2009 Grammy Predictions and Proclamations

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We've got a love/hate relationship with the Grammys. We love that amazing artists get mainstream recognition from time to time (see The White Stripes last year or Alison Krauss every year). But we're always a little let down by just how mainstream something needs to be to qualify. So what follows is not only just a list of who we think will win, or who we hope will win, but also who really should win if we could just force the music we love down the throats of the masses.

Record of the Year



The Nominees:
"Chasing Pavements" - Adele
"Viva La Vida" - Coldplay
"Bleeding Love" - Leona Lewis
"Paper Planes" - M.I.A
"Please Read The Letter" - Robert Plant & Alison Krauss

Who will win: "Viva La Vida" - Coldplay
The industry needs Coldplay to become the next U2 as much as the NBA needs LeBron James to become the next Michael Jordan. And with the help of Brian Eno (and, some would argue, Joe Satriani), this one fills the arena.

Who should win: "Paper Planes" - M.I.A.
Released back in August 2007, M.I.A.'s most infectious track was the song of 2008 thanks to M.I.A.'s astounding performances on the festival circuit and films like Pineapple Express and Slumdog Millionaire.

Who really should win: "A-Punk" - Vampire Weekend
All the indie hype in the world wasn't enough to get these boat-shoe-wearin' kids any sort of attention from Grammy land. The obvious solution: give Stereogum a vote.


Album of the Year

The Nominees:
Viva La Vida Or Death And All His Friends - Coldplay
Tha Carter III - Lil Wayne
Year Of The Gentleman - Ne-Yo
Raising Sand - Robert Plant & Alison Krauss
In Rainbows - Radiohead

Who will win: Raising Sand - Robert Plant & Alison Krauss
Coldplay and Radiohead will split the rock vote. And the Grammys love them some Alison Krauss. We do too, but...

Who should win: In Rainbows - Radiohead
The buzz was more about how the music was delivered than the music itself. But as Brian Howe said in our review of the album, "It would be easy to forget that there’s music involved in all these commercial ramifications if In Rainbows weren’t such a powerful album, where Radiohead’s cool-headed marketing strategy is paralleled by cool-headed songs. Not only is this Radiohead’s most straightforward, organic-sounding album since The Bends, it finds the band shedding the bulk of its trademark anxiety while remaining indomitably themselves."

Who really should win: In Rainbows - Radiohead
Sure, She & Him's Volume One was our album of the year, but if the Grammys actually pick In Rainbows (which was actually a late 2007 album), we'll go ahead and say they got this one right.