2016 Grammy WINNER Predictions
The 58th Grammy Awards will be handed out next week and I have your surefire winner predictions! Kendrick Lamar goes into the night with the most nominations and I’m predicting he’ll come away with the top award of the night, Album of the Year. 2015 breakthrough The Weeknd (who is also now an Oscar nominee) has a good chance to spoil here and in a bunch of other categories. R&B should be a tough battle between him and the return of D’Angelo and could go either way. Thankfully this year there’s no ‘white veteran’ in the group, which makes it anyone’s game.
Two other newcomers, Chris Stapleton and Alabama Shakes could prove strong enough for an AOTY win but I’m not counting on Taylor Swift pulling out a second win in this category. She should be able to score Pop Album though and “Blank Space” and “Bad Blood” could pick up a few wins along the way.
Watch for this year’s Oscar-winning Original Song “Glory,” from Common and John Legend, to do well and could Nicki Minaj be the first female to win Best Rap Album? It will be tough to top Lamar there but they could spread the wealth and give Rap Album to Minaj and AOTY to Lamar.
Announced performers:
Adele, The Weeknd, Kendrick Lamar, Little Big Town, Rihanna, Taylor Swift, the cast of Hamilton
James Bay and Tori Kelly
Carrie Underwood and Sam Hunt
Ellie Goulding and Andra Day
Lady Gaga (with Nile Rodgers) will take part in a special tribute to David Bowie.
Justin Bieber, Skrillex and Diplo will perform “Where Are Ü Now” together for the first time.
Chris Stapleton, Bonnie Raitt and Gary Clark Jr. will honor B.B. King.
Pitbull will perform with Travis Barker, Robin Thicke and “special guests.”
The show will also feature a special tribute honoring MusiCares Person of the year Lionel Richie featuring Demi Lovato, John Legend, Meghan Trainor and Luke Bryan.
The Hollywood Vampires (Johnny Depp, Alice Cooper and Joe Perry) will make their television debut.
The Grammys air live on both coasts Monday, February 15th on CBS.
Here are my WINNER predictions in 30 categories (plus, ranked!) for the 58th Grammy Awards:
Album of the Year
1 To Pimp a Butterfly – Kendrick Lamar
2 Beauty Behind the Madness – The Weeknd
3 1989 – Taylor Swift
4 Sound and Color – Alabama Shakes
5 Traveller – Chris Stapleton
Record of the Year
1 Uptown Funk – Mark Ronson feat. Bruno Mars
2 Can’t Feel My Face – The Weeknd
3 Blank Space – Taylor Swift
4 Thinking Out Loud – Ed Sheeran
5 Really Love – D’Angelo
Song of the Year
1 See You Again – Wiz Khalifa feat. Charlie Puth
2 Blank Space – Taylor Swift
3 Alright – Kendrick Lamar
4 Thinking Out Loud – Ed Sheeran
5 Girl Crush – Little Big Town
New Artist
1 Sam Hunt
2 Courtney Barnett
3 Tori Kelly
4 James Bay
5 Meghan Trainor
Pop Solo Performance
1 Blank Space – Taylor Swift
2 Cant Feel My Face – The Weeknd
3 Thinking Out Loud – Ed Sheeran
4 Love Me Like You Do – Ellie Goulding
5 Heartbeat Song – Kelly Clarkson
Pop Duo/Group Performance
1 Uptown Funk – Mark Ronson feat. Bruno Mars
2 See You Again – Wiz Khalifa feat. Charlie Puth
3 Bad Blood – Taylor Swift feat. Kendrick Lamar
4 Sugar – Maroon 5
5 Ship to Wreck – Florence and the Machine
Pop Vocal Album
1 1989 – Taylor Swift
2 Piece By Piece – Kelly Clarkson
3 Uptown Special – Mark Ronson
4 Before This World – James Taylor
5 How Big How Blue How Beautiful – Florence and the Machine
Traditional Pop Album
1 The Silver Lining: The Songs of Jerome Kern – Tony Bennett and Bill Charlap
2 Stages – Josh Groban
3 Shadows in the Night – Bob Dylan
4 My Dream Duets – Barry Manilow
5 No One Ever Tells You – Seth MacFarlane
Rock Performance
1 Dont Wanna Fight – Alabama Shakes
2 Something from Nothing – Foo Fighters
3 Ex’s and Oh’s – Elle King
4 What Kind of Man – Florence and the Machine
5 Moaning Lisa Smile – Wolf Alice
Rock Song
1 Don’t Wanna Fight – Alabama Shakes
2 Hold Back the River – James Bay
3 What Kind of Man – Florence and the Machine
4 Ex’s and Oh’s – Elle King
5 Lydia – Highly Suspect
Rock Album
1 Chaos and the Calm – James Bay
2 Drones – Muse
3 .5: The Gray Chapter – Slipknot
4 Kintsugi – Death Cab for Cutie
