Looks like for 2008′s Grammy’s, Kanye West and the troubled Amy Winehouse will lead the pack with multiple nominations. Kanye’s Graduation album, after much publicity and marketing, beat out 50 Cent’s Curtis, and released three huge singles (“Can’t Tell Me Nothing,” and the anthem, “Stronger” and party favorite, “Good Life”). The critically acclaimed disc had the year’s biggest debut, selling nearly 1 million copies in its first week, an amazing feat during the industry’s current struggles.
Although Winehouse has been in the media recently for her erratic behavior and alleged substance abuse, Grammy hopefuls are thinking that Amy’s nominations this year will take the heat off of her personal life, and put focus back onto her music. Here’s what Grammy award winning singer/songwriter Ne-Yo and Grammy-winning producer John Shanks had to say:
“Amy Winehouse is incredible. I think she should have got a little more positive recognition,” said singer-songwriter Ne-Yo. Grammy-winning producer John Shanks called Winehouse’s album Back to Black, which included the telling hit “Rehab,” “an important record.”
“I don’t think her troubles are really going to hurt her. I think the sound of that album made an impact,” Shanks added.
Other Grammy nominees include Beyonce, for top single of the year with her R&B acoustic jam, “Irreplaceable,” Fergie, who’s debut album The Dutchess rolled out a few #1 singles, as well as Rihanna, who broke as a crossover artist this year with her smash, “Umbrella.” I think the show should be pretty interesting this year, considering all the music that’s been pouring out. Let’s hope ’08 is just as good a year.
AVANT INKS DEAL WITH CAPITOL
Recording artist Avant has released four albums on Geffen Records, but has recently signed a new deal with Capitol, which is home to former Destiny’s Child member, LeToya Luckett, as well as the last label that Faith Evan released her latest record, The First Lady.
“They’ve shown that they’re dedicated to push their resources for my projects,” says the Cleveland native. “I look forward to a long lasting relationship with many, many hit records.”
Avant is busy recording his currently untitled project, which is set to be released in the summer of 2008. The set will feature production from Rodney Jerkins and DJ Smurf, among others. A single will be released in March. Meanwhile, Avant will tour with the male trio, TGT, which consists of Tank, Ginuwine and Tyrese and will star in the play “Love in the Nick of Tyme,” featuring Morris Chestnut.
CHART NEWS
Looks like hip hop and R&B are still ruling the Billboard Hot 100! Right on! Alicia Keys still holds the #1 single spot, with her smash hit, “No One.” Like I said, I couldn’t stand the song at first, but now I am absolutely loving it. Her third studio album, As I Am is also #2 on the albums chart, and broke a record for biggest female debut numbers.
Holding the #2 on the Hot 100 is Chris Brown and T-Pain with their club banger, “Kiss Kiss,” from his sophomore set, Exclusive, which seems to be a favorite these days. Timbaland and his Mosley Music Group signees, OneRepublic hold the #3 spot with the crossover ballad, “Apologize” from Timbaland’s Shock Value (the band also features “Apologize” on their debut album, Dreaming Out Loud, which was released a couple of weeks ago).
Also in the top 10 are Flo-Rida with his popular radio buzzer, “Low,” which peaked at #4. Kanye and T-Pain take the #7 spot with “Good Life,” while “Soulja Boy (Crank That)” still staying strong on the chart at #8, with Rihanna and Ne-Yo not to far behind, grabbing the #9 spot. Big ups to black music! We’re definitely doing our thing.
AGAIN LITTLE GIRL..
CALLING MUSIC YOU DON’T LIKE “SHIT” IS NOT BEING SUBJECTIVE.
OPEN YOUR GROWN UP DICTIONARY AND LOOK IT UP..
THANKS FOR PROVING TO US THAT YOU REALLY ARE AN BRAINLESS CHILD WHO THINKS SHE KNOWS SOMETHING…
YOUR FUNNY… ISN’T IT PAST YOUR BEDTIME STUPID GIRL?
