaimed to date, was the one that helped her break through to the Grammys main stage. Chilombo was a hit with fans at least, debuting at #2 on the Billboard charts. I am a fan of Aiko's honeyed voice (how could I not be?), but having listened to this album a couple times now, I share the critical consensus of "meh." It's never anything less than pleasant, but it's also hardly ever anything more than merely pleasant. 6th place out of 8 feels about where this album should be "ranked."
Everyday Life - Coldplay
Odds: 8-1
Peak Chart Position (Billboard): 7th
Metacritic rating: 73
Strongest Song: "Arabesque"
Weakest Song: "Daddy"
Daniel's Overall Ranking: 8/10
Despite all the surprising inclusions and exclusions for this award this year more than any year before it, the one that seemed to elicit the strongest adverse reaction was Coldplay's nomination. Perhaps it's to be expected, it's so ubiquitous to shit on Coldplay that it's basically become a meme. But social media snark aside, this is a deserved nomination. Everyday Life was perhaps the world-famous band's quietest release of their discography, though it still charted in the Top 10 on Billboard, but that only reflected the shift in favoring better over bigger. With a couple exceptions, they largely forsook the placating stadium anthem pop-rock that vaulted them to their stature and focused instead on a blend of musical styles that reflected lyrical themes of racial and cultural prejudice. It would be a surprise for this album to be the one to deliver Coldplay's first ever major Grammy, but it's not out of the question.
Hollywood's Bleeding - Post Malone
Odds: 8-1
Peak Chart Position (Billboard): 1st
Metacritic rating: 79
Strongest Song: "Sunflower"
Weakest Song: "A Thousand Bad Times"
Daniel's Overall Ranking: 5/10
Post Malone, for a relatively short discography, already has quite a Grammy track record. As discussed in our Record of the Year preview, this is his 3rd straight year earning a nomination for that award, and now Hollywood's Bleeding has gotten him his 2nd AOTY nomination in 3 years, following his nod for Beerbongs & Bentleys in 2019. Just as I was two years ago, I'm a bit confused as to why exactly Post Malone is an Album of the Year nominee. Does Hollywood's Bleeding have the occasional bop? Sure. Was it a commercial success? Definitely. Is there anything memorable about the album? Nothing at all. Radio hits "Sunflower," "Circles," and "Wow" are catchy, energetic tunes, but the rest of the album is track after track of forgettable punk/hip-hop/pop.
Women in Music Pt. III - HAIM
Odds: 15-2
Peak Chart Position (Billboard): 13th
Metacritic rating: 89
Strongest Song: "Hallelujah"
Weakest Song: "I've Been Down"
Daniel's Overall Ranking: 9/10
Sister rock trio HAIM were Best New Artist nominees back in 2015 but this is their first major Grammy nomination since then. It's well-deserved too; Women in Music Pt. III is not the biggest-selling album on this list, but was the best-reviewed, and it's not hard to see why. The Haim sisters display deft abilities in multiple genres, and the often soul-baring, often cutting lyrics touch on everything from grief to misogyny to loneliness. It's hard to see this album knocking off the two pop powerhouses that come next in this piece, but if there is to be an upset, HAIM isn't a bad pick.
Future Nostalgia - Dua Lipa
Odds: 5-1
Peak Chart Position (Billboard): 1st
Metacritic rating: 88
Strongest Song: "Levitating"
Weakest Song: "Cool"
Daniel's Overall Ranking: 9.5/10
For the first half of 2020, and perhaps significantly, through the first few months of #worldwidequarantine, Future Nostalgia was THE album. No surprise then, that it's not only nominated for Album of the Year, but is also one of the frontrunners to win the award. Dua Lipa's second studio album is a pure pop masterclass. Lest you think its consistently high reviews are old fogies pandering to 'poptimism,' trust me when I say it's without a weak link in its tracklist. Sure, some songs work better than others, but the worst songs on Future Nostalgia could still find themselves in the better half of most recent pop releases. And the best ones? "Levitating." "Don't Start Now." "Love Again." "Break My Heart." "Pretty Please." "Hallucinate." The album features banger after banger that seamlessly meld traditional pop with funk, disco, and Euro-club beats. The combination of critical acclaim, radio omnipresence, and cross-generational musical appeal make Dua Lipa a real contender for the top award.
folklore - Taylor Swift
Odds: 4-1
Peak Chart Position (Billboard): 1st
Metacritic rating: 88
Strongest Song: "seven"
Weakest Song: "the 1"
Daniel's Overall Ranking: 9/10
Through July, it appeared Dua had a pretty solid grasp on the lead for this race. Then a relative unknown named Taylor Swift dropped an album on an unsuspecting nation, and the hype train was on its way. folklore is a serious stylistic departure from just about everything Swift has done in the last decade, leaning much more heavily on, well, folk and other stripped-back indie influences than the radio-ready pop she'd been pumping out. But she is so recognizable and influential of a pop figure at this point that that fact couldn't stop this album from shooting to the top of the charts and breaking digital sales records, despite its predecessor being released just one year earlier. folklore is nothing short of a beautiful album, simple yet ethereal musicality pairing with some amazing lyrical storytelling. Perhaps the biggest argument for its frontrunner status, though, is how timely the album felt. It's been described by many, including myself, as the perfect quarantine listen. Quiet, calming, warm, and yet heart-aching and lonely, all in one.
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