Glitching Out with Glitché : IMO

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A Clockwork Orange, A Clockwork Orange Movie Poster, beyonce, Beyonce Art, Beyonce Glitch Art, Beyonce Partition, Cyndi Lauper, Cyndi Lauper Art, Cyndi Lauper She's So Unusual, Cyndi Lauper She's So Unusual Album Cover, Diana Ross, Donna Summer Art, Flipagram, Flipagram App, Glitch, Glitch Art, Glitche, Glitche App, Hairspray, Hairspray Movie Poster, House Party, House Party Movie Poster, InstaCollage, InstaCollage App, Instagram, InstaPicCollage, InstaPicCollage App, Janet Jackson, Janet Jackson Art, Janet Jackson Control, Janet Jackson Control Album Cover, Janet Jackson Glitch Art, Jaws, Jaws Movie Poster, Madonna, Madonna Art, Mahogany, Mahogany Movie Poster, Mariah Carey, Mariah Carey Art, Mariah Carey Butterfly, Mariah Carey Butterfly Album Cover, Mariah Carey Glitch Art, Mirrorgram, Mirrorgram App, New York Art, New York City, New York City Art, New York City Glitch Art, New York City Photography, New York Photography, NYC Art, NYC Glitch Art, NYC Photography, Poetic Justice, Poetic Justice Movie Poster, prince, Prince Art, Prince Controversy, Prince Controversy Album Cover, Prince Glitch Art, Sade, Sade Love Deluxe, Sade Love Deluxe Album Cover, San Francisco, San Francisco Art, San Francisco Glitch Art, San Francisco Photography, Splitpic, Splitpic App, Star Wars, Star Wars Movie Poster, The Goonies, The Goonies Movie Poster

About two years ago when I was a frequent visitor of Tumblr, I came across this form of art and photography that really intrigued me. I came to find out it was called Glitch Art. It’s hard to describe exactly what it is, but basically it’s taking a picture and distorting it so that it’s sometimes hard to see and gives a weird and mysterious vibe. If I had to compare it to anything, I would probably say the “Grindhouse” movies by Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino, they messed with the visuals to appear like the film was worn and old and used. A lot of the Glitch Art I’ve seen looks like images you might see on a very old and worn VHS tape. Again, very hard to describe, but it’s just weird and I love weird stuff, so I instantly fell in love with this new (maybe) art form.

The Glitch Art phenomenon has now leaked into the mainstream, most famously (for me) in Beyonce’s “Grown Woman” clip which is almost completely distorted and low-fi towards the end of the very fun video. I’ve seen other artists use this art technique on album covers and videos, and I have to say I was very happy to have been ahead of the curve (slightly).

It occurred to me that maybe I should try my hand at it this trendy art-form, and luckily after I searched the iTunes App store I was able to find a Glitch app “Glitché” and I have been completely addicted to it. So much so that I have a folder full of my “projects”, and I’ve started to post them to my Tumblr and Instagram pages and guess what!? It’s been a bit of a success! I’ve been getting way more likes and followers on Instagram than ever before with my Glitch stuff. So I thought it might be a good idea to come and share my work here. I’m going to post some of the personal favorites of mine,

The Glitché app is fun to play around with and easy to get into. I started out just pulling up pictures, randomly playing with the different effects and moving on. The more I played with the program, I learned about layering different effects on top of each other and also bringing in other apps like Splitpic, Mirrorgram and Flipagram. I will say the “glitch” and “vhs” effects on Glitché are tricky because it’s almost like a poker slot and you just might miss the jack pot look you are seeking, but other than that the app is really easy to navigate through and I’m thankful for it being a creative distraction.

I never really know which of my Glitch’d projects are going to stand out until days later when I’m looking back. I’ve done Glitch’ing for some of my personal pics, some album covers, movie posters and other promotional materials. So let’s just get into what I’ve done.

#NYSelfie This is a really simple one when I was first playing around with the app, I just used the “blur” effect and that’s about it.

 

#ViewFromTheBayBridge My first temp job after moving back to the Bay Area was in San Francisco. This was a pic I snapped on the morning commute across the new Bay Bridge. These two glitch projects were used with the “LCD” effect. 

 

#workselfieglitchd Bored at work one day, I took some selfies (I hate that I’m using that word so much) and Glitch’d them out using the actual “glitch” effect on the app. This is a collage made using my favorite collage app InstaCollage.

 

#FinancialDistrictView I took this pic from my office building in the heart of the Financial District one Saturday that I was working overtime. Great view, but I had to glitch it out with the “glitch” effect.

