NEW YORK (AP) \u2014 Kendrick Lamar is the king of the Grammys: The rapper is the leading nominee for the 2016 awards with 11, including album of the year for \u201cTo Pimp a Butterfly\u201d and song of the year for \u201cAlright.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lamar, who won two Grammys earlier this year, is followed by Taylor Swift and the Weeknd, who each earned seven nominations, including album of the year. \u201cButterfly,\u201d \u2018\u20191989\u201d and \u201cBeauty Behind the Madness\u201d will battle country singer-songwriter Chris Stapleton\u2019s \u201cTraveller\u201d and rock group Alabama Shakes\u2019 \u201cSound & Color\u201d for the top prize.<\/p>\n
Lamar\u2019s \u201cAlright\u201d and Swift\u2019s \u201cBlank Space\u201d are nominated for song of the year, a songwriter\u2019s award. Other nominees include Wiz Khalifa and Charlie Puth\u2019s tribute to actor Paul Walker, \u201cSee You Again,\u201d Ed Sheeran\u2019s slow burner \u201cThinking out Loud\u201d and Little Big Town\u2019s semi-controversial hit, \u201cGirl Crush,\u201d written by Lori McKenna, Hillary Lindsey and Liz Rose.<\/p>\n
\u201cThinking out Loud\u201d and \u201cBlank Space,\u201d which reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, are also nominated for record of the year, pitting the songs against No.1 hits that include Mark Ronson and Bruno Mars\u2019 \u201cUptown Funk\u201d and the Weeknd\u2019s \u201cCan\u2019t Feel My Face,\u201d as well as a wild card: \u201cReally Love\u201d from R&B singer D\u2019Angelo and the Vanguard.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s a broad spectrum and certainly it shows there\u2019s been quite a bit of wonderful and excellent recordings in the last year,\u201d Recording Academy CEO Neil Portow said in an interview with The Associated Press.<\/p>\n
Lamar\u2019s other nominations include best rap album for \u201cButterfly,\u201d rap performance for \u201cAlright,\u201d pop duo\/group performance for \u201cBad Blood\u201d with Swift and dance recording \u201cNever Catch Me\u201d with Flying Lotus. He\u2019s nominated twice for both best rap song with \u201cAlright\u201d and for co-writing Kanye West\u2019s \u201cAll Day,\u201d as well as best music video for \u201cAlright\u201d and \u201cBad Blood.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a testimony to his artistry,\u201d Portnow said of Lamar. \u201cHe\u2019s someone that\u2019s very serious about his art and about his craft, and has been working it for quite some time. And this is one of those instances where the work pays off.\u201d<\/p>\n
Swift, who won album of the year with \u201cFearless\u201d in 2010 and earned a nomination in the top category with \u201cRed,\u201d is also up for best pop vocal album for her top-selling \u201c1989\u201d and pop solo performance for \u201cBlank Space.\u201d The Weeknd\u2019s nominations include best pop solo performance for \u201cCan\u2019t Feel My Face\u201d and urban contemporary album for \u201cBeauty.\u201d His hit from the \u201cFifty Shades of Grey\u201d soundtrack \u2014 \u201cEarned It\u201d \u2014 garnered nominations for best R&B performance, R&B song and song written for visual media.<\/p>\n
The film\u2019s soundtrack, which also featured the Ellie Goulding hit \u201cLove Me Like You Do,\u201d is up for best compilation soundtrack for visual media along with \u201cEmpire: Season 1,\u201d which debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard charts earlier this year.<\/p>\n
More than 21,000 submissions were entered for the 83 Grammy categories, with the first round of votes due by Nov. 4 \u2014 the day the Country Music Association Awards aired and Stapleton cleaned house and turned in a memorable performance alongside Justin Timberlake. In addition to album of the year, Stapleton\u2019s \u201cTraveller\u201d is nominated for best country album, country song and country solo performance.<\/p>\n
Garth Brooks, who marked a comeback after 13 years last year, was surprisingly shut out of the country categories. Despite success with tours, albums and singles, Luke Bryan was also snubbed and has yet to earn a Grammy nomination.<\/p>\n
This year\u2019s best country album contenders include Little Big Town\u2019s \u201cPain Killer,\u201d Kacey Musgraves\u2019 \u201cPageant Material,\u201d Ashley Monroe\u2019s \u201cThe Blade\u201d and \u201cMontevallo\u201d by singer-songwriter Sam Hunt, who is also nominated for best new artist. Other nominees include \u201cAll About That Bass\u201d performer Meghan Trainor, big-voiced singer Tori Kelly, Australian singer-songwriter Courtney Barnett and rock musician James Bay, who is also nominated for best rock album and rock song.<\/p>\n
Rapper Drake scored five nominations, including best rap album for \u201cIf You\u2019re Reading This It\u2019s Too Late,\u201d pitting him against Lamar, Dr. Dre\u2019s \u201cCompton,\u201d Nicki Minaj\u2019s \u201cThe Pinkprint\u201d and J. Cole\u2019s \u201c2014 Forest Hills Drive.\u201d<\/p>\n
Alabama Shakes, fronted by singer Brittany Howard, debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard charts with \u201cSound & Color\u201d earlier this year, and the album was met with critical acclaim \u2014 much like the band\u2019s 2012 debut, \u201cBoys & Girls.\u201d Their four nominations include best alternative music album as well as best rock performance and song for \u201cDon\u2019t Wanna Fight.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pharrell and West are also nominated for four awards, including album of the year for producing songs on Lamar\u2019s album. West\u2019s nominations include best rap song and rap performance for \u201cAll Day,\u201d which featured Paul McCartney and earned the icon two rap nominations.<\/p>\n
Justin Bieber \u2014 who marked a comeback this year with the hits \u201cSorry\u201d and \u201cWhat Do You Mean\u201d \u2014 is nominated for best dance recording for his other hit, \u201cWhere Are U Now\u201d with Skrillex and Diplo. Both Bieber and Adele\u2019s new albums will qualify for Grammy nominations next year since they were released after Sept. 30 \u2014 the final day for eligibility this year.<\/p>\n
Other notable nominees include married duo Joey + Rory for best country duo\/group performance (they recently announced Joey is ending her cancer treatment after a recurrence of tumors); actress Amy Poehler with her first Grammy nomination for best spoken word album for \u201cYes Please\u201d; and actor Seth MacFarlane for best traditional pop vocal album, competing with albums from Bob Dylan, Tony Bennett, Barry Manilow and Josh Groban.<\/p>\n
Saxophonist Jimmy Greene, the father of one of the children killed in the Sandy Hook school shooting, earned two nominations for an album inspired by his late daughter Ana M\u221a\u00b0rquez-Greene.<\/p>\n
The 58th Grammys will air live on February 15, 2016, from the Staples Center in Los Angeles. Voting for the second round, completed by mail and starting next week, ends on January 15, 2016.<\/p>\n
____<\/p>\n
Online:<\/p>\n
https:\/\/www.grammy.com\/<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
NEW YORK (AP) \u2014 Kendrick Lamar is the king of the Grammys: The rapper is the leading nominee for the 2016 awards with 11, including album of the year for \u201cTo Pimp a Butterfly\u201d and song of the year for \u201cAlright.\u201d Lamar, who won two Grammys earlier this year, is followed by Taylor Swift and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":107,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_stopmodifiedupdate":false,"_modified_date":"","wds_primary_category":4,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[65],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-8364","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-nation-world"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8364","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/107"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8364"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8364\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8364"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8364"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8364"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=8364"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}