The 52nd Annual GRAMMY Awards is taking place sooner than ever. Instead of predicting nominees before the new year's we are predicting the winners. For the upcoming four weeks, left for the big event to occur, I will be giving my thoughts and reviews on what the outcome could be.

This week

THE GENERAL FIELD

Overall Grammy Awards nominees this year are quite weak. The general field which contains the Big 4 awards was fullfilled with mainstream songs and there is no much variety as in previous years. Beyonce, Lady Gaga, and Taylor Swift dominate the field so there we don't have that breakthrough artist (as it happened in 2008 with Amy Winehouse or 2003 with Norah Jones, amongst others). Now we go through each category:

Album of the Year

Sasha Fierce is definitely Beyonce's greatest production an admixture between traditional R&B sounds and modern urban music is what makes this record special however I wouldn't consider it the album of the year but then again there is no other strong contender. The grammy trend for this category is that the winner is that left out non-commercial traditional musician (i.e. Ray Charles in 2005, Herbie Hancock in 2008) but this year we don't have that special nominee. The only other nod who could dethrone Beyonce is Taylor Swift, as this category has been being alternate between country/jazz records in the past years. My personal choice is Lady Gaga's The Fame but I find it really hard for a modern dance music album getting this award. The rest don't stand any chance.

Record of the Year

Another grammy trend is that whoever gets the most nominations, either overall or in the main categories, makes the hat-trick (album, record, song) that is why I couldn't predict other than Beyonce and not because "Halo" is the record of the year but because the grammys become more and more predictable as the years go by and the grammy trends are always followed. My personal choice is "I Gotta Feeling" by the Black Eyed Peas for being a worldwide hit that could be remembered for ages.

Song of the Year

As mentioned above there was no much variety this year in the general field. In this category we have four artists who were also nominated in the record of the year in the same scenario we had in the year 2000 so I have no objections to say that "Single Ladies" will be the song of the year and it will make history because it will be the first urban contemporary song to get this award. My personal choice is being debated between Poker Face and You Belong with Me as I consider songs by singer/songwriters who dont need a big production team of co-writers have more merit.

Best New Artist

I know that 2009 was not the biggest year for new artists but there were some who stood out that actually make their debut this year. None of the nominated artists made their debut in 2009. I found misleading the nomination for Keri Hilson in this category since everybody knew her from two years ago with the internationally-aclaimed hit "The Way I Are" with Timbaland. So even though I see her as the only potential winner I really dont think she should have been nominated. My personal choice is The Ting Tings, a four years old british band, who is making breakthrough music combining electronic and alternative rock sounds.

SUMMARY

So... my predictions are:

Album of the Year

  I Am... Sasha Fierce by Beyonce

Record of the Year

  "Halo" by Beyonce

Song of the Year

  "Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It)" by Beyonce, Thaddis Harrel, Terius Nash and Cristopher Stewart

Best New Artist

  Keri Hilson

Now.. Do you symphatize with this outcome? You think it would be totally different? then

HAVE YOUR SAY

Next week (01/04): POP and DANCE fields

You can also make your choice in the following link:

 http://www.misterpoll.com/polls/467162