The 2014 Grammy Award Nominations are out, and many of this years most controversial and popular artists have come up short.
Miley Cyrus’ album “Bangerz” missed the September 30th cut off and is therefore ineligible, but her summer hits “We Can’t Stop” and “Wrecking Ball” would have been eligible. Despite the popularity of her songs and the wealth of publicity she has generated, she failed to receive a single nomination from the Grammy Awards.
Kanye West received great acclaim from critics for his “Yeezus” album and was a favorite for Album of the Year and Song of the Year, “New Slaves”. Yet he was only nominated for Best Rap Album and Best Rap Song. Both are great awards but lack the prestige of the top tier, non-genre specific awards.
Justin Timberlake also did not receive the top-tier nominations. He was nominated for Best Pop Vocal Album, “20/20 Experience”, Best R&B Song, “Pusher Love Girl”; and a third nomination for Best Pop Solo Performance, “Mirrors”. He even received four additional nominations for his joint singles with Jay Z, “Suit & Tie” and “Holy Grail”; but again nothing in the Top categories.
Jay Z is the most nominated artist this year , with an impressive nine honors, such as Best Rap Album. However, he still managed to fall short of the highest awards.
The top-tier slots were mostly filled with pop artists, including the unexpected Sara Bareilles, who was nominated for Album of the Year and several other awards.
The Album of the Year nominees for 2014 are Sara Bareilles’ “The Blessed Unrest,” Daft Punk’s “Random Access Memories,” Kendrick Lamar’s “Good Kid m.A.A.d. City,” Macklemore & Ryan Lewis’ “The Heist” and Taylor Swift’s “Red.”
This year’s nominations may be the result of a large amount of possibilities. The many surprise omissions from the highest awards given by the Grammy’s have made this an unusual line-up. It seems the committee was possibly overwhelmed with new artists and major releases by the previous year’s winners.
Nearly every genre has artists that are undeniably talented and popular (even if it is in part for the controversy they create ) who will not be honored with the music’s most prestigious honors.
There is no doubt that until the votes are in and the awards announced, the winners will be anyone’s guess.