The Grammys handed out their annual gongs last night and we’re feeling rather smug about it all as only one of our eight predictions came true when it came to opening the envelopes and finding out who was going to go home with those iconic little golden gramophones.
The biggest prediction that we had for the evening unfortunately came to life in the form of Frank Ocean being largely snubbed at the awards ceremony. Sure, he still picked up a Grammy for Best Contemporary R&B Album (and arguably a second with his collaboration with Kaye and Jay-Z) but he missed out on all three of the major awards he was up for. It was not the return that such an incredible year from an immense artist deserved.
Beaten by fun. for the Best New Artist accolade (despite this actually being their second album), by Gotye for Record Of The Year and Mumford & Sons for Best Album, Frank didn’t pick up the gongs some thought he might. We were rooting for him that much that we actually hoped the panel were going to destroy our predictions and let Ocean dominate the event, but that was not the case.
Instead, the role fell to The Black Keys and Gotye. The Australian singer’s win for Record Of The Year was a good choice, as the song managed to mix mass-market radio appeal with a fantastic tone and off kilter arrangement that made the song very rewarding to listen to time after time. His win for Best Alternative Album was equally as deserved in our opinion, with Making Mirrors a truly intriguing album of great variety.
Perhaps slightly less deserving of the award were Best Album winners Mumford & Sons, whose second album Babel scooped the prize despite in our opinion being only the third strongest album on the list and weaker than their debut in our opinions. That’s not to say it’s a bad album (we do really like Mumford & Sons, honest), but it pales in comparison to the albums of both The Black Keys and Frank Ocean.
fun. winning Song Of The Year was always going to happen, and despite the fact that Carly Rae Jepsen’s hooks dug in a little deeper, it’s a good song to win the title. We thought beforehand the New Yorkers could dominate the event, and were glad to see them pick up their two prizes.
We were however finally proved wrong when it came to Best Pop Vocal Album, a prize we thought that fun. would also take home. Even that bad prediction didn’t fall too far away from the tree, with Kelly Clarkson once again proving how much of a favourite she is with the Grammy judges and sweeping in to collect her third Grammy with her album Stronger.
Looking down the list, we’re also pleased to see that Kanye and Jay-Z picked up a couple of awards, with ‘N****s In Paris’ easily being our favourite rap song of the year although we are disappointed that Swedish House Mafia’s sign off track ‘Don’t You Worry Child’ didn’t earn them a Grammy.
Overall though, this year’s Grammys proved to favour the more radio friendly artists out there, with the more obscure choices left to value their nomination and a night out in the spotlight.
Make sure to read the full list of Grammy winners and tell us what you think about the winners in the comments section below.
You can also watch the awards ceremony in a special 90 minute show on 4Music tonight at 10pm.