5 Mister Asylum – Highly Suspect
Alternative Music Album
1 Sound and Color – Alabama Shakes
2 Star Wars – Wilco
3 Currents – Tame Impala
4 Vulnicura – Björk
5 The Waterfall – My Morning Jacket
R&B Performance
1 Earned It – The Weeknd
2 If I Don’t Have You – Tamar Braxton
3 Rise Up – Andra Day
4 Planes (song) – Jeremiah feat. J. Cole
5 Breathing Underwater – Hiatus Kaiyote
R&B Song
1 Really Love – D’Angelo
2 Earned It – The Weeknd
3 Let It Burn – Jazmine Sullivan
4 Coffee – Miguel
5 Shame (song) – Tyrese
R&B Album
1 Black Messiah – D’Angelo
2 Cheers to the Fall – Andra Day
3 Coming Home – Leon Bridges
4 Reality Show – Jazmine Sullivan
5 Forever Charlie – Charlie Wilson
Rap Performance
1 Alright – Kendrick Lamar
2 Trap Queen – Fetty Wap
3 All Day – Kanye West feat. Theophilus London, Allan Kingdom & Paul McCartney
4 Truffle Butter – Nicki Minaj feat. Drake & Lil Wayne
5 Back to Back – Drake
6 Apparently – J. Cole
Rap Song
1 Glory – Common and John Legend
2 Alright – Kendrick Lamar
3 Trap Queen – Fetty Wap
4 All Day – Kanye West feat. Theophilus London, Allan Kingdom & Paul McCartney
5 Energy – Drake
Rap Album
1 To Pimp a Butterfly – Kendrick Lamar
2 The Pinkprint – Nicki Minaj
3 Compton – Dr. Dre
4 If You’re Reading This Its Too Late – Drake
5 2014 Forest Hills Drive – J. Cole
Urban Contemporary Album
1 Beauty Behind the Madness – The Weeknd
2 Ego Death – The Internet
3 Wildheart – Miguel
4 You Should Be Here – Kehlani
5 Blood – Lianne La Havas
Country Solo Performance
1 Traveller (song) – Chris Stapleton
2 Little Toy Guns – Carrie Underwood
3 John Cougar, John Deere, John 3:16 – Keith Urban
4 Burning House – Cam
5 Chances Are – Lee Ann Womack
Country Duo/Group Performance
1 Girl Crush – Little Big Town
2 The Driver – Charles Kelley, Dierks Bently and Eric Paslay
3 Lonely Tonight – Blake Shelton and Ashley Monroe
4 If I Needed You – Joey and Rory
5 Stay a Little Longer – Brothers Osborne
Country Song
1 Traveller (song) – Chris Stapleton
2 Girl Crush – Little Big Town
3 Chances Are – Lee Ann Womack
4 Diamond Rings and Old Barstools – Tim McGraw
5 Hold My Hand – Brandy Clark
Country Album
1 Traveller – Chris Stapleton
2 Montevallo – Sam Hunt
3 Pageant Material – Kacey Musgraves
4 Pain Killer – Little Big Town
5 The Blade – Ashley Monroe
Comedy Album
1 Live at Madison Square Garden – Louis C.K.
2 Back to the Drawing Board – Lisa Lampanelli
3 Just Being Honest – Craig Ferguson
4 Brooklyn (album) – Wyatt Cenac
5 Happy and a Lot – Jay Mohr
Spoken Word Album
1 A Full Life: Reflections at Ninety – Jimmy Carter
2 Yes Please – Amy Poehler
3 Patience and Sarah – Janis Ian and Jean Smart
4 Blood on Snow – Patti Smith
5 Brief Encounters – Dick Cavett
Music Video
1 LSD – ASAP Rocky
2 Alright – Kendrick Lamar
3 Freedom – Pharrell Williams
4 Bad Blood – Taylor Swift feat. Kendrick Lamar
5 I Feel Love (Every Million Miles) – The Dead Weather
Musical Theater Album
1 Hamilton
2 An American in Paris
3 Fun Home
4 The King and I
5 Something Rotten
Visual Media Compilation
1 Empire Original Soundtrack from Season 1
2 Fifty Shades of Grey
3 Selma
4 Glen Campbell: I’ll Be Me
5 Pitch Perfect 2
Visual Media Score
1 Birdman
2 Whiplash
3 The Theory of Everything
4 Interstellar
5 The Imitation Game
Visual Media Song
1 Glory – Selma
2 See You Again – Furious 7
3 Earned It – Fifty Shades of Grey
4 Til It Happens to You – The Hunting Ground
5 Love Me Like You Do – Fifty Shades of Grey
He is a Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic, accredited by the Cannes Film Festival, Telluride Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival and more, is a member of the International Cinephile Society (ICS), The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics (GALECA), Hollywood Critics Association (HCA) and the International Press Academy. Among his many achieved goals with AwardsWatch, he has given a platform to underrepresented writers and critics and supplied them with access to film festivals and the industry and calls the Bay Area his home where he lives with his husband and son.
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