Wino, Kanye Lead Grammy Noms

It's official: The Grammy Awards are madly in love with Kanye West.

And they pretty much kicked Bruce Springsteen to the curb.

When nominations were announced Thursday for the 50th annual Grammy Awards — to be broadcast Feb. 10 live on CBS — rapper West led all artists with eight nods, including album of the year for his best-selling disc Graduation. The deck is so stacked in favor of the Chicago star, still mourning the very public death of mother Donda West, the 30-year-old might sweep 'em all.

Beehived British newcomer Amy "Wino" Winehouse, whose drug-fueled screw-uppery has competed with her prodigious talent, was next with six nominations, including best new artist and album of the year for Back to Black, which blends a girl-group sound with hip-hop beats.

Although such stars as rapper Jay-Z (five noms), R&B siren Rihanna (four) and this year’s chart-rocking dynamo, American Idol baldie Chris Daughtry (four), were also recognized for their work, the Recording Academy, the governing body of the Grammys, is basically setting up its anniversary night the West & Winehouse Show.

Sure, both acts are controversial headcases tailor-made for the tabloids. But the Grammys are constantly berated for being stale, out-of-touch and irrelevant. So Kanye and Amy give them hip showcase acts that appeal to both young and old viewers (in other words, you and your mom). Even better, each act has sold tons of albums at a time when the music biz is struggling.

One of the biggest, and most obvious, storylines of the night will be the relative snubbing of Bruce Springsteen and his new album, Magic, a critical darling for sure. The Boss was nominated for four Grammys, but not the biggest prize, album of the year. In fact, although he’s been nominated twice (1984’s Born in the U.S.A. and 2002’s The Rising) he's NEVER won album of the year, making him the Scorsese of the Grammys — or at least the Susan Lucci.

West, who should have no problem winning best rap album, is also a lock to win album of the year. Besides Winehouse, the other best-album candidates include the Foo Fighters’ Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace, country stalwart Vince Gill’s These Days and jazz icon Herbie Hancock’s River: The Joni Letters. Nice albums? Sure. Albums of the year? Heck no. West, who’s made a storied career out of bellyaching about not winning, can safely start writing his vainglorious acceptance speech.

Winehouse is a lock to win best new artist, a category that also includes folk-popper Feist, country cutie Taylor Swift, R&B singer Ledisi and pop-rock group Paramore.

Winehouse’s anthem Rehab will battle for song of the year (an award for songwriters) against Before He Cheats (sung by Carrie Underwood), Hey There Delilah (Plain White T’s), Like a Star (Corinne Bailey Rae) and Umbrella (Rihanna). Rehab will also compete for record of the year (awarded to singers and producers) against Irreplaceable (Beyonce), The Pretender (Foo Fighters), Umbrella (Rihanna feat. Jay-Z) and What Goes Around…Comes Around (Justin Timberlake).

Winehouse will most certainly be asked to perform on the show, which is gearing up to be one of the Record Academy's most buzzed-about yet. But anyone who’s followed her sad career (just this week, she was found wandering the streets of London lost and topless) has to wonder:

Will Winehouse even be around that long?

Comments

[Marissa]

eesh, I'm glad I don't have to look at Amy Winehouse while I'm enjoying her soulful purring. The other picture you had posted was more eyeball friendly, Sean lol

Personally, I'm not much of a Kanye fan. He does whine and gripe too much about being underappreciated. He's a bajillionaire. He can be appreciated sitting on top of that heap of moolah.

[Bassnote]

The Grammys have become a joke to me. Kanye...I'd rather jam broken glass in my ears than listen to his garbage. Amy Winehouse... her performance should be comparable to Britney on the VMAs.

[Sean Daly]

The Grammys have become a joke to a lot of people. Their TV ratings are abysmally, laughably low. And unlike the Oscars, winning a Grammy provides relatively little post-show sales boost.

THAT SAID, the Grammys are one of the better shows to WATCH, primarily because they only hand out seven or eight awards over the course of three hours. The rest is live performances, many of which have been pretty good (or at least watchable) over the past few years.

[Harrey]

Her music is good and very diverse, not cookie-cutter junk. She sings with feeling on her ballads and sounds good on the old-school girl stuff. You have to listen to all of it to know her talent.

[sarah]

Hey There Delilah?

REALLY?!

oh dear.

[Marissa]

I think all whiney boy songs should be excluded. "Hey there Delilah I'm a whiney emo loser."

[Mike]

No album nomination for Robert Plant and Alison Krauss? That's rediculous. What a beautiful piece of work.