Kendrick Lamar Leads Grammy Nominations
With another award season nearing on us, whether this years nominations will be a bone of contention or a nod to the rightfully worthy, there’s no doubt the news that Kendrick is leading the Grammy nominations this year will come as a welcome surprise.
The nominations for the 58th Annual GRAMMY Awards have been announced today and leading the pack is Kendrick Lamar with 11 nominations overtaking Taylor Swift and The Weeknd who each locked down 7 each. Kendrick has achieved a major feat securing his place as the 2nd most nominated artist in one year behind Michael Jackson who led with 12 nominations in 1984.
Kendrick secured nominations in two of the biggest categories in Album of the Year and Song of the Year although missed a nomination in the Record of the Year slot. Also noteworthy but short of a larger draw, Drake previous winner of ‘Rap album of the year’ in 2013, has nabbed 5 nominations this year off of his ‘If You’re Reading This You’re Too Late’ mixtape as well as the Meek Mill diss track ‘Back to Back’. Although not officially considered a ‘studio’ album by some, Drakes mixtape racked up the chart numbers with official sales making it an official album release.
Nominations were selected from the official releases between October 1st, 2014 to September 30th, 2015.
Record Of The Year
“Really Love” — D’Angelo And The Vanguard
“Uptown Funk” — Mark Ronson Featuring Bruno Mars
“Thinking Out Loud” — Ed Sheeran
“Blank Space” — Taylor Swift
“Can’t Feel My Face” — The Weeknd
Album Of The Year
Sound & Color — Alabama Shakes
To Pimp A Butterfly — Kendrick Lamar
Traveller — Chris Stapleton
1989 — Taylor Swift
Beauty Behind The Madness — The Weeknd
Song Of The Year
“Alright” — Kendrick Duckworth, Mark Anthony Spears & Pharrell Williams, songwriters (Kendrick Lamar)
“Blank Space” — Max Martin, Shellback & Taylor Swift, songwriters (Taylor Swift)
“Girl Crush” — Hillary Lindsey, Lori McKenna & Liz Rose, songwriters (Little Big Town)
“See You Again” — Andrew Cedar, Justin Franks, Charles Puth & Cameron Thomaz, songwriters (Wiz Khalifa Featuring Charlie Puth)
“Thinking Out Loud” — Ed Sheeran & Amy Wadge, songwriters (Ed Sheeran)
For Best Pop Duo/Group Performance, nominees included “Uptown Funk” by Mark Ronson Featuring Bruno Mars; “Bad Blood” by Taylor Swift Featuring Kendrick Lamar; and “See You Again” by Wiz Khalifa Featuring Charlie Puth.
Kendrick also locked in a nomination as featured artist for Best Dance Recording with Flying Lotus on”Runaway (U & I)”.
For Best Rap Album, the nominees are 2014 Forest Hills Drive by J. Cole; Compton by Dr. Dre; If Youre Reading This Its Too Late by Drake; To Pimp A Butterfly by Kendrick Lamar; and The Pinkprint by Nicki Minaj.
The nominees for Best Urban Contemporary Album are Ego Death by the Internet; You Should Be Here by Kehlani; Blood by Lianne La Havas; Wildheart by Miguel; and Beauty Behind The Madness by The Weeknd.
For Best Music Video, the nominees are “LSD” by ASAP Rocky; “I Feel Love (Every Million Miles)” by the Dead Weather; “Alright” by Kendrick Lamar; “Bad Blood” by Taylor Swift Featuring Kendrick Lamar; and “Freedom” by Pharrell Williams.
The 58th GRAMMY Awards will be televised on Monday, Feb. 15, 2016, and the full breakdown of nominations can be seen here.
