A concise, one-hour Grammy show, heavy on performances and with no acceptance speeches. Many of you doubtless wish that this were the format for the regular Grammy telecast in February. Dream on. But it was the winning formula for a special in which the Grammy nominations were announced, for the first time, in prime time.The Wednesday night show on CBS, co-hosted by LL Cool J and Taylor Swift, was smartly produced. The best decision was to have the performers pay tribute to other artist's songs. Christina Aguilera stepped out of her comfort zone on a tender, jazz-shaded reading of "I Loves You, Porgy," a hit for Nina Simone. Celine Dion toned down her chest-thumping power on a surprisingly effective version of Janis Ian's poignant "At Seventeen." Taylor Swift was unimpressive on Brenda Lee's "I'm Sorry," but sounded more sure on her own current hit, "White Horse." Swift was the only performer to get to perform two songs. (Her co-host didn't perform at all.)
There were, as always, some surprises in the nominations. Leona Lewis, who has the year's #1 song with "Bleeding Love," was passed over in the Best New Artist category--though she did show up in the Record of the Year contest. Sara Bareilles, who had one of the year's biggest hits with the lilting "Love Song," also missed the cut for Best New Artist, though she rated a nomination for Song of the Year.
Kid Rock, whose "All Summer Long" was a hit on a wide range of radio formats, was passed over for a nomination for Record of the Year. A spot in that contest went instead to "Please Read The Letter," a track from the Robert Plant/Alison Krauss collaboration, Raising Sand.
Here are the nominees and surprising shut-outs in the top categories.
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