 

#BayBridgeGlitch One day, during lunch, I took my journal and walked up to the Pier with the intention to enjoy the beautiful day and write. I did plug away a nice number of pages, but I also had to snap some pics because it was an amazing day and the view was amazing as well. I love the first three that I made with the “LCD” effect. It just makes it look a bit eery and dark, even though the source picture was bright and beautiful.

 

I loved the coloring effects of the “gradient” effect.

 

It finally dawned on me that I could use the Glitché app a little more creatively, so I started to use multiple effects on one picture and here are a few of the early results. I used “blur” on one of the original pics, then after I saved it I opened it back up in the app and did some “gradient” effects on it, and I love these pic so much I made it my Twitter background.

 

#TumblrBeachGlitch I found a picture on Tumblr of a random cutie standing in the water at a beach. I randomly pulled it up when using Glitché, trying to play around with the app more and see what different elements would look like using the different effects. I used “LCD” here, and I fell in love with the outcome.

 

#IslandGlitch I grabbed another scenic picture from Tumblr and played around with it. I used “LCD” , “blur” and “fill”, but my favorites from that set were these two that I did simply using “gradient”. They always stand out to me, I think it’s a real nice contrast of colors for both.

 

#CentralParkGlitch I imported some of my New York pictures, and I loved the effect “LCD” gave on this pic of the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Reservoir in Central park. Like the earlier San Francisco Bay Bridge pics, this one gives a slightly eery feeling to a picture that was originally so beautiful.

 

#AlbumCoverGlitch #SadeLoveDeluxe The next Glitch journey for me was taking images from pop culture, movies and music, that have always stood out to me. For #AlbumCoverGlitch I did this piece from Sade’s “Love Deluxe” album, which is one of my favorite album covers of all time. I love this because it’s Glitch’d appropriately, using “blur” and “gradient” there is still a vibe of sexiness and sultriness that remains from the original art.

 

#MoviePosterGlitch #PoeticJustice I used John Singleton’s 1993 film “Poetic Justice” for #MoviePosterGlitch and I just like the way the “scan” and “gradient” effects modernize the look of the famous Janet Jackson pose.

 

#MoviePosterGlitch #AClockworkOrange The next #MoviePosterGlitch is of Stanley Kubrick’s classic “A Clockwork Orange”. This one was done with a little “blur” and a lot of “glitch” effects and I just love it. The movie and book are so jarring and strange, I think this glitch’ing gives the same effect just in a modern tech way.

 

#MoviePosterGlitch #TheGoonies A childhood favorite, I used “The Goonies” for the next #MoviePosterGlitch . There’s a lot of “glitch”, some “blur” effects, and I changed the orientation of the poster just to screw with things a bit more. I like the hazy and dated look of it.

 

#MoviePosterGlitch #Mahogany I can’t really explain why this #MoviePosterGlitch is one of my favorites of my entire Glitch collection. Taken from Diana Ross’ camp classic “Mahogany”, I fell in love with this final version. It’s funky and colorful thanks to “fill” and “datamosh” effects, but it also aged thanks to the final “vhs” effect. It just pops to me in a cartoony, wavy and intriguing way.

 

#MoviePosterGlitch #Jaws For “Jaws”, one of my All-Time Favorite Movies, I  toyed around with “gradient” and “datamosh” effects and created a really cool, dreary and neon looking #MoviePosterGlitch.

 

#MoviePosterGlitch #StarWars I love this Glitch’d out “Star Wars” pic, I love how the “glitch” and “gradient” effects compliment the comic-book look of the original poster.

 

#AlbumCoverGlitch #Mariah CareyButterfly After using multiple different effects on one pic, it dawned on me that I could use different apps to make one awesome Glitch’d pic. That’s what I did with this #AlbumCoverGlitch of Mariah Carey’s ‘Butterfly’. I first went to Mirrorgram to duplicate the image of Mariah, than I brought it back to Glitché and added the “gradient” and “vhs” effects on it to give a really dark but still beautiful look.

 

#BeyonceGlitch Same goes for this image from Beyonce’s ‘Partition’ video. Here I did a Mirrorgram effect and added “gradient” and “blur” to make one of my favorite images. It has this whole glow-in-the-dark mudflap feel that is really sexy and compelling.