Allright,
For some reasons, you have a problem because i don’t like beyonce!! that is crazy lol, a lot of people say they don’t like AMY but i never attack them like that.
Get over it!
@69 So very well said. Bravo.
I see you tomorrow, smiley TODD!
Smiley Todd,
hush the fuck up!! Get a life and stop guarding Beyonce’s name lol One of these days I’m going to force you into cardiac arrest…I’m going to just post her name, only her name, ten times in every topic and leave you drowing in the ambiguity of it all: Is it an insult? Is it not? Is she baiting us? Well, even if she is, at least she’s thinking about Bee!
It’s lame…Beyonce is off eating chicken and having oral sex…and I’m off for a workout…you go do something.
If Avant did come back, he might make a big splash!!
I think we sleep on too many talented or potentially talented singers and focus more
on the commercially made singers!!!!
Just a thought
The Grammy’s are always WACK!! AMY who? what the Hell is the people working at the Grammy awards all on CRACK! WILL NOT BE WATCHIN this show…..
I’ve missed Avant, Im s glad he’s coming back! ‘Don’t Take Your Love Away’ is like my number 3 of my top 5 favorite songs!
GEM
I WASN’T TALKING TO YOU, AND THAT WASN’T BASED ON BEYONCE. I USED HER BECAUSE HER NAME WAS BROUGHT UP. THAT WAS A CONVO BASED ON THE WORD “SUBJECTIVE” WHICH OBVIOUSLY CHRISTELLE DOESNT UNDERSTAND THE MEANING OF CALLING ARTISTS WORK “SHIT”..
NOW YOU CAN STFU AND SUCK MY FAT LONG BLACK d**CK.. YOU SCUMSUCKING WHORE…
COME FOR ME…..
GEM IS A NOSY POKEFACED WHORE
GEM IS A NOSY POKEFACED WHORE
GEM IS A NOSY POKEFACED WHORE
GEM IS A NOSY POKEFACED WHORE
BITCH.
GET UP, PROMISE, LIKE A BOY WERE ALL HITS!!! CIARA DESERVES AT LEAST ONE NOMINATION…SMH
I am sorry, I am not hating but I can’t really get with Winehouse right now because I feel like I would be expoliting her talents over her immediate health concerns and I don’t feel right boosting somene up when she could OD any minute.
I think it was her father that pleaded with her record label to stop promoting her until she gets the real help that she needs. Its great that her music is being recognized but not to the point where it is more important than her health…
@ Smiley Todd, the word ‘subjective’ means to give ones opinion. So in that case, by saying Beyonce is shit, she is giving her opinion. Now the word ‘objective’ means that someone is stating a fact which is the complete opposite of subjective…
Kanye West should win every category he’s nomiated in. His album was the most creative album I’ve heard all year. Amy Winehouse is a great singer, but her album is mediocre at best. She is just rehashing the motown sound – been there done that. There is nothing ground breaking or interesting about that at all. Who I would to have seen nomiated it Chrisette Michelle. Not only was her album great, but her voice is incredible. I guess you only get attention for having an amazing voice when your a white girl. We know how that one goes…
Oh and the fact the “No One” is #1 and Alicia Keys album is doing so well, is just further proof of the fact that if you have the right team behind you, you can go far regardless of how much talent you actually have. “As I Am” is one of the most boring albums I’ve heard this year and those tired ass songs like “super woman” and “sure looks good to me” are just examples of predictable her music is. I don’t know what happend, but I prefered her previous albums much more. And I don’t care how many times they paid for “No One” to be shoved down our throats on radio, that is still a crappy song, with the most wrethced vocals I’ve ever heard. I love how she has every fooled…smh
i think what irks people is not Amy’s obvious talent, its that every time a white girl/guy comes out sounding black a big deal gets made about them. the truth is if a black person comes out sounding white they would be a blip… we don’t embrace our own trying to do something different, look at all the Sh*** talked about B even thinking of going blue grass? Think about it.
brap brap to big music
Congratulations to Fantasia on her 3 Grammy Nominations.
