The Grammy Gods’ predictions

George Portades’s R&B predictions and analysis

17. BEST R&B PERFORMANCE
Probable Nominees:
Alicia Keys, “Brand New Me”/”Tears Always Win”/”Fire We Make” featuring Maxwell
Bruno Mars, “Gorilla”/”If I Was Your Man”/”Locked Out of Heaven”/”Treasure”
Fantasia featuring Kelly Rowland & Missy Elliott, “Without Me”
Janelle Monae, “Primetime” featuring Miguel/”Q.U.E.E.N.” featuring Erykah Badu
Justin Timberlake, “Mirrors”/”Take Back the Night”
Mariah Carey featuring Miguel, “#Beautiful”
Tamar Braxton, “Love and War”/”The One”/”All the Way Home”

Should Be Nominated:
Adina Howard, “Switch”
Brandy, “Wildest Dreams”/”Do You Know What You Have”
Ciara, “Body Party”
Jessica Sanchez “Drive By”
Jordin Sparks, “Skipping a Beat”
Kelly Rowland, “Kisses Down Low”/”Dirty Laundry”
Mario “Fatal Distraction”/”Somebody Else” featuring Nicki Minaj
Robin Thicke “For the Rest of My Life”

Also Eligible:
Ashanti, “Never Should Have”
Bobby V, “Back to Love”
Chris Brown, “Fine China”/”They Don’t Know” featuring Aaliyah
Emeli Sande, “My Kind of Love”
Faith Evans, “Dumb”
John Legend, “Made to Love”
J. Holiday, “After We…”
K. Michelle, “V.S.O.P.”
Luke James, “Make Love To Me”
TLC “Meant to Be”

18. BEST TRADITIONAL R&B PERFORMANCE
Probable Nominees:
Amel Larrieux, “Afraid”
Avant featuring Keke Wyatt, “You & I”
India.Arie, “Cocoa Butter”
Jaheim, “Baby x3”
Lianne La Havas, “Lost & Found”
Syleena Johnson & Musiq Soulchild, “Feel the Fire”
Toni Braxton & Babyface “Hurt You”

Should Be Nominated:
Chante Moore, “Talking in My Sleep”
Marques Houston, “Speechless”
Monica, “Without You”
Vivian Green, “When Can I See You Again”/”Anything Out There”

Also Eligible:
Brian McKnight, “4th of July”
Changing Faces, “Hate Love”
Charlie Wilson, “Turn Off the Lights”
Chrisette Michele, “Love Won’t Leave Me Out”/”A Couple of Forevers”
Donell Jones, “Forever”/”Beautiful”
Glenn Lewis, “Can’t Say Love”
Goapele, “Undertow”
Joe featuring Fantasia, “Love & Sex”
K-Ci & JoJo, “Knock It Off”
Kenny Lattimore featuring Kelly Price, “Back 2 Cool”
Keyshia Cole, “Trust and Believe”
Maxwell, “God”
Melanie Fiona, “Cold Piece”
Q. Parker, “Yes”
R. Kelly, “Genius”
TGT, “I Need”

19. BEST R&B SONG (SONGWRITING)
TBD

20. BEST URBAN CONTEMPORARY ALBUM
Probable Nominees:
Bruno Mars, “Unorthodox Jukebox”
Janelle Monae, “The Electric Lady”
Justin Timberlake, “The 20/20 Experience”
Robin Thicke, “Blurred Lines”
Tamar Braxton, “Love and War”

Should Be Nominated:
Ciara, “Ciara”
Kelly Rowland, “Talk a Good Game”

21. BEST R&B ALBUM
Probable Nominees:
India.Arie, “SongVersation”
John Legend, “Love in the Future”
Robert Glasper Experiment, “Black Radio 2”
Toni Braxton & Babyface, “Love, Marriage, Divorce”
TGT, “3 Kings”

Should Be Nominated:
Amel Larrieux, “Ice Cream Everyday”
Chante Moore, “Moore is More”
Lianne La Havas, “Is Your Love Big Enough?”
Vivian Green, “The Green Room”

