Pop Music

5 Exciting Nominations and 5 Shocking Snubs

Published

2 years ago

November 23, 2021

Da Mixx

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The nominations are in for the 2022 Grammy Awards!

The upcoming year’s ceremony will be a little different from the past. Notably, the Recording Academy decided to up the amount of contestants in the running for the night’s Big Four categories (Album of the Year, Song of the Year, Record of the Year and Best New Artist) from eight to 10, according to Billboard. That means that there are even more talented artists in the running for recognition during the Biggest Night in Music.

Who got love from the Academy this year? Jon Batiste leads the field of nominees; The musician has an impressive 11 nods to his name. Following close behind are Justin Bieber, Doja Cat and H.E.R., each with eight nominations a piece. Billie Eilish and Olivia Rodrigo snagged seven.

You can peruse the full list of nominees here.

Per usual, the Recording Academy got some things very right when it came time to highlight some of the past year’s best musical releases. For instance, Selena Gomez and ABBA both became first-time Grammy nominees. However, there will always be some unfortunate snubs. This year was no exception.

From well-deserved nominations to seriously overlooked offerings from a crew of talented artists, these are 10 exciting nominations and disappointing snubs for the 2022 Grammy Award nominations.

1

Olivia Rodrigo Snags Nods in All of the Big 4

There’s no denying that Olivia Rodrigo dominated the music scene in 2021. “Driver’s License” reached the pinnacle position on the Billboard Hot 100 and stayed there. She also had plenty of luck with follow-up singles including “Good 4 U” and her debut album Sour.

Her awe-inspiring year is being rewarded in a big way by the Recording Academy. She goes into the 2022 Grammy Awards with 7 nods to her name. Four of those are within the Big Four categories. If she gets lucky, she could follow in the footsteps of Billie Eilish and sweep the night’s highest honors.

BTS’s “Butter” Missed Out On Record or Song of the Year

BTS made history ahead of this year’s Grammys. According to BBC, the legendary septet became the first K-Pop group to be nominated in the show’s history when their smash “Dynamite” snagged a Best Pop Duo/Group Performance nod. They didn’t take home the win in 2021, but they’ll get another shot at it next year.

Their smooth anthem “Butter” is in the running for the same category for the 2022 ceremony. While that’s an exciting win, the hit-makers should be up for even loftier awards. Surely “Butter,” which topped the Billboard Hot 100 for 10 weeks, deserved attention in the Song or Record of the Year categories.

FINNEAS is Up For Best New Artist

FINNEAS is no stranger to the Recording Academy. He’s been nominated for his behind the scenes work as a producer for the likes of his sister Billie Eilish in both 2020 and 2021. He’s even snagged a couple of wins including Producer of the Year, Non-classical.

This year, FINNEAS is credited alongside Eilish for several major awards. That’s exciting, but even more so is the fact that his solo music is getting some recognition. The hit-maker snagged a nod in the Best New Artist category, where he faces off with the likes of Olivia Rodrigo and Saweetie.

Kacey Musgraves Missed Out On Album of the Year

Kacey Musgraves earned her status as a Grammy Darling when she snagged an Album of the Year win for 2019’s Golden Hour. Expectations were high that she’d have every bit as much luck when she returned with star-crossed this year. Sadly the stars did not align.

Going into the nominations, we already knew that the Recording Academy already decided that the album would not be eligible for the Best Country Album category. That left her divorce album in the running for pop categories or the Big Four. She was not able to earn nominations in either.

Thankfully, Musgraves wasn’t totally shut out. Her song “camera roll” snagged nods in the Best Country Solo Performance and Best Country Song categories. It’s something, but she certainly deserved more.

“Montero (Call Me By Your Name)” Got Its Roses

Lil Nas X proved himself to be anything but a one-hit wonder this year. He snagged the top spot on the Billboard Hot 100 twice with “Montero (Call Me By Your Name)” and “Industry Baby,” dropped a well-received album and shook things up every step of the way.

His status as one of the music’s biggest stars is being well and truly recognized by the Recording Academy this year. He previously lost out on the title of Best New Artist to Billie Eilish in 2020, but Lil Nas X is in the running for several of the biggest honors of the night at the 2022 Grammy Awards.

Notably, “Montero (Call Me By Your Name)” is up for both Song and Record of the Year. His album Montero is also in the running for Album of the Year. All things considered it is fantastic to see the budding hit-maker get his roses.

Where Is Miley Cyrus?

Did the music industry forget Miley Cyrus dropped an incredible album last year? Plastic Hearts was a rock-infused opus, yet it has gotten no love at awards shows this year. Sadly, the project’s record does not improve with the Grammys.

Cyrus and her album were totally overlooked by the Recording Academy this year. While it’s disappointing, it’s not totally surprising. The hit-maker has had something of an interesting relationship with the Grammys. After all, this year we learned more about how her timeless ballad “The Climb” was nominated and then un-nominated for the 2010 awards show. Hopefully her next project gets the love and respect she very clearly deserves.

