The 64th Grammy Awards nominations are out

Let’s begin with a question: Does anyone care about the Grammys anymore? I’ll even expand that to “Does anyone care about awards shows anymore?” Given the dismal ratings of these programs in recent years, the answer seems to be “not really.”

Still, it’s content for a post. Here are some notes on who has been nominated for a Grammy in selected categories. For the full list, go here.

Record Of The Year:

• “I Still Have Faith In You” — ABBA – Seriously? The song was a total stiff, completely DOA. No love at radio, no chart action to speak of.
• “Freedom” — JON BATISTE
• “I Get A Kick Out Of You” — TONY BENNETT & LADY GAGA – A tribute/sympathy nod to 95-year-old Tony Bennett who is suffering from dementia.
• “Peaches” — JUSTIN BIEBER FEATURING DANIEL CAESAR & GIVEON
• “Right On Time” — BRANDI CARLILE
• “Kiss Me More” — DOJA CAT FEATURING SZA
• “Happier Than Ever” — BILLIE EILISH
• “Montero” (Call Me By Your Name) — LIL NAS X
• “drivers license” — OLIVIA RODRIGO
• “LEAVE THE DOOR OPEN” — SILK SONIC

Album Of The Year:

• We Are — JON BATISTE
• Love For Sale — TONY BENNETT & LADY GAGA
• Justice (Triple Chucks Deluxe) — JUSTIN BIEBER
• Planet Her (Deluxe) — DOJA CAT
• Happier Than Ever — BILLIE EILISH
• Back Of My Mind — H.E.R.
• Montero — LIL NAS X
• Sour — OLIVIA RODRIGO
• Evermore — TAYLOR SWIFT
• Donda — KANYE WEST

Just to underscore how many people can be called in to write and produce a single album, here is the full list of sub-nominees for Justin Bieber’s album. T

BEAM, benny blanco, Burna Boy, Daniel Caesar, Chance The Rapper, DaBaby, Dominic Fike, Giveon, Jaden, Tori Kelly, Khalid, The Kid LAROI, Lil Uzi Vert & Quavo, featured artists; Amy Allen, Louis Bell, Jon Bellion, Justin Bieber, benny blanco, BMW Kenny, Capi, Dreamlab, Dvlp, Jason Evigan, FINNEAS, The Futuristics, German, Josh Gudwin, Jimmie Gutch, HARV, Marvin “Tony” Hemmings, Ilya, Rodney “Darkchild” Jerkins, Stefan Johnson, KCdaproducer, Denis Kosiak, The Monsters & Strangerz, Jorgen Odegard, Michael Pollack, Poo Bear, Shndo, Skrillex, Jake Torrey, Trackz, Andrew Watt & Ido Zmishlany, producers; Cory Bice, benny blanco, Kevin “Capi” Carbo, Edwin Diaz, DJ Durel, Dreamlab, FINNEAS, Josh Gudwin, Sam Holland, Daniel James, Antonio Kearney, Denis Kosiak, Paul LaMalfa, Jeremy Lertola, Devin Nakao, Chris “TEK” O’Ryan, Andres Osorio, Micah Pettit & Benjamin Thomas, engineers/mixers; Amy Allen, Delacey (Brittany Amaradio), Louis Bell, Jonathan Bellion, Chancelor Johnathon Bennett, Justin Bieber, David Bowden, Jason Boyd, Scott Braun, Tommy Lee Brown, Valentin Brunn, Kevin Carbo, Kenneth Coby, Kevin Coby, Raul Cubina, Jordan Douglas, Giveon Dezmann Evans, Jason Evigan, Dominic David Fike, Kameron Glasper, Jacob Greenspan, Josh Gudwin, James Gutch, Scott Harris, Bernard Harvey, Leah Haywood, Gregory Aldae Hein, Marvin Hemmings, Jeffrey Howard, Alexander Izquierdo, Daniel James, Jace Logan Jennings, Rodney Jerkins, Jordan K. Johnson, Stefan Johnson, Anthony M. Jones, Antonio Kearney, Charlton Kenneth, Joe Khajadourian, Felisha “Fury” King, Jonathan Lyndale Kirk, Matthew Sean Leon, Benjamin Levin, Marcus Lomax, Quavious Keyate Marshall, Luis Manuel Martinez Jr., Sonny Moore, Finneas O’Connell, Jorgen Odegard, Damini Ebunoluwa Ogulu, Tayla Parx, Oliver Peterhof, Whitney Phillips, Michael Pollack, Khalid Donnel Robinson, Ilya Salmanzadeh, Alex Schwartz, Tia Scola, Aaron Simmonds, Ashton Simmonds, Gian Stone, Ali Tamposi, Ryan Tedder, Tyshane Thompson, Jake Torrey, Billy Walsh, Freddy Wexler, Symere Woods, Andrew Wotman, Rami Yacoub, Keavan Yazdani, Bigram Zayas & Ido Zmishlany, songwriters; Colin Leonard, mastering engineer

That’s a lot of trophies. The list for H.E.R.’s album is just as long. Same thing with Ye’s Donda.

Best New Artist:

• AROOJ AFTAB
• JIMMIE ALLEN
• BABY KEEM
• FINNEAS
• GLASS ANIMALS
• JAPANESE BREAKFAST
• THE KID LAROI
• ARLO PARKS
• OLIVIA RODRIGO
• SAWEETIE

How many of these people will we be talking about in a year? I know, right?

Best Alternative Music Album:

• Shore — FLEET FOXES
• If I Can’t Have Love, I Want Power — HALSEY
• Jubilee — JAPANESE BREAKFAST
• Collapsed In Sunbeams — ARLO PARKS
• Daddy’s Home — ST. VINCENT

If Halsey doesn’t win, someone needs to mount an insurrection. Although I will accept a win for St. Vincent, too.

Best Rock Performance:

• Shot In The Dark – AC/DC
• Know You Better (Live From Capitol Studio A) – Black Pumas
• Nothing Compares 2 U – Chris Cornell
• Ohms – Deftones
• Making A Fire – Foo Fighters

Just give it to the Foos.

Best Metal Performance:

• Genesis – Deftones
• The Alien – Dream Theater
• Amazonia – Gojira
• Pushing The Tides – Mastodon
• The Triumph Of King Freak (A Crypt Of Preservation And Superstition) – Rob Zombie

I’m pulling for Mastodon. The album was produced by Canadian David Botrill.

Best Rock Song:

• All My Favorite Songs, Rivers Cuomo, Ashley Gorley, Ben Johnson & Ilsey Juber, songwriters (Weezer)
• The Bandit. Caleb Followill, Jared Followill, Matthew Followill & Nathan Followill, songwriters (Kings Of Leon)
• Distance, Wolfgang Van Halen, songwriter (Mammoth WVH)
• Find My Way, Paul McCartney, songwriter (Paul McCartney)
• Waiting On A War, Dave Grohl, Taylor Hawkins, Rami Jaffee, Nate Mendel, Chris Shiflett & Pat Smear, songwriters (Foo Fighters)

Notice how many writers it takes for each song in this category.

Best Rock Album:

• Power Up – AC/DC
• Capitol Cuts – Live From Studio A – Black Pumas
• No One Sings Like You Anymore Vol. 1 – Chris Cornell
• Medicine At Midnight- Foo Fighters
• McCartney III – Paul McCartney

I love the Grammys’ description of this category: “For albums containing at least 51% playing time of new rock, hard rock or metal recordings.“