Also Eligible:
Avant, “Face the Music”
Brian McKnight, “More Than Words”
Chrisette Michele, “Better”
Donell Jones, “Forever”
Jaheim, “Appreciation Day”
Joe, “DoubleBack: Evolution of R&B”
Jon B, “Comfortable Swagg”
Keyshia Cole, “Woman to Woman”
Marques Houston, “Famous”
Raheem DeVaughn, “A Place Called Loveland”
Tweet, “Simply Tweet” (EP)
Various Artists, “The Best Man Holiday”

Haley and David’s Rock Genre co-predictions and analysis

Best Rock Performance
1. Imagine Dragons, “Radioactive”
2. David Bowie, “Where Are We Now?”
3. Paramore, “Still Into You”
4. Pearl Jam, “Mind Your Manners”
5. Nine Inch Nails “Came Back Haunted”

Best Rock Album
1. David Bowie, The Next Day
2. Imagine Dragons, Night Visions
3. Paramore, Paramore
4. Queens of the Stone Age, …Like Clockwork
5. Soundgarden, King Animal

Haley: When dlong and I spoke, it was clear that there were four locked nominees: David Bowie’s “The Next Day”, representing the glory days of rock; Imagine Dragons’ “Night Visions”, with its monster single “Radioactive” and its soon-to-be-monster single “Demons”; Paramore’s self-titled album, which completely reinvented their sound for the better; and always reliable Queens of the Stone Age’s “…Like Clockwork”. Soundgarden makes a decent fifth choice, though watch out for Nine Inch Nails’ “Hesitation Marks”, which sold very well.

Best Rock Song
1. Imagine Dragon, “Radioactive”
2. David Bowie, “Where Are We Now?”
3. Paramore, “Still Into You”
4. Pearl Jam, “Mind Your Manners”
5. The Neighbourhood, “Sweater Weather” (Wild Card Pick)

Haley: First, Rock Performance is basically Rock and Metal mixed together in the same category, just so you know the difference between Rock Song and Rock Performance.

I hate that damn Pearl Jam song, but it is likely a better choice than the second-biggest rock song of the year, “My Songs Know What You Did In The Dark (Light Em Up)” by Fall Out Boy. The Grammys really hate Fall Out Boy. Otherwise, “Radioactive” and “Where Are We Now?” are almost certain, while “Still Into You” is the best choice for Paramore. The Wild Card pick is the slowly-climbing, wonderfully fun “Sweater Weather”, from The Neighbourhood. It’s worth a listen if you haven’t heard it.

Best Metal Performance
1. Black Sabbath, “God Is Dead”
2. Avenged Sevenfold, “Hail To The King”
3. Five Finger Death Punch, “Lift Me Up” feat. Rob Halford
4. Volbeat, “Hangman’s Body Count”
5. Queensryche, “Fallout”

David: I’ll go ahead and add commentary for this category as it seems to be the one I’m doing by myself:

“God is Dead?”, from the album 13, marks the first time Black Sabbath has been fronted by Ozzy Osbourne since 1978’s Never Say Die and practically promotes it to frontrunner status. The good album sales and radio play certainly help. Will the Grammy’s pass up a chance to give a statue to the original metal band? “Hail To The King” cemented Avenged Sevenfold as the most popular metal band working today. They aren’t the most respected metal band around but it’s a weak year for this category so a nod seems pretty assured, but nothing is ever locked here. “Lift Me Up” is also one of the most popular metal songs this year and features Rob Halford of Judas Priest fame (and being one of Metal’s first openly gay artists!). The last two spots are a bit of toss ups. Volbeat came out of nowhere and have dominated rock radio over the past few months with “Hangman’s Body Count” so they could be threats. Queensryche haven’t been in this category since 1990 but have gained massive amount of respect over the years. The last spot is between Megadeth’s panned “Super Collider”, Korn’s strange “Never Never”, Queensryche’s “Fallout”, or something I’m not thinking of. Don’t be surprised if Metallica or Iron Maiden get in with a live track.