Skip to content
Link copied to clipboard

Newcomers clean up in Grammy nominations

LOS ANGELES - Pop music's freshman class made a big splash on the sales charts in 2013, and now several members can boast a raft of Grammy nominations, including rapper Kendrick Lamar, hip-hop duo Macklemore & Ryan Lewis, 17-year-old singer-songwriter Lorde, and country's Kacey Musgraves.

LOS ANGELES - Pop music's freshman class made a big splash on the sales charts in 2013, and now several members can boast a raft of Grammy nominations, including rapper Kendrick Lamar, hip-hop duo Macklemore & Ryan Lewis, 17-year-old singer-songwriter Lorde, and country's Kacey Musgraves.

The four acts gathered 22 of the nominations announced Friday night in Los Angeles. Rap superstar Jay Z led the field with nine nominations, although most were in the rap categories rather than in the higher-profile general fields.

The New Zealand-born Lorde, whose real name is Ella Yelich-O'Connor, was recognized in record and song of the year categories, and her album Pure Heroine was nominated for pop vocal album. Vying with Lorde's "Royals" in the record category are Daft Punk and Pharrell Williams' "Get Lucky," Imagine Dragons' "Radioactive," Bruno Mars' "Locked Out of Heaven," and Robin Thicke featuring T.I. & Pharrell's "Blurred Lines."

The album of the year nominee list contained a few surprises, including the absence of Justin Timberlake's well-received The 20/20 Experience. Also unexpected was singer-songwriter Sara Bareilles' The Blessed Unrest listed next to Daft Punk's Random Access Memories, Lamar's Good Kid, M.A.A.D City, Macklemore & Lewis' The Heist, and Taylor Swift's Red.

Macklemore & Lewis scored in three of the top four general fields - album, song, and new artist. New artist nominees also include Lamar, Musgraves, James Blake, and Ed Sheeran. Taylor Swift's Red, was deemed country enough to warrant a nomination for country album, one of her four nominations.