Kendrick Lamar Leads Grammy Nominations

Lamar will compete in the best album category with Swift’s “1989”, The Weeknd’s “Beauty Behind the Madness”, country singer Chris Stapleton’s “Traveller” and rock band Alabama Shakes’ “Sand & Color”.

Little Big Town also helped country music return to top Grammy categories with “Girl Crush”, which is up for song of the year (the nomination goes to the song’s writers, Lori McKenna, Hillary Lindsey and Liz Rose).

“Thinking out Loud” and “Blank Space” also are nominated for record of the year, pitted against Mark Ronson and Bruno Mars’ “Uptown Funk”, the Weeknd’s “Can’t Feel My Face” and “Really Love” from R&B singer D’Angelo and the Vanguard.

The 83 categories were announced this morning, with Kendrick leading the noms with 11 nods. He also observed that the cast album for the Broadway hit “Hamilton”, which uses a variety of musical genres in its score, didn’t get an album of the year nomination. His album “Montevallo” is nominated in the best country album category for the upcoming Grammys and he has also done well at other awards shows this year. — Tony Bennett, nominated with Bill Charlap for traditional pop vocal album, in a statement. “Lamar scored a stunning 11 nominations, with a nod in every rap category, plus Album of the Year, Song of the Year, and even Best Dance Recording, for his feature on Flying Lotus” “Never Catch Me”. Big Sean’s Dark Sky Paradise, Run The Jewels’ Run The Jewels 2, Lupe Fiasco‘s Tetsuo & Youth and Wale’s The Album About Nothing were among standouts from the nomination period – each lyrically impressive, sonically and thematically cohesive, and creative forces largely free of overused rap cliches – that won’t have a shot to shine. “It is always an honor to be nominated for a Grammy”. Meghan Trainor, celebrating her new artist nod, via Instagram.

The 2016 Grammy Awards will be held February 15, 2016 at Los Angeles’ Staples Center and broadcast live in high-def from 8 P.M. ET.

His latest studio album, “Beauty Behind the Madness”, was released in August and topped the Billboard charts for three straight weeks.

For those looking for a “Swift vs. Lamar” narrative, however, things aren’t so simple: the Best Pop Group/Duo Performance and Best Music Video nominees include their collaboration “Bad Blood”. Lamar’s “Butterfly” could be the first hip-hop project to win album of the year since Outkast took home the prize in 2004 with “Speakerboxxx/The Love Below”.

Here are some of the 58th annual Grammy Awards’ more notable surprises and snubs.

The Grammy attention reaffirms Lamar’s importance in the wake of what happened two years ago when his debut, “good kid, m.A.A.d city”, came out.

Saxophonist Jimmy Greene, the father of one of the children killed in the Sandy Hook school shooting, earned two nominations for an album inspired by his late daughter Ana Márquez-Greene.