 

#AlbumCoverGlitch #JanetJacksonControl This #AlbumCoverGlitch of Janet Jackson’s ‘Control’ album ranks among my favorites. After putting Janet through the Mirrorgram filter, all I did was add “gradient” and “glitch” effects and came out with a picture that would serve as a great alternate ‘Control’ cover – say for a Deluxe re-issue or something like that.

 

 

#SanFranciscoGlitch This was a picture that I took in 2012 and it’s one of my favorite San Francisco pictures. I love how the “LCD” effect took it to a new level. Really love this one.

 

#MoviePosterGlitch #Hairspray This #MoviePosterGlitch is pretty simple, but for the same reasons that I love the Janet ‘Control’ Glitch I love this ‘Hairspray’ Glitch project. It’s simple, but it keeps the same vibrant, colorful feel of the movie. I used “scan” “gradient” effects and after all that I changed the image to be “low-fi”.

 

 

#NYCGlitch This is a picture I took from the top of Empire State Building. I pulled it up in Glitché to see what I could do, did some “LCD” effect at first and liked what came out, but didn’t know where to go with it. So I pulled it back up and started doing some “datamosh” effects, and when I put the “vhs” filter on top I just loved the look. It reminded me of seeing an image of New York City from a really crappy and over-used VHS video. And I love how that random rainbow part shines a light on the Chrysler building, although you can’t really tell from the blurriness of the glitch. Which is actually part of the beauty.

 

#AlbumCoverGlitch #PrinceControversy I love how haunting this #AlbumCoverGlitch is. The original ‘Controversy’ album cover by Prince is creepy enough because of those piercing eyes of his. I think putting the image through the Glitché filters intensified the creepiness. Obviously I took the art to Mirrorgram first, than did some “fill” work and finally a “vhs” effect. Here is the first Glitch I posted, but I also like the second one where I just added a “gradient” effect.

 

 

#MoviePosterGlitch #HouseParty I wasn’t sure how this #MoviePosterGlitch would turn out, but that’s the fun of this app. For the classic 90’s film “House Party”, I played with “scan” than added a “blur” effect before finally putting it through the “gradient” filter and I enjoy what I came up with.

 

 

#DonnaSummerGlitch #QueenOfDisco These two are probably my favorite Glitch pieces so far. The original image was a performance photo of Donna Summer, I first used “gradient” and then “blur” effects. I had several options, but I didn’t quite like what I had until I took them over to Mirrorgram and came out with these two that are so compelling and sexy.

 

 

#AlbumCoverGlitch #CyndiLauperShesSoUnusual I almost gave up on this Cyndi Lauper #AlbumCoverGlitch. I tried a lot of different effects and never liked the tone. Finally I did some “glitch” effects and added “blur” and loved how loud and vibrant this came out. Perfect for the ‘She’s So Unusual’ image that screams for fun and color.

 

#GlitchdVideos Around this time, I started to venture into the idea of doing Glitch Video. I saw a few videos posted on Instagram using Flipagram, an app I’ve had for months but never thought to use in this fashion. It was May 16^th and I kept seeing posts about Janet Jackson’s birthday so I did a simple collage using Flipagram. I started to Glitch some of the pictures I found for that collage, and decided to try my hand at a Glitch Video. I was so happy with the results I couldn’t stop. After the Janet Jackson Glitch Video, I did one for Beyonce, Prince and Madonna. The most recent, the one of Madonna, is my favorite because it looks so cool, animated and alive. Check them out and see what you think. (and if you know how to fix Instagram’s embed codes so that the videos would show up here… PLEASE let me know how! It wouldn’t work so I just am stuck with the links to the videos. BOOOO!)

#JanetGlitchd, #BeyonceGlitchd, #PrinceGlitchd, #MadonnaGlitchd 

I’ve also posted a few other short videos of Glitch work I’ve done from pictures I took at New York’s MoMA. There are also some projects I have in mind that I will be working on in the next few days. Including Rihanna and a Pop Star friend of mine!

So that’s what I’ve been up to in my free time. It’s fun, but at the same time it’s amazing what you can come up with using random apps on your phone. This has re-awakened a creative and artistic spirit in me, and I’m excited to venture further out to bigger applications and programs to see what I can do without the limitations of the iPhone apps.

Follow me on Instagram, my username there is HANNIBALd1. Here are some of the other Instagram’mers that are posting some amazing Glitch Art that you all should check out. avd_78, xlvltx, uknokido, pxlwrx, thedatabats, flcon_fcker, pixelwakker, perfa, lucky_beaches .

>2011 Grammy Nominations — Reaction!

