A week or two after my round up of my predictions for the big 4 awards at the upcoming Grammy Awards I now look to the genre specific categories. Kicking things off are Pop and Country. 2013 has seen some huge records in both these genres. (As always Red is my prediction, Blue is my personal pick.)

Pop

Best Pop Solo Performance

Bruno Mars – When I Was Your Man
Ed Sheeran – Lego House
Justin Timberlake – Mirrors
Miley Cyrus – Wrecking Ball
P!nk – Try

Alternatives: Katy Perry – Roar, Lorde – Royals, Taylor Swift – I Knew You Were Trouble.

Best Pop Duo/Group Performance

Calvin Harris – I Need Your Love (Feat. Ellie Goulding)
Daft Punk – Get Lucky (Feat. Pharrell Williams)
Maroon 5 – One More Night
Rihanna – Stay (Feat. Mikky Ekko)
P!nk – Just Give Me A Reason (Feat. Nate Ruess)

Alternatives: Drake f/ Majid Jordan – Hold On, We’re Going Home, Robin Thicke – Blurred Lines (Feat. Pharrell Williams & T.I.), Taylor Swift – Everything Has Changed (Feat. Ed Sheeran).

Best Pop Vocal Album

Bruno Mars – Unorthodox Jukebox
Justin Timberlake – The 20/20 Experience (The Complete Experience)
Haim – Days Are Gone
Lorde – Pure Heroine
OneRepublic – Native

Alternatives: Ellie Goulding – Halcyon , Phillip Phillips – The World From the Side of the Moon, Robin Thicke – Blurred Lines.

It really is anyone’s game in the Pop categories this year, with all of the big songs of 2013, Get Lucky, Blurred Lines, Royals and Mirrors competing for a nomination. Bruno Mars is obviously the hot favourite here, I’d be very surprised if Unorthodox Jukebox doesn’t pick up the award for Album. Submitting When I Was Your Man for Performance was a good move as well, he’s much more likely to pick up some votes for that than Locked Out Of Heaven. Justin is sure to make an appearance too, though this could be the only nomination for Mirrors. If P!nk hadn’t been nominated for Album for The Truth About Love last year I’d have thought she could pull off a clean sweep here. Both Try and Just Give Me A Reason are sure to receive some love from Grammy voters, and on a Performance basis it’s hard to argue with arguably the best ‘performer’ currently recording. Outside of the obvious, I think Pop could feature the big win for Get Lucky, a song that will definitely be taking home a trophy a two on the night. The lack of Taylor Swift is noticeable too, I think she may be edged out in the Performance categories by a superior vocal from peers Miley and P!nk. In a baffling move, her album Red wasn’t submitted here, instead opting for the arguably tougher Country Album category. I think Taylor would have had a strong chance here, one of the few acts who could beat Bruno to the prize.

Country

Best Country Solo Performance

Blake Shelton – Mine Would Be You
Carrie Underwood – Two Black Cadillacs
Jason Aldean – Night Train
Lee Brice – I Drive Your Truck
Miranda Lambert – Mama’s Broken Heart

Alternatives: Hunter Hayes – I Want Crazy, Kacey Musgraves – Merry Go Round, Luke Bryan – That’s My Kind Of Night.

Best Country Duo/Group Performance

Florida Georgia Line – Cruise
Keith Urban- We Were Us (Feat.  Miranda Lambert)
Kelly Clarkson – Don’t Rush (Feat. Vince Gill)
The Band Perry – Better Dig Two
Tim McGraw – Highway Don’t Care (Feat. Taylor Swift )

Alternatives: Lady Antebellum – Downtown , The Civil Wars – From This Valley, Zac Brown Band- Bad Moon Rising (Feat. John Fogerty).

Best Country Song

Florida Georgia Line – Cruise
Lee Brice – I Drive Your Truck
Luke Bryan – Crash My Party
Miranda Lambert – Mama’s Broken Heart
The Band Perry – Better Dig Two

Alternatives: Blake Shelton – Mine Would Be You , Jason Aldean – Night Train, Taylor Swift – Begin Again.

Best Country Album

Florida Georgia Line – Here’s To The Good Times
Jason Aldean – Night Train
Lady Antebellum – Golden
Luke Bryan – Crash My Party
Taylor Swift – Red

Alternatives: Blake Shelton – Based on a True Story…, Darius Rucker – True Believers,  , Kacey Musgraves – Same Trailer Different Park.

The same names appear across my picks for the country categories this year, mainly due to the Grammy’s knack for rewarding huge commercial success. Cruise and Florida Georgia Line themselves are the obvious tip for success here. The awards for Country Song and Country Group/Duo Performance are the most obvious winners in the whole set of 2014 awards, a country song selling over 6 million copies can’t really be argued with. I think they’ll make an appearance in album too, but surely this award belongs to Taylor Swift? The Pop leanings of Red may put country voters off enough to push them towards one of the other choices I’ve listed above, Luke Bryan and his massive selling Crash My Party is probably most likely to nick the trophy from Taylor. As for other songs I’d like to see make an appearance, Better Dig Two is my favourite country song of the last 2 years, so I’d love to see The Band Perry pick up a few nominations. I think Lady Antebellum might miss out in the Song and Performance categories, Grammy voters seem to enjoy their ballads rather than an uptempo record like Downtown. Jason Aldean should see some love too, both Night Train and the title track are sure to be nominated.

Related articles

• My Grammy Predictions (realtalkwithjosh.wordpress.com)