GRAMMY season is now in full swing after Friday night's reveal of the nominees for the 56th Annual GRAMMY Awards. For the fifth year in a row SoulBounce is back as the official R&B blogger for the GRAMMY Awards, and we kicked our coverage off with live-tweeting The GRAMMY Nominations Live!! -- Countdown To Music's Biggest Night concert that aired on CBS. Once the special ended we bounced on over to GRAMMY.com to see all of the nominations in the R&B categories, and what we saw shocked and surprised yet ultimately satisfied us to see numerous SoulBounce faves, artists who we regularly cover and music that we actually like and love be nominated.
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THE SHOCK
There were a handful of shocking nominations in the R&B field this year with Hiatus Kaiyote snagging a Best R&B Performance nom and Salaam Remi and Mack Wilds' respective albums getting Best Urban Contemporary Album nods. Remi's new imprint Louder Than Life and the Flying Buddha label came out of the box guns blazing in 2013, and his projects are well represented. It's the not-inations, however, and seeing who didn't get nominated that has us scratching our heads. No Janelle Monáe? No Robert Glasper Experiment? No India.Arie? No Alice Smith? No Kelly Rowland? No Raheem DeVaughn? No Zo!? No The Foreign Exchange? Seriously, though, NO JANELLE? We're not sure how the aforementioned artists got overlooked this year, but it's very unfortunate because all released songs and albums worthy of recognition.
THE SURPRISE
It was no surprise to see some usual suspects receive nominations in the R&B categories with Alicia Keys and John Legend once again receiving Best R&B Album nominations. In that same category, however, there were a few surprises with Faith Evans' R&B Divas compilation, Chrisette Michele and TGT also getting nods. It was also surprising to see Justin Timberlake's "Pusher Love Girl" nominated for Best R&B Song when we don't recall it ever being released as a single. Although he's well-represented with nominations in the major and Pop categories, it's surprising that Robin Thicke's received not a single R&B nod after releasing one of the biggest R&B songs of the year in "Blurred Lines" and the most solid R&B album of his career. No single artist dominated the R&B nominations this year, with Tamar Braxton and Fantasia both receiving three nominations each.
THE SATISFACTION
In spite of some shocks and surprises that caught us off guard, there are more than enough satisfying nominations in the R&B field to make us happy. SoulBounce fave Lalah Hathaway received a nomination for Best R&B Performance for her stellar live rendition of her song "Something" with Snarky Puppy that made heads explode when she sang chords. Soulful jazz artists Maysa and Gregory Porter both received nominations in the Best Traditional R&B Performance category, and songs from Anthony Hamilton, Miguel, Gary Clark Jr., Ryan Shaw and PJ Morton round out the R&B nominees. We don't know who will come out victorious in the R&B categories at the 56th Annual GRAMMY Awards yet, but we've got our fingers crossed for a few and we'll be there on Sunday, January 26th to see who wins these coveted awards.
Check out all of the nominations in the R&B categories below, and let us know who you wish had been nominated and who you're rooting for.
Best R&B Performance
- "Love And War" - Tamar Braxton
- "Best Of Me" - Anthony Hamilton
- "Nakamarra" - Hiatus Kaiyote feat. Q-Tip
- "How Many Drinks?" - Miguel feat. Kendrick Lamar
- "Something" - Snarky Puppy with Lalah Hathaway
Best Traditional R&B Performance
- "Please Come Home - Gary Clark Jr.
- "Get It Right" - Fantasia
- "Quiet Fire" - Maysa
- "Hey Laura" - Gregory Porter
- "Yesterday" - Ryan Shaw
Best R&B Song (A Songwriters Award)
- Advertisement -- "Best Of Me" - Anthony Hamilton & Jairus Mozee, songwriters (Anthony Hamilton)
- "Love And War" - Tamar Braxton, Darhyl Camper, Jr., LaShawn Daniels & Makeba Riddick, songwriters (Tamar Braxton)
- "Only One" - PJ Morton, songwriter (PJ Morton feat. Stevie Wonder)
- "Pusher Love Girl" - James Fauntleroy, Jerome Harmon, Timothy Mosley & Justin Timberlake, songwriters (Justin Timberlake)
- "Without Me" - Fantasia Barrino, Missy Elliott, Al Sherrod Lambert, Harmony Samuels & Kyle Stewart, songwriters (Fantasia feat. Kelly Rowland & Missy Elliot)
Best Urban Contemporary Album
- Love And War - Tamar Braxton
- Side Effects Of You - Fantasia
- One: In The Chamber - Salaam Remi
- Unapologetic - Rihanna
- New York: A Love Story - Mack Wilds
Best R&B Album
- Advertisement -- R&B Divas - Faith Evans
- Girl On Fire - Alicia Keys
- Love In The Future - John Legend
- Better - Chrisette Michele
- Three Kings - TGT
