The 56th annual Grammy Awards will air this Sunday (26). Starting today, we”ll predict the winners in the four major categories -album of the year, song and record of the year, and best new artist. On Friday, we”ll throw in predictions for a number of other categories.
Let”s start with Record of the Year:
“Get Lucky,” Daft Punk featuring Pharrell Williams and Nile Rodgers
“Radioactive,” Imagine Dragons
“Royals,” Lorde
“Locked Out of Heaven,” Bruno Mars
“Blurred Lines,” Robin Thicke featuring Pharrell and T.I.
People, understandably, get confused between this category and song of the year, especially because they often include some of the same songs. Record of the year goes to the artist, producer, engineer and mixer. Song of the year goes to the composer of the tune. So think of this as an award for everything that happens to the song after it is written: the voice that goes on it, the instrumentation, the arrangement, the production, the recording, the engineering and the mixing.
While I think leaving Justin Timberlake”s “Mirrors” out is a major omission, all five of these songs sound great: “Get Lucky” takes Chic”s ’70s disco sound and updates it, “Radioactive” combines rock and a little touch of dubstep in a very interesting way. Lorde”s “Royals” has deceptively simple production with loops and Lorde”s voice up front. “Locked Out of Heaven” is busy, but in all the right ways that Mars excels at, and “Blurred Lines,” despite its somewhat controversial lyric, strikes the perfect tone between pop and R&B.
Given that Imagine Dragons and Lorde didn”t get best new artist nods, which they definitely deserved, I don”t think either can win this. I also think the voters won”t be able to separate “Blurred Lines”” production with the controversy, so I”m eliminating it. That means it”s between “Get Lucky” and “Locked Out Of Heaven.” It”s close, but I”m going with “Get Lucky.”
Should Win: “Get Lucky”
Will Win: “Get Lucky”
Who do you want to win Record of the Year?