Grammy's Film/TV Related Categories

The Grammy Awards were announced today with Kendrick Lamar (11 nominations), Taylor Swift and The Weeknd (7 nominations each) leading the nominee pack. But here at The Film Experience we're only really concerned with the visual categories.

I'm not including Grammy's Spoken Word category as I am sometimes prone to do because there aren't actors involved this year beyond Amy Poehler who is nominated for the audiobook of her "Yes Please" memoir. But don't get too excited about her nomination. The brilliant Poehler seems to be a statue repellent; she's not anywhere close to an EGOT since she's never even won a damn Emmy despite years of TV brilliance.

Here are the nominees in the film/tv related categories...

Best Music Video

• LSD - ASAP Rocky
• I Feel Love (Every Million Miles) - The Dead Weather
• Alright - Kendrick Lamar
• Bad Blood - Taylor Swift feat. Kendrick Lamar
• Freedom - Pharrell Williams

We've already written about Taylor Swift's celebrity laced Bad Blood video but what do you think of these others?

Best Music Film

• Amy
• Mr Dynamite: The Rise of James Brown
• Sonic Highways
• The Wall
• What Happened Miss Simone?

Will Amy continue to be a steamroller for awards hardware?

Best Song Written for Visual Media
(the closest thing they have to Oscar's Best Original Song)

• Earned it (Fifty Shades of Grey)
• Glory (Selma)
• Love Me Like You Do (Fifty Shades of Grey)
• See You Again (Furious 7)
• Til It Happens to You (The Hunting Ground)

Last year's Oscar winner is there (the moving "Glory") but will these four others be nominated for Best Original Song at the Oscars? Lady Gaga (with Diane Warren, 7 Oscar nominations) seems the most likely candidate for a nomination for her lamenting ballad from the documentary finalist The Hunting Ground

Best Song Written for Visual Media
(the closest thing they have to Oscar's Best Original Song)

• Earned it (Fifty Shades of Grey)
• Glory (Selma)
• Love Me Like You Do (Fifty Shades of Grey)
• See You Again (Furious 7)
• Til It Happens to You (The Hunting Ground)

Last year's Oscar winner is there (the moving "Glory") but will these four others be nominated for Best Original Song at the Oscars? Lady Gaga (with Diane Warren, 7 Oscar nominations) seems the most likely candidate for a nomination for her lamenting ballad from the documentary finalist The Hunting Ground

Best Score Soundtrack

• Birdman - Antonio Sanchez, composer
• The Imitation Game - Alexandre Desplat, composer
• Interstellar - Hans Zimmer, composer
• The Theory of Everything - Jóhan Jóhannsson, composer
• Whiplash - Justin Hurwitz, composer

All of these were Oscar nominees last year but for Birdman's drum score which they deemed ineligible for reasons that are still a bit puzzling (as many rulings by the music branch have been since time immemorial)

Best Compilation Soundtrack

• Empire: Season 1
• Fifty Shades of Grey
• Glen Campbell: I'll Be Me
• Pitch Perfect 2
• Selma

"Empire" deserves this!

Best Musical Theater Album
Okay this one is not a film category but shut up - we love musical theater. And one of these was originally a Best Picture winner so...

• An American in Paris
• Fun Home
• Hamilton
• The King and I
• Something Rotten!

Hamilton probably can't lose any prize its up for this year so it was a blessing that Fun Home competed for Tonys in a separate year because Fun Home is also a modern classic.

P.S. The Grammy's Spoken Word category contains actors but not so much this year other than Amy Poehler who is nominated for an album called "Yes Please". But don't get excited -- she's not anywhere close to an EGOT since she's never even won a damn Emmy despite years of TV brilliance.

Comments

[Marcos]

Why don't you please tell who the nominees are for Spoken Word?

[Suzanne]

I don't think Whiplash was an Oscar nominee last year - I think there was too much unoriginal music in the score, maybe? But the soundtrack is really good.

[Hayden W.]

Sigh. Hot take: 2015 is the year the mainstream rejection of Madonna became complete. With MDNA, the album itself seemed like a miss, but if Rebel Heart won't get radio play or Grammy attention as a simple courtesy, "You're the one with the problem."

Healthy sales, critical praise, aggressive promotion, a massive tour and remaining the most important celebrity on the planet aren't enough to overcome ageism and bias. The terrorists have won! The only thing colder than this cold shoulder is Madonna's determination to change for no bitch!

I WANT TO START A REVOLUTION OF INQUIRING FURTHER!

[ken s]

Mr. Dynamite: The Rise of James Brown is magnificent. The performance footage of the greatest entertainer of all time would be enough, but the film is also excellently made. One of my favorite documentaries of any sort of the last year.

[Volvagia]

Nat: The best summary I have of Earned It is from Todd in the Shadows: "Yes indeed, Madame. You have worked hard enough to earn my genitals."

[DAVID]

Hayden:

God love her for not giving a fuck, either!!
It really is a shame though I mean not just her but even slightly younger pop stars like Mariah Carey, Jennifer Lopez, and Britney Spears have all been deduced to cheesy greatest hits shows in Vegas.

If actresses thought it was hard to stay relevant and get parts past 40, it's even harder for female pop stars. It will be very interesting to see what happens to Adele and Taylor Swift in 20 years.

sigh

[George P]

Congratulations to Ken Watanabe for his GRAMMY nomination in Best Musical Theater Album (The King & I)!

GRAMMY RULE:
For albums containing at least 51% playing time of new recordings.
Award to the principle vocalist(s) and the album producer(s) of
51% or more playing time of the album. The lyricist(s) and
composer(s) of a new score are eligible for an Award if they have
written and/or composed a new score which comprises 51% or
more playing time of the album.

GRAMMY LISTING:
THE KING AND I
Ruthie Ann Miles, Kelli O'Hara, Ashley Park, Conrad
Ricamora & Ken Watanabe, principal soloists; David
Caddick, David Lai & Ted Sperling, producers
(Richard Rodgers, composer; Oscar Hammerstein II,
lyricist) (2015 Broadway Cast)

Also, if "Pitch Perfect 2" or "Empire: Season 1" wins Best Compilation Soundtrack, would that award include going to Anna Kendrick/Hailee Steinfeld or Terrence Howard?

[Sean Diego]

I get that Bjork's music isn't exactly in the realm of the old white men selecting the Grammy nominations, but it's astonishing to me that neither "Stonemilker" nor "Black Lake" were nominated for Best Music Video. They're works of art, even without the music.

[JAKE D]

Poor Fun Home. I'm sure they would have won Musical Theatre Album any other year.

[Nathaniel R]

George P -- i have no idea. Any grammy experts in the house?

[Chris Feil]

SO thrilled that Alabama Shakes got an Album of the Year nomination.

Definitely rooting for Sanchez to win Score Soundtrack, especially considering his Oscar ineligibility last year.

[Ryan T.]

Really thought HAMILTON would've broken out to other categories, but alas.

[STinG]

Fun Home be like "Hamilton doesn't hesitate/he exhibits no restraint/takes and he takes and he takes/and he keeps winning anyway/changes the game"

I'm rooting for Fun Home above all the others, but I love Hamilton enough to be ok with its inevitable win.