Tags

Adam Lambert, Alicia Keys, Arcade Fire, B.o.B., beyonce, Big Boi, Black Keys, Broken Bells, Bruno Mars, Cee-Lo Green, CeeLo Green, Christina Aguilera, Drake, Eminem, Erykah Badu, Fantasia, Gorillaz, Grammys, Hayley Williams, Janelle Monae, Jay-Z, Jeezy, John Legend, Justin Bieber, Katy Perry, Kelis, Kelly Rowland, Lady Antebellum, Lady GaGa, LCD Soundsystem, Ludacris, Maroon 5, Monica, Neon Trees, Nicki Minaj, Paramore, Ray Lamontagne, rihanna, Robyn, Sade, The Black Keys, The Roots, Toni Braxton, Train, Trey Songz, Vampire Weekend, Young Jeezy

>Now, you may not know that I posted my Grammy PredictionBlog literally 45 minutes before the nominations were announced. I was on Twitter and Grammy.com’s Live blog getting the announcements of who was nominated and who was snubbed. The reaction I had when the full list of nominations was finally available on the Grammy website was WTF!? Literally.

I’m not mad, not even all that surprised, just a little confused. Like last year, when GaGa, Beyoncé, Black Eyed Peas and Taylor Swift were up for Album of the Year it  just felt like the Grammy voters were choosing the most popular and best selling artists. This year with the Big 4 including a diverse group of artists like Cee-Lo Green, Ray Lamontagne, Katy Perry and Bruno Mars it’s not clear what the Grammy voters were thinking. I’ll pick the nominees apart in another post, but let’s first talk about how I was pretty spot on predicting which artists would be nominated, just not too spot on with the actual categories they’d be nominated for.

Of course Eminem was the King of nominations scoring 11. He got the Album, Single and Record of the Year nods I predicted and 6 of his nominations are in the Hip Hop category (competing against himself in two of those categories) which I also predicted. The remaining two nods are for Short Form Music Video for “Love the Way You Lie” (really???) and for his feature work in “Airplanes Part II” by B.o.B. Unfortunately he is really the only Hip Hop artist to dominate the Big 4 categories this year, so that goes against my earlier prediction that Drake, Jay-Z and the aforementioned B.o.B. would be big contenders. Jay-Z only nabbed a Record of the Year nomination for his “Empire State of Mind” with Alicia Keys, same story for B.o.B. who finds himself in the same category with “Nothing On You” with Bruno Mars. And Drake’s only Big 4 nomination comes in the form of Best New Artist, in fact, despite having one of the best albums of the year Drake is only up for 4 total awards.

Lady GaGa ended up being a nominations leader again this year, and given the artists that were snubbed for Album of the Year (Jay-Z, Drake, Robyn, Sade, Rihanna, Janelle Monáe) it’s really upsetting that her 8 track EP “The Fame Monster” is actually up for that category. That undeserved nomination brings this years total to 6 nominations, though she missed out on Song and Record of the Year “Bad Romance”, “Telephone” and oddly enough “Dance in the Dark” are up for multiple nominations. Katy Perry also ended up doing better than I thought, as she did grab a nomination for Album of the Year even when I said it probably wouldn’t happen. Her “Teenage Dream” album helped to score her 4 nominations, not in the Song of the Year or Record of the Year category, but I was correct about the title track nabbing Pop Vocal Performance and “California Gurls” up for Pop Collaboration.

Country group Lady Antebellum also did well for themselves as I predicted.  They pulled 6 total nominations, 3 coming from the Big 4 categories Album of the Year, Record and Song of the Year for “Need You Now”, all of which I accurately predicted. Of the most nominated acts this year, the only one who surprised me was Bruno Mars who is also competing in 6 categories. His debut album “Doo-Wops and Hooligans” missed the cut-off for this year, but his singles feature work and writing made him a leading competitor. Another big surprise, the song he wrote for Cee-Lo Green “F**k You” (or “Forget You” the censored, radio friendly version) is up for both Song and Record of the Year.

And since I’m giving my honest reactions, maybe that song didn’t deserve it’s nods. It’s a fun song, but it didn’t make too many waves on the charts so I’m really surprised it’s up for such high honors.

Arcade Fire did score a nod for Album of the Year as I predicted for “The Suburbs”, but weren’t nominee leaders this year with only two other nominations. Another big surprise is the virtual snubbing of Sade, who only scored two nominations Pop Vocal, Group (“Babyfather”) and R&B Vocal, Group (“Soldier of Love”). Maybe it’s because their album was released so early in the year, voters forgot about them, but it was really a shock to see them only in two categories (however, looking back, they’ve never been nominee leaders, generally only getting one nomination per album).