Avant’s The Director was the shyt and it was just out a year or two ago…Actually all of his albums have been solid and I have all four..
136,
In a way, you are right, the same thing for Eminem (which i can’t stand!) because a white men come and do some hip hop and every body was like waouh. I never like Eminem and i don’t care if he is white, I don’t like 50 cent too and he is black.
BUT, Amy is known only now in USA, but at the beginning, she is a jazz singer and they are a lot of white jazz singers too. She sounds black but she does not try it. But I never said she was the best singer alive, she is just better that a lot of singers awarded everytime for a music that is not original. Someone told me that she was not original because it was just a music from the 40-50′s. Maybe, but on the same time, BUNCH of artist keep sampling James Brown and soul artist of the 60′s. So it sounds different that someone try something different and unfortunately, the next time someone will do that, he will be accused to try to copy Amy but she did not invent it, but we can give her the credit for having done that. I love Erikah Badu, Jill Scott and a lot of soul artist and they must be recognized for their talent but that does not mean Amy is not talented!, i am just saying that she is going to be recognized (maybe because she is white) but that make an exposure for soul music and maybe in the next years, we are going to have Jaheim, Anthony hamilton and all these artist being recognized for their extremely good work cause they are REAL Artists.
Plus, Amy is coming from UK so she also has something different, she sounds different, just like Roots Manuva or Estelle produced by John Legend. It is also a good thing that she can sell because she definitely does not look good even when she is healthy. Music is just music! So now, Hope we are all going to support our artist. And to be honest, the first time i listen to Amy, I did not know she was white, i really thought she was black! maybe that is why i still cannot believe how a white can do such good black music. But black folk are also good at pop, it is just not my taste!
OH AND EVERY THING SAID BELOW IS MY OPINION !! THANK YOU!
What I don’t get is why Amy wasn’t nominated in any R&B categories, only Pop categories. Does anyone think that the reason for this is because if she won in an R&B category, that people would be upset that a white person won?? Just wondering.
Oh Lawd !
I applaud Angel for her success with CL. The hair is nice. Everything beyond that is a Metallic Mess.
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#141
Amy wasn’t nominated in R&B categories because they’d already nominated her for the “big prizes” and they figured that was enough when adding her to the R&B list meant leaving another person off they might have nominated to show up for ratings. The Grammy listing this year is seriously lame. They’re just trying to make money…Mary’s song “Just fine” got 2 nominations and it was out for like what? two weeks before the deadline? And, Alicia Key’s “No One” got two nominations and it’s silly because we ALL know she’s going to get like 8 next year so why are they being redundant? Same with Beyonce, she got 2 nominations for songs from an album that won best contemp R&B last year. Justin Timberlake got more THIS year than he did last year (but last year he was up for the big prizes). It’s lame and crazy and people are saying Rihanna should win record of the year for “Umbrella” because it was such a huge hit internationally..ummmm…how about no. I’m a Rihanna fan (I think) BUT if she beats Amy’s “Rehab” I am changing the channel. For real. They know they should have given Amy R&B nods. Like I said, I believe they wanted to get more nominees in for ratings.
Oh and as for questions about Amy’s talent…it’s not that she’s a white person doing black music, it’s that she’s a person doing music she’s sincerely invested in, music that is artistic and unique in a sea of lowbrow garbage. Now, she’s a writer…I could go on…don’t want to be a stan but listen to her lyrics and the way she adds meaning with her voice… go to youtube and watch “Tears Dry on Their Own” and tell me you aren’t wholly ensconced by the verse. *sings: “He takes the day, the sun goes down…”*
not verse, the chorus I mean…
Kanye will prolly win like 2 grammys tops! Wino will prolly win the most and will make a DAMN fool of herself on stage or she’ll show up in a bra and jeans all disorientated.