Selena Gomez Lands Her First Grammy Nomination

Selena Gomez has an impressive and hit-filled music career. But the Recording Academy seemed to miss the message for whatever reason (we’re trying not to judge them for a clear lack of taste). Prior to this year, the Revival star had not been nominated for a single Grammy.

That changes now. Gomez got some love from the Grammys for her Spanish-language EP Revelación. The project is in the running for Best Latin Pop Album, and fans are rightfully celebrating, according to Elle. Hopefully the “Lose You To Love Me” singer is also riding high on finally getting recognition for her work!

Ariana Grande Missed the Big 4 Entirely

Ariana Grande is no stranger to the Recording Academy. She’s been in the running in several major categories over the years and has taken home a couple wins. For instance, she shared a Grammy with Lady Gaga at the 2021 Grammy Awards for their anthem “Rain On Me.”

This year Grande’s facing off against her pop peers in the Best Pop Solo Performance and Best Pop Vocal Album categories for her album and single “Positions.” However, it seems like an oversight to leave the chart-topping album and single out of the running for bigger awards such as Song or Album of the Year.

If it’s any consolation, her “Rain On Me” collaborator got shown some love in the Album of the Year category. Gaga’s nominated for her Tony Bennett-assisted Love For Sale.

ABBA Danced Their Way to Their First Grammy Nomination

Swedish pop collective ABBA is in possession of one of the most iconic discographies in the history of recorded music. Everyone knows “Dancing Queen,” for instance, and Madonna famously sampled their anthem “Gimme Gimme Gimme (A Man After Midnight)” on her smash “Hung Up.” Surely the group is a Grammy Darling?

Shockingly, the answer to that question is no. Up until this year, ABBA had not received a single nomination from the Recording Academy. Thankfully, history has been corrected; the group snagged a Record of the Year nod for their song “I Still Have Faith In You.” We love to see it!

Drake’s ‘Certified Lover Boy’ Missed Album of the Year

Drake’s latest album Certified Lover Boy nabbed a Grammy nomination in the Best Rap Album category. Album track “Way 2 Sexy” also got some love in the Best Rap Performance category, where it faces off against the likes of Cardi B’s “Up” and Megan Thee Stallion’s “Thot S–t.” Those are exciting wins for the Canadian rapper.

However, it seems like a glaring omission to exclude Drake from the Big Four. After all, Certified Lover Boy scored the biggest opening week of the year when it dropped in September, according to Billboard. Of course, it’s record has since been toppled by Adele’s 30, according to early reporting by Variety. The album likely should have gotten a bit more love. After all, Lil Nas X’s Montero (which bowed in at number 2 on the Billboard 200 behind Certified Lover Boy) snagged an Album of the Year nod.

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Pop Music

St. Vincent Covers “Funkytown” For Minions: The Rise of Gru

Published

12 months ago

June 3, 2022

DJ Hittman

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Some things in life are inevitable. For a while, that inevitably was a new Shrek movie with an updated pop cover like “I’m a Believer” from Smash Mouth. These days it’s a new Despicable Me movie, this time in the form of spinoff Minions The Rise of Gru. And just as we all predicted, the new Steve Carrell led film comes stacked with a loaded soundtrack headlined by St. Vincent.

For her contribution to the Minions: The Rise of Gru soundtrack, St. Vincent covered “Funkytown” by Lipps Inc. Her version was produced by Jack Antonoff and continues a run of luck for the musician that earlier this year saw her win a Grammy for Best Alternative Music Album.

Antonoff also gave St. Vincent a shout-out for her album Daddy’s Home when he won Producer of the Year at the Grammys.

Announcing the release of her funky cover, St. Vincent took to Twitter and wrote, “Excited to say the @Minions (including @jackantonoff) and I have just released our version of ‘Funkytown’ from #TheRiseofGru soundtrack. Shout out to Gru and them…” Included with the post was a graphic of St. Vincent as a minion.

Joining St. Vincent on the Minions: The Rise of Gru soundtrack are Tame Impala, Kali Uchis, Brittany Howard, Thundercat, Caroline Polachek, Diana Ross, and Weyes Blood, just to name a few.

The album will be released on July 1, coinciding with the film’s theatrical release. You can listen to St. Vincent’s cover of Lipps Inc. “Funkytown” below!

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Parmalee Shares The Music Video For Their Top Five US Hit ‘Take My Name’, A Musical Marriage Proposal.

Published

12 months ago

June 3, 2022

DJ Hittman

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Back in October of 2021, Parmalee released ‘Take My Name’ as the second single from their third studio album. It was written with and produced by David Fanning, producer of the massive hit ‘Carolina’ that introduced me to the band back in 2008, Ashley Gorley and Ben Johnson. Robyn Collins of ‘Taste of Country’ described the song as “a musical marriage proposal” and lead singer of the band, Matt Thomas, says it was inspired by the marriage of brother Scott; he says “it made me think about what I would want to say to my future wife.”