Most of the other acts I mentioned as shoe-in’s in my Nominee Prediction post were named. Vampire Weekend, The Black Keys, Ludacris, Gorillaz, Young Jeezy, Nicki Minaj, Train and Janelle Monae are all up for at least one award.

And even some picks from my “For Your Consideration” portion are up. Very pleased by the nominations for Broken Bells, Robyn, Maroon 5, Big Boi, and Adam Lambert. And I was very pleased to see John Legend and The Roots‘ collaboration album “Wake Up” nominated in 5 categories, but the homage to the old school of R&B isn’t really a surprising choice.

Which leads to what I think are the biggest snubs. Actually, most of the artists I wanted to be nominated got at least one. However I feel a lot of them were shortchanged in categories they were more deserving of. For instance, Jay-Z and Drake should have definitely been up for Album of the Year. Katy Perry, who maybe got more than she deserves as far as nominations, should have gotten more love for her excellent pop Single “Teenage Dream”. And even though I personally like “Nothin on You” more than “Airplanes” by B.O.B., I feel like the latter is way more Grammy friendly and a great convergence of Hip Hop meets Rock with Hayley Williams on board.

Rihanna scored 4 nominations, 3 coming from Eminem’s “Love the Way You Lie” (the other for Dance Single “Only Girl (In the World)”) but to see zero nominations for her superior “Rated R” album, and none for her deliciously pop single “Rude Boy” is surprising. Another great Pop single that was snubbed was Neon Trees‘ “Animal”, which should have at least been up for Pop Vocal, Group if not more.

I also feel that Christina Aguilera should have been up for something, if only Pop Vocal, Female for her second single “You Lost Me” over Beyoncé‘s live rendition of “Halo” (which she won Pop Vocal, Female for last year).

Two terrible omissions came in the R&B category where Fantasia and Monica‘s subpar albums are nominated instead of Erykah Badu‘s “New Amerykah Part Two (Return of the Ankh)” and Toni Braxton‘s “Pulse”. And while Janelle Monáe scored two nominations, she was probably the biggest snub in the New Artist category (Justin Bieber got nominated over her).  I’m also really surprised that Trey Songz is not up for anything this year, and especially not for his addictive single with Nicki Minaj (who also I was surprised only scored one nomination after more than a dozen collaborations the past year) “Bottoms Up”.

And finally in the Dance categories, which is relegated to two categories (Dance Recording and Electronic/Dance Album) and only 10 spots, Kelly Rowland should have definitely knocked one of them out for Dance Recording with probably the best true Dance single of 2010 “Commander”, while Kelis switched up her whole style on the stellar Dance album “Flesh Tone”. Also it was very strange to not see one of the most critically acclaimed Electronic albums LCD Soundsystem‘s “This is Happening” not up for anything.

So those are my very overdue reactions, and sometime next week (before my Birthday on Thursday) I’ll post my Predictions for Winners as the Grammy’s are just 9 days away.

>2011 Grammy Nominations — Predictions!

Tags

Adam Lambert, Arcade Fire, B.o.B., beyonce, Big Boi, Black Keys, Broken Bells, Bruno Mars, Danger Mouse, Drake, Eminem, Erykah Badu, Fantasia, Gorillaz, Grammy Nominations, Grammy Predictions, Grammys, Hayley Williams, James Mercer, Janelle Monae, Jay-Z, Jeezy, John Legend, Justin Bieber, Katy Perry, Ke$ha, Kelis, Lady Antebellum, Lady GaGa, LCD Soundsystem, Ludacris, Maroon 5, MGMT, Monica, Mr Hudson, Neon Trees, Nicki Minaj, Owl City, Paramore, Rick Ross, rihanna, Robyn, Sade, Snoop Dogg, Sparklehorse, Surfer Blood, The Black Keys, The Roots, The Shins, Toni Braxton, Usher, Vampire Weekend, Young Jeezy

>As much as it pains me to acknowledge it, Eminem will almost definitely be the Grammy leader when nominations are announced later today. Although his recent album “Recovery” is still a sub par outing, Eminem had a huge hit this year with Rihanna that was still on Grammy voters minds when submitting nomination choices a few weeks ago.

