B-sides: _Nominee list for 2011 American Music Awards does not reflect current talent_
By Daily Bruin Staff
Oct. 17, 2011 12:08 a.m.
My family loves award shows of all kinds. That’s because they are opportunities to whip up unhealthy amounts of onion dip and eat it with unhealthy amounts of chips. But mostly it’s because we always print out those little ballots that accompany the list of nominees and see who can get the most picks correct.
So naturally, when I saw that the 2011 American Music Award nominees had been announced on Tuesday, I jumped at the opportunity to see the list of the musicians up for the awards for this People’s Choice-style award show.
There’s a lot of talent on the list, that much is certain. But parts of the slim list look eerily familiar to the list from last year’s American Music Awards, and there are also some straight-up confusing nominations.
The first thing that becomes clear immediately upon viewing this year’s list of nominees is that the leading ladies of pop music will dominate the evening. Vocal powerhouse Adele is the star of the production, with Lady Gaga, Taylor Swift and Katy Perry playing supporting roles. Adele is nominated four times, and Lady Gaga, Swift and Perry are all each nominated three times. All four ladies are nominated for “Artist of the Year” along with Lil Wayne.
The second thing that the list will inspire is a sense of deja vu.
Seven categories out of this year’s list of 22 (and that’s including the four different “new artist” categories) feature two or more of the exact same nominees as last year. In most of these cases, there are only three nominations in the category. So, that means that in those categories, there is only one new nominee.
The champion of this repetitive nominee list, however, is the “Favorite Male Artist” in the category of soul/rhythm & blues music. This year’s nominees: Chris Brown, Trey Songz and Usher. Last year’s nominees: Chris Brown, Trey Songz and Usher.
I have a hard time believing that those three men have so dominated that genre of music over the past two years and that no other performer warranted a nomination in the category.
But that’s not the most confusing part of this list of nominees. The most confusing part is neatly wrapped up in the nominees for the Sprint New Artist of the Year in the hip-hop/R&B category. The nominees are LMFAO and Wiz Khalifa. Here’s the problem with that: Neither of those artists are new. Wiz Khalifa was making music as early as 2006 and LMFAO released its first full-length album in 2009.
Like with male artists in soul/rhythm & blues, I can’t believe that there are no new artists in hip-hop and rap worth recognizing. Childish Gambino, anyone?
The men and women nominated for American Music Awards this year are talented, but the list of nominees is less of a reflection of who has made a fresh musical impact this year and more of a reflection of which big names are still popular in contemporary music.
So in case anyone was wondering, yes, Adele, Lady Gaga, Taylor Swift and Katy Perry are still very popular. But we all knew that already.
