Grammy picks

The Grammy Awards are tonight, which means that the out-of-touch National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences will again reward those artists who made the most consumer-friendly music this year. While I don't always agree with the nominations or the night's winners, I do find it fun to make my own picks every year. Here are my choices for the artists and songs I think should (read: not "will") win this year's awards in what I consider to be the most noteworthy categories:

Album Of The Year
(Award to the Artist(s) and to the Album Producer(s), Recording Engineer(s)/Mixer(s) & Mastering Engineer(s), if other than the artist.)

* Viva La Vida Or Death And All His Friends
Coldplay

* Tha Carter III
Lil Wayne

* Year Of The Gentleman
Ne-Yo

* Raising Sand
Robert Plant & Alison Krauss

* In Rainbows
Radiohead

My pick: Lil Wayne (although for perhaps the first time ever I can honstly say I enjoy all these albums)


Record Of The Year
(Award to the Artist and to the Producer(s), Recording Engineer(s) and/or Mixer(s), if other than the artist.)

* Chasing Pavements
Adele
Eg White, producer; Tom Elmhirst & Steve Price, engineers/mixers

* Viva La Vida
Coldplay
Markus Dravs, Brian Eno & Rik Simpson, producers; Michael Brauer & Rik Simpson, engineers/mixers

* Bleeding Love
Leona Lewis
Simon Cowell, Clive Davis & Ryan "Alias" Tedder, producers; Craig Durrance, Phil Tan & Ryan "Alias" Tedder, engineers/mixers

* Paper Planes
M.I.A
Diplo, producer; Switch, engineer/mixer

* Please Read The Letter
Robert Plant & Alison Krauss
T Bone Burnett, producer; Mike Piersante, engineer/mixer

My pick: Viva La Vida


Song Of The Year
(A Songwriter(s) Award. A song is eligible if it was first released or if it first achieved prominence during the Eligibility Year. (Artist names appear in parentheses.) Singles or Tracks only.)

* American Boy
William Adams, Keith Harris, Josh Lopez, Caleb Speir, John Stephens, Estelle Swaray & Kanye West, songwriters (Estelle Featuring Kanye West)

* Chasing Pavements
Adele Adkins & Eg White, songwriters (Adele)

* I'm Yours
Jason Mraz, songwriter (Jason Mraz)

* Love Song
Sara Bareilles, songwriter (Sara Bareilles)

* Viva La Vida
Guy Berryman, Jonny Buckland, Will Champion & Chris Martin, songwriters (Coldplay)

My pick: American Boy


Best New Artist
(For a new artist who releases, during the Eligibility Year, the first recording which establishes the public identity of that artist.)

* Adele

* Duffy

* Jonas Brothers

* Lady Antebellum

* Jazmine Sullivan

My pick: Jonas Brothers


Best Rock Album
(Vocal or Instrumental. Includes Hard Rock and Metal.)

* Viva La Vida Or Death And All His Friends
Coldplay

* Rock N Roll Jesus
Kid Rock

* Only By The Night
Kings Of Leon

* Death Magnetic
Metallica

* Consolers Of The Lonely
The Raconteurs

My pick: Viva La Vida


Best Rock Song
(A Songwriter(s) Award. Includes Rock, Hard Rock & Metal songs. For Song Eligibility Guidelines see Category #3. (Artist names appear in parentheses.) Singles or Tracks only.)

* Girls In Their Summer Clothes
Bruce Springsteen, songwriter (Bruce Springsteen)

* House Of Cards
Colin Greenwood, Jonny Greenwood, Ed O'Brien, Philip Selway & Thom Yorke, songwriters (Radiohead)

* I Will Possess Your Heart
Benjamin Gibbard, Nicholas Harmer, Jason McGerr & Christopher Walla, songwriters (Death Cab For Cutie)

* Sex On Fire
Caleb Followill, Jared Followill, Matthew Followill & Nathan Followill, songwriters (Kings Of Leon)

* Violet Hill
Guy Berryman, Jonny Buckland, Will Champion & Chris Martin, songwriters (Coldplay)

My pick: Sex On Fire


Best Alternative Music Album
(Vocal or Instrumental.)

* Modern Guilt
Beck

* Narrow Stairs
Death Cab For Cutie

* The Odd Couple
Gnarls Barkley

* Evil Urges
My Morning Jacket

* In Rainbows
Radiohead

My pick: My Morning Jacket


Best Rap Album
(For albums containing 51% or more playing time of VOCAL tracks.)

* American Gangster
Jay-Z

* Tha Carter III
Lil Wayne

* The Cool
Lupe Fiasco

* Nas
Nas

* Paper Trail
T.I.

My pick: Lupe Fiasco


Best Rap Song
(A Songwriter(s) Award. For Song Eligibility Guidelines see Category #3. (Artist names appear in parentheses.) Singles or Tracks only.)

* Lollipop
D. Carter, S. Garrett, D. Harrison, J. Scheffer & R. Zamor, songwriters (Lil Wayne Featuring Static Major)

* Low
Tramar Dillard, M. Humphrey, Faheem Najm, Korey Roberson & Howard Simmons, songwriters (Flo Rida Featuring T-Pain)

* Sexual Eruption
Calvin Broadus, S. Lovejoy & D. Stewart, songwriters (Snoop Dogg)

* Superstar
Lupe Fiasco & Soundtrakk, songwriters (Lupe Fiasco Featuring Matthew Santos)

* Swagga Like Us
Jeff Bhaskev, D. Carter, S. Carter, Clifford Harris, Plain Pat & Kanye West, songwriters (M. Arulpragasam, N. Headon, M. Jones, J. Mellor, T. Pentz & P. Simonon, songwriters) (Jay-Z & T.I. Featuring Kanye West & Lil Wayne)

My pick: Lollipop


Full list of nominees here.