Grammy Award nominations are set to be announced on Wednesday evening during a splashy one-hour telecast on CBS, and a mix of fresh and familiar Canadian faces could find themselves on the list. Canadian Press music writer Nick Patch offers his thoughts on which Canucks might be in the running for Grammy glory this year.
DRAKE-ING IT ALL IN: Toronto rapper Drake seems like Canada’s best shot for a nomination after a breakneck ride up the charts. No, the 23-year-old — nee Aubrey Drake Graham — still hasn’t released a full-length album, but he had three Top 20 singles in the United States.
His swooning Best I Ever Had reached No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 and, next to the Black Eyed Peas’ titanic summer singles, was one of the most visible hip-hop tracks of the year. More recently, Forever — his collaboration with Kanye West, Lil Wayne and Eminem — peaked at No. 8 on the chart.
GRAMMY MAKES NICE WITH NICKELBACK: The Hanna band’s sixth studio album, Dark Horse, sits at No. 69 on the most recent Billboard albums chart — a stunning 53 weeks after its release. While critics love to hate Nickelback, Grammy has been much more kind, lavishing five nominations on the band. And while it feels like eons since Dark Horse was trotted out, the Nov. 18, 2008 release missed the cut-off for the 2009 edition of the Grammys and wasn’t eligible.
BUB-LATE?: Michael Buble’s Crazy Love spent two weeks at No. 1 on the albums chart in the U.S. and Canada, but missed the Sept. 1 cutoff and therefore won’t be eligible until the 2011 ceremony. Still, Haven’t Met You Yet — the album’s first single, which Buble co-wrote with Alan Chang and Canadian Amy Foster — was released on Aug. 31 and could be nominated for an award. Likewise, Nelly Furtado’s Spanish-language album, Mi Plan, was released on Sept. 11 and won’t be eligible at this year’s award show.
NOT MEANT TO BE FOR BIEBER?: Mop-topped 15-year-old upstart Justin Bieber has endorsements in his back pocket from Diddy, Usher and Justin Timberlake and a top 10 record on both sides of the border, but it’s probably too early for Grammy to join the party. The former YouTube sensation just dropped his My World EP on Nov. 17, long past the cutoff point for consideration in 2010.
His hip-hop-inflected pop single, One Time, could make the cut, but consider that Bieber’s teen-pop peers the Jonas Brothers had recorded three studio albums before they received a Grammy nomination for best new artist.