Don’t we love how then a white person comes out with decent R&B music, everyone starts to dog everyother black R&B/Pop artist for not being able to create such good music! Such an ignorant double standard!
AND as a huge Avant fan, I am very happy for him! I don’t know about Capitol’s skills promotiong R&B (Faith never went anywhere with that album) but hopefully he doesn’t change up his style too much cuz I love him just the way he is. And what ever happened to the collabo album he supposed to be doin with my girl Keke Wyatt?? Sitll waitin on that one Avant!
What pisses me off the most is that Soulja Boy’s song got nominated for a grammy. You can’t even take that song seriously. J. holiday should have been nominated, ‘cuz Bed was a HUGE summer hit. Bed was the third song in a decade to have the #1 most increased air plays on the Rhytmic Charts, Urban Chart, & Urban Adult Contemprary chart all at the same time. He’s also the first artist this year to top the R&B with a debut single. I also think J should have been nominated for best new artist.
#147. Even if Amy was black, I STILL would be doggin’ other R&B/Pop artists for not doing anything worth shit.
Amy WOULD have been successful if she was black and wasn’t such a druggie fool. I mean, not AS successful (admit: talented, white, jewish, addict girl with a fuck you attitude, and a bad ass ‘black’ voice), but successful nonetheless. Just listen to her goddamn songs, feel them and do not discard her just because she is white or you think she’s ‘stealing music from black people’. That kind of criticism is ignorant at best. Just appreciate music for what music is, why people pull out the race card when it comes to white people making black music? Everyone is inspired by at least someone from the past. So she listened to jazz, doo wop, girlgroups sinatra and shit. Music is universal and when the fuck did you ever hear her say she’s racist and tryna steal from black people? Didn’t she say she was like a black boy in a white girls body? Ignorant ass mofos. I see someone tryna start some race issue like they did with L-Boogie in the past. But too bad Amy is a don’t-give-a-fuck kinda person…
@150: Girl, word! You either like or don’t like an artist. That’s cool. But using arguments like ‘she’s copying’ ‘she’s stealing’ ‘she’s white not black’ are just way too ignorant, cause it doesn’t blow away the fact that she can break your heart with her voice.
I can tell that Amy is sincere when she sings the type of music that she sings, so that makes me appreciate her even more. But there are other white artists out there who seem SO fake and only use ‘black’ music to sell records and gain credibility, and on top of that, they don’t even give credit to the people they copy from. I can’t be down with those type of singers, them types just need to fall back.
Why the HELL wasn’t J.Holiday nominated!
Wow…definitely some passionate fans on this board!
Music is music and it’s great that everyone has an opinion according to their likes and dislikes. I think it’s great that these artists have such loyal fans.
Give Ledisi a listen. She’s flying under the radar here (thank goodness), but she can SANG and has definitely paid her dues to even get the 2 nominations that she got. The whole Grammy “thing” is a crapshoot…based on so much more than music. I just think it’s cool that someone who has paid her dues playing clubs for years, writes her own tunes, and had 2 relatively successful indie albums finally gets the chance to be recognized by her peers on a MUCH larger scale. She was nominated based purely on talent…no big marketing machine, no non-music dramas…simply because she had a dream and stuck to it until (it appears) it finally came true.
I don’t believe in tearing other artists down, because they too have to jump through a number of hoops just to get where they are. I wish them all luck, actually…though I really hope my girl Ledisi wins
Regardless, stay passionate…but BE GOOD to each other.
# 2 thats funny as hell bout amy lololol………. now you know she will be toe up lololol she prolly wont even know her dam name and aint no body gone fuck wiff her lolololol…………………. alicia you go gurrrrrrl…. lil chris brizzy do yo thang baby ursher……………………. kanye my man do you bruh do you lolol
he only got nominated because his mom died.