Some songs almost become bigger than themselves when they tap into the lives and moods of everyone and this is very much one of those songs. It’s not difficult to see why this song has been adopted by fans all over the world irrespective of their taste in music; its words conjure all the romance and love that you’d hope to feel when you ask someone to marry you. It’s lyrically a shopping list of everything you feel at the moment you realise you’ve met the one, even if that’s after only a short time. I remember proposing to my wife after just 8 weeks and if I try to remember what I was feeling at the point I proposed and tried to put it into words I would hope it was very similar to this song. Now over 31 years later and still happily married I listen to this song and it brings all those feelings back in a rush so why wouldn’t it be the perfect song to overlay a proposal, sing at the wedding or just be part of the moment; it’s how I’d love my sons to feel when they propose to their partners.

Parmalee are very aware of their fans needs and were quick to record a wedding version for such occasions with a less catchy percussion and a softer piano focussed vibe than the original version. There have even been brilliant occasions where the band has turned up to “crash” a wedding and sing this song to the happy couple reminiscent of Maroon 5 and their song ‘Sugar’. None of those guests will forget that wedding in a hurry!

With all the interest in the song and the brilliant videos and messages the band have received, they felt the time was right to make their own narrative video to accompany the song as an addition to the previously released visualizer. The ‘Wedding Version’ video of the romantic song was filmed in Gallatin, TN and directed by Shane Drake. The heart-warming story follows the journey of the protagonist through middle school and all the way to adulthood featuring kids from a local school, an original 1968 Mustang Shelby GT350 and appearances from the band with the lead being played by frontman Matt Thomas.

Matt says:

“From the jump, the fans have really latched onto this song in such an amazing, life changing way- our fans have been the reason for so many of our own major milestones, so it means that much more to us that folks are using our song for their proposals and weddings and allowing us to be a part of those major moments in their lives. We wanted to pay tribute to the fans who have been on this journey with us since the beginning so in the music video you’ll see a story of love and loyalty unfold across the years-but don’t expect to see any weddings or proposals – the fan created videos far exceed anything we could depict. We love watching them.”

With over 135 million global on demand streams, the song has raced up the Country charts, outpacing the band’s previous single, the multinational Number 1 smash ‘Just The Way’ with Blanco Brown and has been popping up all over TikTok with creators playing the song over proposal and wedding videos and even sparking a trend of using the sound of the song and writing “if your man doesn’t make you feel this way then what are you doing?” over the video.

Parmalee - Take My Name (Official Music Video)

Coming from their recently released album ‘For You’, an album that has garnered critical acclaim with American Songwriter calling it “authentically real, genuinely inspired” and Billboard saying that “Parmalee find itself in the enviable position of being able to tap into multiple audiences”. What is very clear is that Country music is slowly starting to find a new, younger audience in the UK to stand alongside the existing fans of the genre. Zack Bryan has recently found himself high on the Spotify album charts and UK stars like Ed Sheeran have appeared alongside Country stars like Luke Combs at the Country2Country festival. Even Tom Odell has found himself headlining the British Country Music Festival in the Summer. Parmalee may be the band to really break down the barriers between Country music and the UK Charts with this song as the musical genre of this release is far less important than the honesty and emotion of the lyrics and Romance will always break down all of the barriers, or at least I would hope it would.

‘For You’ is out now and can be streamed and downloaded here. Find out more about Parmalee and their music online on their official website.

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Mercedess Releases debut album ‘Casa Fantasia’ along with lead single ‘Summers Already Gone’

Published

12 months ago

June 3, 2022

DJ Hittman

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This Copenhagen DIY pop artist has managed the difficult task of mixing her soulful voice with vibrant dreamy production and lyrics with real streetwise attitude. The result is something that has given her the hit single ‘Obvious’ which Danish radio loved and the internationally acclaimed single ‘Back to Business’. Now she is releasing the excellent lead single ‘Summer’s Already Gone’ which sounds very modern Bond in its lo fi production but tells an unusual love story. Not a story about falling in love with a person, but about the love affair that always ends; the affair with Summer.

She says:

“I wanted to write a song that could represent both the fearlessness of the magical Summer days and the truly blue sadness of the re occuring love story it actually is when Summer eventually comes to an end. I know it’s a heartbreaking, melancholy feeling but it’s also everything I love about Summer.”

The song was written in Mercedess’ living room with Danish indie superstar Goss and the guitarist Søren Breum and is produced by the critically acclaimed artist Vera. It allows the velvet of the artist’s voice to tumble over the muted trumpets, break beats and flirty acoustic guitars and strings bringing to life the seasonal heartbreak.

The fact that it is about the love and anticipation felt for Summer is almost more poignant this year as we embark upon the first free Summer for a few years. The affair with Summer this year promises to be a torrid passionate affair as we’ve been apart so long but the heartbreak of its end will be felt more keenly. This song will be the soundtrack to the affair for sure.

The single is released on the same day as the debut album from this exciting new talent. Mercedess says of the album: “Casa Fantasia is an album about longing for closeness and honesty. These songs are an escape from reality-a place to feel free and be yourself. Writing it was a personal journey and process to me that hopefully will make space for creativity, art and emotions for others too”

The album promises to do just that with the artist’s melancholy and yet warm and dreamy vocals and marks an exciting new chapter for an artist destined to find international acclaim with this collection of music. Summer may come and go but I’m sure the appeal of Mercedess will be perennial.

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