GRAMMY WATCH – General Music/Main Categories: My Picks and Predictions

Here are my picks and predictions for the General/Main music categories for The 58^th Annual Grammy Awards.

Record Of The Year

• Really Love
      D'Angelo And The Vanguard
      D'Angelo, producer; Russell Elevado & Ben Kane, engineers/mixers; Dave Collins, mastering engineer
      Track from: Black Messiah
      [RCA Records]

• Uptown Funk
      Mark Ronson Featuring Bruno Mars
      Jeff Bhasker, Bruno Mars & Mark Ronson, producers; Josh Blair, Serban Ghenea, Wayne Gordon, John Hanes, Inaam Haq, Boo Mitchell, Charles Moniz & Mark Ronson, engineers/mixers; Tom Coyne, mastering engineer
      Track from: Uptown Special
      [RCA Records]

• Thinking Out Loud
      Ed Sheeran
      Jake Gosling, producer; Jake Gosling, Mark 'Spike' Stent & Geoff Swan, engineers/mixers; Stuart Hawkes, mastering engineer
      Track from: X
      [Atlantic]

• Blank Space
      Taylor Swift
      Max Martin & Shellback, producers; Serban Ghenea, John Hanes, Sam Holland & Michael Ilbert, engineers/mixers; Tom Coyne, mastering engineer
      Track from: 1989
      [Big Machine Records]

• Can't Feel My Face
      The Weeknd
      Max Martin & Ali Payami, producers; Serban Ghenea, John Hanes & Sam Holland, engineers/mixers; Tom Coyne, mastering engineer
      [Republic]

My Pick and Prediction: UPTOWN FUNK – total, infectious and pure fun funk!

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Album Of The Year
• Sound & Color
      Alabama Shakes
      Alabama Shakes & Blake Mills, producers; Shawn Everett, engineer/mixer; Bob Ludwig, mastering engineer

• To Pimp A Butterfly
      Kendrick Lamar
      Bilal, George Clinton, James Fauntleroy, Ronald Isley, Rapsody, Snoop Dogg, Thundercat & Anna Wise, featured artists; Taz Arnold, Boi-1Da, Ronald Colson, Larrance Dopson, Flying Lotus, Fredrik "Tommy Black" Halldin, Knxwledge, Koz, Lovedragon, Terrace Martin, Rahki, Sounwave, Tae Beast, Thundercat, Whoarei & Pharrell Williams, producers; Derek "Mixedbyali" Ali, Thomas Burns, James "The White Black Man" Hunt, 9th Wonder & Matt Schaeffer, engineers/mixers; Mike Bozzi, mastering engineer

• Traveller
      Chris Stapleton
      Dave Cobb & Chris Stapleton, producers; Vance Powell, engineer/mixer; Pete Lyman, mastering engineer
      [Mercury Nashville]

• 1989
      Taylor Swift
      Jack Antonoff, Nathan Chapman, Imogen Heap, Max Martin, Mattman & Robin, Ali Payami, Shellback, Taylor Swift, Ryan Tedder & Noel Zancanella, producers; Jack Antonoff, Mattias Bylund, Smith Carlson, Nathan Chapman, Serban Ghenea, John Hanes, Imogen Heap, Sam Holland, Michael Ilbert, Brendan Morawski, Laura Sisk & Ryan Tedder, engineers/mixers; Tom Coyne, mastering engineer
      [Big Machine Records]

• Beauty Behind The Madness
      The Weeknd
      Lana Del Rey, Labrinth & Ed Sheeran, featured artists; Dannyboystyles, Ben Diehl, Labrinth, Mano, Max Martin, Stephan Moccio, Carlo Montagnese, Ali Payami, The Pope, Jason Quenneville, Peter Svensson, Abel Tesfaye & Kanye West, producers; Jay Paul Bicknell, Mattias Bylund, Serban Ghenea, Noah Goldstein, John Hanes, Sam Holland, Jean Marie Horvat, Carlo Montagnese, Jason Quenneville & Dave Reitzas, engineers/mixers; Tom Coyne & Dave Kutch, mastering engineers
      [Republic]

My Pick and Prediction: SOUND & COLOR – though 1989 may pull up.

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Song Of The Year
• Alright
      Kendrick Duckworth, Mark Anthony Spears & Pharrell Williams, songwriters (Kendrick Lamar)
      Track from: To Pimp A Butterfly
      [TDE/Aftermath/Interscope; Publisher(s): WB Music Corp., TDE Music, Hard Working Black Folks Publishing, EMI Music Inc., More Water From Nazareth, Sounwave TDE Productions, SonyATV]

• Blank Space
      Max Martin, Shellback & Taylor Swift, songwriters (Taylor Swift)
      Track from: 1989
      [Big Machine Records; Publisher(s): Sony/ATV Tree Publishing/Taylor Swift Music/MXM admin. by Kobalt Songs Music Publishing, Inc.]

• Girl Crush
      Hillary Lindsey, Lori McKenna & Liz Rose, songwriters (Little Big Town)
      Track from: Pain Killer
      [Capitol Records Nashville; Publisher(s): Warner-Tamerlane Publishing Corp./Songs Of Crazy Girl Music, Songs of Universal, Inc., Hoodie Songs, HillarodyRathbone Music admin. by BMG Rights Management (US) LLC]

• See You Again
      Andrew Cedar, Justin Franks, Charles Puth & Cameron Thomaz, songwriters (Wiz Khalifa Featuring Charlie Puth)
      Track from: Furious 7: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
      [Atlantic; Publisher(s): Artist Publishing Group West/J Franks Publishing/Andrew Cedar Publishing admin. by WB Music Corp./Wiz Khalifa Publishing admin. by Warner-Tamerlane Publishing Corp./Charlie Puth Music Publishing/Artist 101 Publishing Group admin. by Warner Chappell Music, Universal Pictures Music, UPG Music Publishing]

• Thinking Out Loud
      Ed Sheeran & Amy Wadge, songwriters (Ed Sheeran)
      Track from: X
      [Atlantic; Publisher(s): Sony/ATV Music Publishing/BDi Music Limited]

My Pick: SEE YOU AGAIN – I really hope this wonderful tribute wins.

My Prediction: THINKING OUT LOUD

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Best New Artist

• Courtney Barnett

• James Bay

• Sam Hunt

• Tori Kelly

• Meghan Trainor

My Pick: TORI KELLY

My Prediction: MEGHAN TRAINOR

THE 58^TH ANNUAL GRAMMY AWARDS will be telecast live on CBS, Monday February 15, 2016 at 8PM/EST – PM/PST.  For everything GRAMMY, including a Full List of this year’s Nominees visit their website at http://www.grammy.com/

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