UPDATE-The 2012 Grammy Nominations was the year of the comeback kid and new artist domination! Kanye West wins the crown for comeback kid leading the pack with seven Grammy nominations.
West is nominated for the coveted best rap album slot for his recent smash, ‘My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy’, and his joint venture with fellow hip-hop tycoon Jay-Z, ‘Watch The Throne’.
These nominations all but seal a critical musical and commercial comeback for West who took a self-imposed hiatus in 2009.
According to The UK Guardian, Kanye recorded My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy in Hawaii after removing himself from the mainstream US music scene following harsh criticism over his 2009 outburst involving Taylor Swift at the MTV video music awards.
West, already a 14 time Grammy winner, was also nominated for song of the year for ‘All of the Lights’ and best rap performance with Jay-Z for ‘Otis’.
Not surprisingly, Adele, whose album 21 has already sold 12m units worldwide, comes in a close second with six nominations. An honor she shares with first time hopeful Bruno Mars whose freshman album Doo-Whops And Hooligans shot to number three on Billboards top 200.
Among their six nominations both Adele and Bruno were nominated for album, song and record of the year.
Mars, a Filipino American, was reported as stating;
“It feels incredible right now.”
He continued;
“I’m so glad the album is being recognized in this way. This awards stuff, I’m still trying to get used to it. It’s hard for me as Adele and Kanye West are incredible, so the fact that the album was nominated in same category is amazing.”
Other notable mentions include the Foo Fighters, also with six nominations, and the ever present Lil Wayne who gathers five nominations along with newcomer Skrillex.
The nominations were announced last night during a televised concert in Los Angeles which featured performances by Rihanna, Lady Gaga, and Usher.
The best new artist category displayed a particularly eclectic mix with Nicki Minaj, hip-hop artist J Cole, country group The Band Perry, house and electro-pop performer Skrillex and American folk band Bon Iver.
Despite the celebration there were a few notable snubs, including Beyonce who only captured one nod from her album ‘4’, Britney Spears, 0, Taylor Swift missed out of an Album of the Year nomination with ‘Speak Now’, Miguel, 0 and Jill Scott, 0. Both Miguel and Jill vented on Twitter over the snub.
The Grammy awards ceremony will air February 12th.
