Grammys 2015 Date & Nominations: Beyonce, Pharrell Battle for Album of the Year; Latin Categories Features Vets Against Indie Artists
The remaining nominees for the 57th Grammy Awards were announced Friday, and while the coveted Album of the Year category is full of pop, urban and rock artists, several of the Latin categories are a mixed bag of relatively unknown newcomers alongside winners of this year's Latin Grammys.
Among the Album of the Year contenders, which were announced during Friday evening's "A Very Grammy Christmas" on CBS, were Beyoncé's eponymous album, "X" by Ed Sheeran, Pharrell's record "GIRL," "In the Lonely Hour" by Sam Smith and "Morning Phase" by Beck.
For the Latin nominees, it wasn't just the best-known acts who were nominated, but many who had already been recognized for their work this year earned a nomination at the Grammys.
Best Latin Pop Album had four nominees who had just won Latin Grammys for the same projects. Ruben Blades, Mexican pop group Camila, Juanes, and a trio made up of Soledad, Lila Downs and Nina Pastori were joined by Marco Antonio Solis to round out the category.
Similar trends were seen for the Latin Rock, Urban or Alternative Album category, which chose to honor a wide-ranging group of artists. Jorge Drexler won Record of the Year for a collaboration with Ana Tijoux, whose albums were each nominated in the Grammys, and Calle 13's "Multiviral" won Album of the Year awards for both rock and urban categories. Other competitors include "Agua Maldita" by rock group Molotov and the Colombian folk band ChoQuibTown's "Behind the Machine".
Best Regional Mexican Music Album and Best Tropical Album both had a few well-known names up against relative newcomers. Pepe Aguilar, a recent Latin Grammy winner, and Vicente Fernandez face-off for the regional award, but the nominees are somewhat outliers. The same can be said of Carlos Vives, whose Tropical album category has two veterans (El Gran Combo de Puerto Rico and Totó La Momposina) stacking up against two rookies -- Aymee Nuviola from Cuba and the group Palo!
The 2015 Grammy Awards will be given out on Feb. 8 in a ceremony on CBS.
* This is a contributed article and this content does not necessarily represent the views of latinpost.com