UrbanWire

Almost every year, the Gods of the Grammy Awards shine their light on a chosen one, 1 breakout artiste who sweeps the Grammys, leaving all competition biting the dust

and many times, this artiste happens to be female. There was Lauryn Hill ("The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill") in 1998, Alicia Keys ("Songs in A Minor") in 2002 and just last year, jazz chanteuse Norah Jones ("Come Away With Me") garnered 8 Grammys in one fell swoop.

This time around, it seems like the stars are all aligned and shining in one direction, that of bootylicious Beyoncé Knowles's impressive behind. With 6 nominations, Beyoncé ties with beau Jay-Z, Pharell Williams of the Neptunes and Outkast for the honour of bagging the most nominations. This diva of R&B has already started her own Grammy award collection, having won 2 of them as a third of Destiny's Child. Her debut solo album, "Dangerously In Love", along with its standout single, 'Crazy In Love', has also won her 4 Billboard Music Awards. Beyoncé's on an awards-winning roll and it will culminate into a bountiful night come Feb 8, take our word for it.

If you're somewhat surprised that a mainstream superstar like Beyoncé is poised to grab numerous awards, then you must not have seen this year's Grammy nomination list. After enduring years of criticism from the public for nominating only obscure, left-of-the-field musicians, the Grammy panel seems to have swung to the other extreme, with plenty of popular culture acts scoring nominations. With the likes of Eminem, Justin Timberlake, Avril Lavigne and American Idols Ruben Studdard and Kelly Clarkson getting nods, you've hardly be faulted for mistaking this for the MTV Video Music Awards list instead.

So, are these omens of an impending apocalypse or are the Grammys simply more with it now? The cynic in UrbanWire thinks falling viewership is more likely the reason for the hipper, younger nomination choices. Yet, this year's awards ceremony looks set to be more exciting (not too difficult actually) than last year's snoozefest.

As is the tradition here at UrbanWire, we offer you our predictions, give you a helping hand for the office/school pool and keep our fingers firmly crossed. With 105 different awards to be given out, we thought you'd not bet on some of them, such as Best Traditional Tropical Latin
Album (Vocal or Instrumental), so we just stuck to our favourite categories.

Record of the Year

'Crazy In Love' - Beyoncé Featuring Jay-Z [winner]
'Where Is The Love' - The Black Eyed Peas & Justin Timberlake
'Clocks' - Coldplay
'Lose Yourself' - Eminem
'Hey Ya!' - OutKast

This one's a toss-up between 2 of the biggest singles of 2003, Beyoncé's 'Crazy In Love' and the Black Eyed Peas' 'Where Is The Love'. 'Lose Yourself' is too distant a memory for the voters, and the fact that it got nominated (considering it's a rap song) is surprising enough. Coldplay's 'Clocks' is good but Record of the Year? Nah. 'Hey Ya!' has the requisite critical and commercial success but its release too close to the nomination deadline could have meant less time for it to sink into the heads of voters. Between Beyoncé and the Black Eyed Peas, we fancy the former's chances simply for the fact that once those tootin' and blarin' horns get stuck in your minds, you can't get them out.

Album Of The Year

Under Construction - Missy Elliot
Fallen - Evanescence
Speakerboxxx/The Love Below - OutKast [winner]
Justified - Justin Timberlake
Elephant - The White Stripes

That Justin Timberlake's patchy and, at best, above average collection of R&B tunes is nominated is indicative of how good (or rather, mediocre) a year 2003 was for music. The other 3 are all solid albums in their respective fields, but only one managed to transcend genres and generations alike. Place your last dollar on OutKast.

Song Of The Year

'Beautiful' - Linda Perry, songwriter (Christina Aguilera)
'Dance With My Father' - Richard Marx & Luther Vandross, songwriters (Luther Vandross) [winner]
'I'm With You' - Avril Lavigne & The Matrix, songwriters (Avril Lavigne)
'Keep Me In Your Heart' - Jorge Calderón & Warren Zevon, songwriters (Warren Zevon)
'Lose Yourself' - J. Bass, M. Mathers & L. Resto, songwriters (Eminem)

First up, send all queries as to how Song of the Year and Record of the Year differ this way instead please. Thank you.

'Beautiful' may have been a source of inspiration for teenage girls all around the world with self-esteem issues, but it is way too self-aggrandising (Sample lyric: "I AM BEAUTIFUL") for the more refined palates of Grammy voters. As a pretty-enough ballad for a cold winter night, one we can only imagine in Singapore, 'I'm With You' works, but that's about all it is. 'Lose Yourself', with its suitable-for-winning-awards-but-yet-not-too-in-your-face theme of grabbing the chances in life one gets, is a dark horse, but again, its release waaay back in 2002 means voters only had more time to forget about it. Look, instead, to the veteran to get the award. If there's anything that's a sure shot at helping you win awards, having a near-death experience is it. Which means we'll be seeing Luther Vandross win this with his gentle and lulling ode to his papa.

Best New Artist

Evanescence [winner]
50 Cent
Fountains Of Wayne
Heather Headley
Sean Paul

Ok, it doesn't happen very often, but the choice of nominees in this category has really gotten Urbanwire scratching our heads. Fountains Of Wayne? Best New Artist when they've released songs as early as last millennium? Sean Paul? Sean Paul?? Sean Paul??? And then there's this Heather girl whom we'll file under the same category as Shelby Lynne (remember her? Didn't think so) - artistes who come out of nowhere to receive an out-of-the-blue awards nomination/win and subsequently fade back into obscurity. So, we're left with a guy whose greatest accomplishment is taking 9 bullet shots and a band whose founding member left abruptly in the middle of a European concert tour. Evanescence should pip 50 Cent to the award by virtue of Amy Lee actually being able to construct a sentence without slurring.

Best Polka Album

Versalicious! - Eddie Blazonczyk's Versatones
Polkas In Black And White - Jerry Darlak And The Touch
LynnMarie & The Boxhounds - LynnMarie
Just For You - Walter Ostanek & Bob Kravos
Strike Up The Band - Dennis Polisky & The Maestro's Men
Let's Polka 'Round - Dennis Polisky & The Maestro's Men

Erm… we'll go with either LynnMarie or Jimmy Sturr because they are the only 2 with none-European sounding names? Then again, who listens to polka?

All album photos courtesy of Amazon.co.uk
Catch the 46th Grammy Awards, live, on Feb 9, at 9am, on Ch 5.