A lot has been made about the fact that he’s never won Album of the Year in the media, and the fact that he’s been very present this year with feature work and his album selling as consistently well as his previous outings will assure him multiple nominations (even though his album was garbage, but hey that’s just my opinion). He’ll be a lock for Album of the Year as well as Record and Song of the Year for “Love the Way You Lie” with Rihanna, and he’ll dominate the Hip Hop categories.

Other than Eminem, the other leading nominees will most likely come with a lot of surprises. I’m honestly not as confident with my predictions this year as in previous years, but there are some artists that made such a big impact this year I couldn’t imagine them being left out. And given last years nominees, the popular acts and best sellers will probably be the most mentioned when it comes to nominations.

Judging by that, I have an instinct that this year may be a big year for Hip Hop in the Big 4 categories (Album, Record, Song and New Artist of the Year). Eminem’s “Recovery” is a lock for Album of the Year, but I also wouldn’t count out eligible albums by Drake (“Thank Me Later”) and Jay-Z (“The Blueprint 3”).

Jay’s album came out last year right after the cut off, but the album received critical praise and ended up having three really big mainstream singles. His only problem is since the album was released so long ago, it might be forgotten. Even if he doesn’t get that big nomination for the album, I could see “Empire State of Mind” with Alicia Keys up for Record and/or Song of the Year.

Drake was the new artist with the biggest hype last year, and even though he didn’t have his album out he was up for three awards, so it seems obvious that he will be back again this year, and since his album was a steady seller it wouldn’t be surprising to see him in Album of the Year. He seems like a shoe-in for New Artist of the year however (and will probably win).

B.O.B. will most likely be up for New Artist of the Year as well, and even though his album might not be up for the top prize, his single “Airplanes” was so massive it’s sure to be competing for Record or Song of the Year (possibly both).

Eminem, Drake, Jay-Z and B.O.B. are sure to be favorites in the Hip Hop categories, and I believe they will probably be competing with themselves in certain categories. B.O.B. will probably get two nominations for Rap/Sung Collaboration for both “Airplanes” and “Nothing On You” with Bruno Mars. Same for Jay-Z who should find “Empire State of Mind” and “Young Forever” with Mr Hudson competing against each other. Drake’s “Over” and “Miss Me” will surely be up for nods. Also expect to see Ludacris, Young Jeezy, Rick Ross, and Nicki Minaj whose feature work should snag her a few nods, as well as her hit single “Your Love”.

As far as Pop music goes, Katy Perry will probably come out with a bunch of nominations. Her album “Teenage Dream”, which is better than some of the Album of the Year nominees of last year, will probably miss out in that category. However her name should pop up in most of the Big 4 categories, as the albums title track is surely deserved of Song and Record of the Year nominations as well as Pop Vocal Performance, Female. The album should get a Pop Album nomination, and depending on how her label plays it “California Gurls” with Snoop Dogg could be up for Dance Recording or Pop Collaboration with Vocals.

Lady GaGa was one of the nomination leaders last year, and expect her to be up for alot this year for her singles and videos from “The Fame Monster” EP. That release is only 8 songs long, and it’s doubtful it will be up for Album of the Year. However “Bad Romance” is sure to be up for Record or Song of the Year, as well as Female Pop Vocal and Dance Recording. Her and Grammy favorite Beyonce‘s collaboration “Telephone” will probably Win Pop Collaboration. As far as Short Form Music Video, any and all of her three video releases (“Bad Romance”, “Telephone” and “Alejandro”) deserve a nomination.

In the Rock and Indie scene The Black Keys, MGMT and Vampire Weekend are buzzed about underground acts that were more successful this year on a mainstream level. All of their releases came out in the first quarter of the year and could be forgotten, but thanks to a little commercialization Black Keys and Vampire Weekend might be up for a few awards, they have songs that have recently gained mainstream success because of television advertisements.

However the Indie act of the year that is most likely to get the most nominations are Arcade Fire, whose third album “The Suburbs” was a critical and commercial success. The group has won a Grammy for Alternative Album for both of their previous outings, and now that they are more known on the mainstream level I expect them up for Album of the Year no question. As far as any other possible nominations, I’m not sure but they will probably all fall under the Alternative categories.

One last shoe-in for Top 4 nominations is country group Lady Antebellum. I’m not very familiar with them, but I know I have read their name A LOT this past year. They are obviously very popular, and very respected as their second album “Need You Now” has been met with a lot of positive critiques. Again, I’m not familiar with them, but I would imagine Album of the Year isn’t out of the question. And the title track, which rose to #2 on the Pop charts will be a contender for Record and Album of the Year. And the group will most likely dominate the Country categories, as Taylor Swift did last year.

