The 54th Grammy Nominees!

Hello, friends! Laura here. Sometimes I remember I have a blog. Sometimes that reminder comes in the form of Julia, and sometimes that reminder comes in the form of the Grammy nominees being announced.

Here are the nominees for Record of the Year, Song of the Year, Album of the Year, and Best New Artist. I'd LOVE to hear your opinions! Who are you rooting for? Who do you think will win? Are those answers the same person? How do YOU pronounce Bon Iver? What DOES happen If I Die Young? Answers, people. I need answers.

Record of the Year: Remember: this means a single song, and it's for excellence in sound engineering. Think, "recording of the year." It's also come to mean "The Recording You Couldn't Escape This Year." (Think: "Single Ladies.") So Adele might have this one on lock. The nominees are:

Rolling in the Deep - Adele
Holocene - Bon Iver
Grenade - Bruno Mars
The Cave - Mumford and Sons
Firework - Katy Perry

My producer friend Brendan loves Firework, and I tend to default to him on all things music editing. But I can't deny that all of these recordings are stellar. Again, if it goes to "The Recording You Couldn't Escape This Year," Adele takes it.

Song of the Year: for excellence in songwriting. I tend to give this category a mental "Acoustic Coffeehouse Check" and see which song still stands after you strip away all its production. So what do you do with Kanye's "All of the Lights"? In my opinion, that song is a work of art, and the orchestration of the whole thing IS a product of the artists' creativity, not an afterthought of the engineers. It unravels otherwise. So that song just might be my pick, though the nominations are all excellent. What do you think?

All Of The Lights (Kanye West, Rihanna, Kid Cudi & Fergie) Jeff Bhasker, Stacy Ferguson, Malik Jones, Warren Trotter & Kanye West, songwriters
The Cave (Mumford & Sons)Ted Dwane, Ben Lovett, Marcus Mumford & Country Winston, songwriters
Grenade (Bruno Mars) Brody Brown, Claude Kelly, Philip Lawrence, Ari Levine, Bruno Mars & Andrew Wyatt, songwriters
Holocene (Bon Iver) Justin Vernon, songwriter
Rolling in the Deep (Adele) Adele Adkins & Paul Epworth, songwriters

Album of the Year: the whole CD. For the sake of full disclosure, the only one I've heard in its entirety is Gaga's, and it's a work of art. If you listen to the radio, however, you've heard several songs from all of the following albums. I love me some Foo Fighters. Then again, Adele had a huge year. Then again, Rihanna cranked out the hits like a champ in 2011. Then again, I begrudgingly acknowledge that Bruno Mars is talented. (But only begrudgingly. Why is that? You're with me, right?) Thoughts? Insights? Do you know any of the unreleased stuff?

21 - Adele
Wasting Light - Foo Fighters
Born This Way - Lady Gaga
Doo-Wops and Hooligans - Bruno Mars
Loud - Rihanna

Can we also acknowledge what a bitch Adele is for naming them after how old she is when they're released? It's like she's rubbing it in. Pardon me while I work on my debut solo project, "26."

Best New Artist: the nominees:

The Band Perry
Bon Iver
J.Cole
Nicki Minaj
Skrillex

I know Julia hates The Band Perry. Wait. Maybe it's Lady Antebellum she hates. I get the two confused... (I don't, but you see my point.)

I'm hot and cold with Bon Iver, people. Rant starts here: I saw a friend tweet about their album, so I picked it up. Though beautiful, I honestly found it to be a bit redundant. I also don't understand why someone with such a naturally sexy, gritty, baritone voice would spend an hour singing to me in falsetto.

When it was announced that they were nominated for a Grammy, I, like a sheep, thought that I must have overlooked their genius and somehow owed the album another listen. Besides, when you play the 10-second-awards-show-snippet of each nominated song back to back, Bon Iver's ethereal orchestra is downright beautiful.

Then, I stumbled across the New York Times article of lead singer Justin Vernon saying that the Grammys don't matter. And while I agree with much of what Vernon says about the motivations behind the people in the popular music industry, I believe there is a time and place to say so. There's "too cool for school" and there's "ungrateful," and I think you have to toe that line carefully, especially if you want people to continue to support you and your music in this economy. So although the hipsters will love you for saying the Grammys don't matter, I take offense. I am someone who writes blog posts about the Grammys, you see.

There's no denying Nicki Minaj had a huge year, but last year the relatively unknown Esperanza Spalding took home the award, so we can't eliminate the possibility it could be Skrillex or J. Cole.

What is a Skrillex? You know Skrillex. The techno song with the "OH MY GOD!" sample? See, I thought you did.

What is a J. Cole? I, uh... don't know.

Popping Up 80s and 90s (Is Nothing Sacred?!)

So I've been contemplating the use of 80s and 90s guilty pleasures in 2011 commercials for a while now. I think it all started when Old Navy and Target launched these campaigns around late summer/early fall:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qFz4pCl5CE4&noredirect=1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xp3COgnacmE&feature=related

I took notice because FACT: I may or may not have owned a Billy Ocean 45 AND/or Debbie Gibson piano book as an eight year old. I did, in fact, want to BE Debbie Gibson, so I found Old Navy's "Only in My Jeans" commercial blasphemy. You can't mess with Debbie! She's sacred!
Here's the REAL video here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IivGqwQvdCI&feature=related

I mean, she was only 16! And wrote all her own lyrics! Which is probably most evident in the song "Electric Youth" (which inspired the 90s perfume by the same name....LONG before J Lo's Glo or Spears' Curious...):

Zappin it to ya...the pressure's everywhere! Goin' right through ya...the fever's in the air! Oh, yeah! It's there! Don't underestimate the power, of a lifetime ahead....


I mean, any song that can start with the phrase "Zappin' it to ya" is nothing short of lyrical genius. Please.

Then there were M&Ms and State Farm respectively:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ucHCgc48Z1s

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mjO1AQZu2g0

And I started to take notice. Why the sudden interest in all my 80s and 90s pop music guilty pleasures?! Is nothing truly sacred anymore? Dirty Dancing? (Patrick Swayze, RIP) TLC? (Lisa 'Left Eye' Lopez, RIP).

And, sadly, it took my mother to point out to me: Julia, YOU are the demographic marketers are marketing towards now.

So, in other words: I'm 30 and I'm old.

These marketers- particularly the State Farm TLC commercial- assume that my peer group a.) has the money and b.) the power to use it. They also apparently assume we are all married with children which- if they were to even consult with my 89 year old grandmother, she would all to eagerly point out this is NOT the case for all of us, namely yours truly (and this pains her greatly. She would "just like to see a wedding before she dies, already/" Ahem.)

I actually feel a little insulted that a.) I am now old enough to be the market target for these companies and b.) that they feel the need to distort my favorite pop memories and pull on my nostalgic pop heartstrings.

I suppose these campaigns are effective and that some of my peers actually do have the money to be their target focus group. Me, however? I just have a pop blog and a deep affinity for all things 80s and pop. Which  is enough, I guess.

ps- Who's ready for the Grammys, huh?!?! It's that time of year again! Yeah!

Peace,
Julia