U2, India.Arie Top Grammy Noms
U2 grabbed eight major-category nominations to lead the field for the forty-fourth annual Grammy Awards, which will air live on CBS from Los Angeles’ Staples Center on February 27th. The veteran Irish band received nods for Record of the Year for “Walk On,” Song of the Year for “Stuck in a Moment You Can’t Get Out Of” and Album of the Year for All That You Can’t Leave Behind. The band’s other nominations are for Rock Song of the Year, where “Elevation” and “Walk On” will go head to head; Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group With Vocal for “Stuck in a Moment You Can’t Get Out Of”; and Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group With Vocal for “Elevation.”
Close behind U2 are R&B/soul newcomers India.Arie and Alicia Keys, who brought in seven and six nominations each. The two will go head to head in the Best New Artist category, facing off against Nelly Furtado, David Gray and Linkin Park.
In the other major categories, U2’s “Walk On,” Arie’s “Video” and Keys’ “Fallin'” will vie for Record of the Year against OutKast‘s “Ms. Jackson” and Train’s “Drops of Jupiter.” Arie’s Acoustic Soul, Bob Dylan’s Love and Theft, U2’s All That You Can’t Leave Behind OutKast’s Stankonia and the O Brother, Where Art Thou? soundtrack will compete for Album of the Year. And Arie’s “Video,” Keys’ “Fallin’,” and U2’s “Stuck in a Moment You Can’t Get Out Of” will battle Furtado’s “I’m Like a Bird” and Train’s “Drops of Jupiter” for Song of the Year.
Furtado’s smash “I’m Like a Bird” earned her a Best Female Pop Vocal Performance nomination. She will face off against veterans Faith Hill (“There You’ll Be”), Janet Jackson (“Someone to Call My Lover”), Sade’s (“By Your Side”) and “Lucinda Williams (“Essence”). Williams’ “Get Right With God” was nominated in the Best Female Rock Vocal Performance, alongside Tori Amos’ “Strange Little Girls,” PJ Harvey’s “This is Love,” Melissa Etheridge’s “I Want to Be in Love” and Stevie Nicks’ “Planets of the Universe.”
The vets in the men’s categories did just as well, with Elton John’s “I Want Love” scoring a nomination for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance beside Michael Jackson’s “You Rock My World,” James Taylor’s “Don’t Let Me Be Lonely Tonight,” Brian McKnight’s “Still,” and U.K. import Craig David’s “Fill Me In.” In the Best Male Rock Vocal Performance category, upstart Ryan Adams (“New York, New York”) will face off against Bob Dylan (“Honest With Me”), John Mellencamp (“Peaceful World”), Eric Clapton (“Superman Inside”) and Lenny Kravitz (“Dig In”).
In the genre cateogories, Rock had many overlaps with Aerosmith’s “Jaded,” Train’s “Drops of Jupiter,” Coldplay’s “Yellow” and U2’s “Elevation” and “Walk On” getting nods in the Best Rock Song category, while only “Walk On” was left out of the Best Rock Performance By a Duo or Group with Vocals, replaced with the Dave Matthews Band’s “The Space Between.” Aerosmith, U2, Ryan Adams, PJ Harvey and Linkin Park will compete for Best Rock Album.
Linkin Park, whose Hybrid Theory was the best-selling record of the year, made its way into the hard rock genre along with Alient Ant Farm, P.O.D., Rage Against the Machine and Saliva. In the alternative category, Coldplay, Radiohead, Fatboy Slim, Tori Amos and Bjork’s albums were nominated.
Aaliyah (Best R&B Album, Best Female R&B Vocal Performance), Alicia Keys (Best R&B Album, Best Female R&B Vocal Performance, Best R&B Song) and Brian McKnight (Best Male R&B Vocal Performance, Best R&B Song) were multiple nominees in the major R&B categories. Mary J. Blige, Destiny’s Child, and India.Arie rounded out the nominees in the Best R&B album category making it an entirely female-run category.
In the rap categories, Ja Rule (Best Rap Performance By a Duo or Group, Best Rap Album, Best Rap/Sung Collaboration), Jay-Z (Best Rap Performance By a Duo or Group, Best Rap Album, Best Rap Solo Performance) OutKast (Best Rap Performance By a Duo or Group, Best Rap Album) and Eve (Best Rap/Sung Collaboration, Best Rap Album) were among the repeat nominees.
Performances from Timeless — Hank Williams Tribute helped sneak a few rockers into the country categories, including Sheryl Crow and Ryan Adams. Veterans Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson and Dolly Parton were nominated in the Vocal Performance categories. Nelson’s Rainbow Connection and Timeless . . . will face off in the Best Album category with Trisha Yearwood’s Inside Out, Tim McGraw’s Set This Circus Down and Diamond Rio’s One More Day.
In order for a work to qualify for this year’s Grammy Awards, it had to be released between October 1, 2000 and September 30, 2001.