And finally the Grammys always have a soft spot for legendary acts making a comeback, and though it wasn’t really a comeback in that sense Sade‘s “Soldier of Love” album single and video will easily compete in a few categories, including the Big 4. That album was released in January and has since lost a lot of steam, but it’s Sade who has won a Grammy for nearly every album released. They won’t be totally forgotten, but I doubt they’ll be nomination leaders.

So here are my educated guesses for the Top 4 categories.

Album of the Year

Arcade Fire “The Suburbs”
Drake “Thank Me Later”
Eminem “Recovery”
Jay-Z “The Blueprint 3”
Lady Antebellum “Need You Now”
Sade “Soldier of Love”

Question marks on Drake and Jay-Z, Eminem might be too much Hip Hop for that category thus canceling those two (far superior albums) out. Also Sade is a question mark, because after the first single not much attention was paid to that album.

Record of the Year

B.O.B. and Hayley Williams “Airplanes”
Eminem and Rihanna “Love the Way You Lie”
Jay-Z and Alicia Keys “Empire State of Mind”
Katy Perry “Teenage Dream”
Lady Antebellum “Need You Now”
Lady GaGa “Bad Romance”

Other possible nominations OMG by Usher, California Gurls by Katy Perry, Not Afraid by Eminem, Fireflies by Owl City, Tik Tok by Ke$ha, Find Your Love by Drake

Song of the Year

B.O.B. and Hayley Williams “Airplanes”
Jay-Z and Alicia Keys “Empire State of Mind”
Lady Antebellum “Need You Now”
Lady GaGa “Bad Romance”
Sade “Soldier of Love”
Train “Hey, Soul Sister”

New Artist

B.O.B.
Justin Bieber
Bruno Mars
Drake
Janelle Monae

For Your Consideration:
I’ve been talking about the majorly successful artists who are sure to get nominated, however let’s shift things to the underrated outings that should be up for something this year.

Rihanna’s “Rated R” is a pop album on par with Janet Jackson’s “The Velvet Rope” which is a gift, but could be a curse at the Grammy’s. Janet’s 1997 album was met with the best critical praise in her career, but was ignored on Grammy night (only receiving a nomination for Short Form Video). Even though “Rated R” deserves a shot at Album of the Year, it’s doubtful she will snag it. However Rihanna will do well for herself this year, “Love the Way You Lie” alone will get her a few major nominations but also her big hit “Rude Boy” should be up for Female Pop Vocal and maybe Pop Single or they might even put her in the R&B race.

In R&B, Usher will most likely dominate as “Raymond v. Raymond” and it’s re-release “Versus” generated two big Pop singles and three pretty big R&B singles. However looking past the mainstream, hopefully Erykah Badu‘s “New Amerykah Part Two (Return of the Ankh)” and controversial video and single “Window Seat” will be shown some love tonight. As well as Toni Braxton‘s “Pulse”, which was all but forgotten shortly after it was released despite being a very solid R&B album with one of the better R&B songs to come out in years “Hands Tied”. And though I’m not personally vouching for these releases, I could see Monica and Fantasia up for some awards. Though these outings were a bit lackluster for me, they were met with a lot of praise from R&B fans. And even though she’s hard to put in a box of just one Genre, and even though she’s more than likely going to be up for New Artist, Janelle Monae will hopefully be given her due as she put out one of the most original and creative albums of the year with “TheArchAndroid”.

Producer Danger Mouse might have too mellow of a sound to take notice to, but his collaboration with James Mercer of The Shins “Broken Bells” should be up for Album of the Year. It’s doubtful it will, but it deserves to, and if it doesn’t I hope to see them competing for multiple categories in the Alternative categories. Also Danger Mouse’s collaboration with Sparklehorse might be a topic of debate, it was leaked digitally last year but was released officially this year with several guest artists from different generations of Rock and Alternative music. Even if that album isn’t nominated for anything, his output alone should get him a nomination for Producer of the Year. Another alternative group that I think are more than deserving of some mentions are Surfer Blood whose “Astro Coast” was one of the most solid albums released this year. They aren’t popular hardly at all on a mainstream level, but hopefully enough hipsters voted and they could possibly break through.

Kelis and Robyn linked up for a tour this summer, and they should both be up for Grammy gold in the Dance and Electronic categories. Kelis’ “Flesh Tone” was a sharp departure for her, as it was a total dance album. And not a watered down pop version of Dance, it’s up there with some of the best and respected Dance albums of the past. Hopefully we’ll see her name in a few categories. Robyn released three EP’s this year (only two are eligible), and if that invalidates her from any album categories, her two singles “Dancing on my Own” and “Hang with Me” are miles better than the radio staples I expect to see up for Dance Recording (that really don’t deserve to be there). Another Electronic act that got a lot of praise for his recent release was LCD Soundsystem. “This is Happening” got loads of critical praise, and since he’s been nominated three times in the past, I’m sure he’ll get a nomination this year. As well as Gorillaz, who’s album “Plastic Beach” isn’t necessarily one of my favorites of the year but deserves to compete, and they should also be up for Short Form Video for “Stylo”.

And Big Boi, his first solo album “Sir Lucious Left Foot, The Son of Chico Dusty” came and went with little fanfare, but it’s a really solid album with some solid singles that should be up for multiple Hip Hop categories. The Roots could be singled out because of heavy competition in the Hip Hop categories for their album “How I Got Over”, but I expect to see their collaboration album with Grammy favorite John Legend “Wake Up!” possibly in the Traditional R&B Album category since it’s a celebration of classic soul songs, and a truly great album.

In the Pop field, I want to see Adam Lambert‘s “Whataya Want From Me” up for multiple categories (I would say it deserves Song of the Year, but it probably wasn’t a big enough hit to make it in that category), he should definitely win for Male Pop Vocal for this song however. And while Maroon 5‘s album wasn’t anything to write home about, their single “Misery” is fun, infectious and well produced, hopefully that one song (and the video) get a nod or two. And finally, also aided by the help of commercialization, Neon Trees‘ excellent “Animal” should be a favorite for Pop Vocal Duo or Group (unless their label puts them in Alternative or Rock — which doesn’t quite fit)

So there are my predictions, as I said earlier I’m not as confident about these predictions as years prior, but I think I’m on the right track. We’ll find out tonight. And than we’ll discuss the nominations and predict winners shortly after.

>Album Review: Sade "Soldier of Love"

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Album Review, Sade, Sade Review, Sade Soldier of Love, Sade Soldier of Love Review, Soldier of Love Review

>It still amazes me. Sade can release a new album once every 10 years and still be massively successful like she never left. Her (or I should say Their… Sade is a group with lead vocalist Sade Adu) newest album “Soldier of Love” seems to be no exception. Released almost exactly 10 years since her last “Lovers Rock”, it seemed as soon as it was announced that the album was being released, it shot to the top of several Pre-Order lists. In fact, based on Pre-orders alone the album stayed in the Top 10 iTunes Album charts for over a month.
Clearly the group has a very well-established and well-respected name in the industry, but on top of that they released a Monster of a first single in the albums title track. The song is very minimalist but also in a lot of ways very contemporary and has lyrics everyone can relate to. Unfortunately nothing on the album really matches the intensity or even the change in style that song has, but it’s still a solid Sade album. I think when this group releases an album, it’s not so much about what new style or new direction they are taking that gets fans excited, it’s really just the fact that they are back. And they are definitely back to form, with a very smooth R&B leaning collection of songs. And though not many of the songs can match the greatness of the title track, it’s not to say that the album is all filler. There are some tremendous stand outs on the album, starting with the very first track “The Moon and the Sky” continuing with excellent slow-burners “Morning Bird” and “Long Hard Road”.Personally, there are a few miss-steps. I feel like the reggae-tinged “Babyfather”, while very catchy, comes off as very contrived and a little forced. Same with the Country leaning “Be That Easy” and “Bring Me Home” which seems to get really bogged down in trying to be too contemporary and not even focusing on a memorable hook.
The last few songs more than save the album from those few bad apples, “In Another Time” triumphs with great lyrics, great production and a pretty amazing and restrained vocal from Adu. “Skin” plays a little more contemporary, but it breezes through to the end not sounding forced at all, and the only complaint I have about the albums closer “The Safest Place” is that it’s way too short. I actually prefer this album off the top over 2000’s “Lovers Rock” as there are more songs that instantly stand out. I think the world will be enjoying this album until 2020, when the groups next album may or not appear.

By the Way, the video to “Soldier of Love” is AWESOME.
http://www.vevo.com/VideoPlayer/Embedded?videoId=GB1100900848&playlist=false&autoplay=0&playerId=62FF0A5C-0D9E-4AC1-AF04-1D9E97EE3961&playerType=embedded