Beyoncé, Drake, Kanye, Rihanna, Adele top Grammy nominees’ list; San Diego is well represented

Will Beyoncé and Drake reign supreme over fellow top nominees Kanye West and Rhianna at the 59th annual Grammy Awards next year? Or will Adele — whose six wins in 2012 tied Beyoncé’s six Grammy victories in 2010 — emerge as the biggest victor at the annual awards fete, which has long been billed as “Music’s Biggest Night?”

Those are some of the intriguing questions raised by Tuesday morning’s announcement of the 2017 Grammy nominees. Then again, given their likely dominance in the top categories, why not just give all the most prestigious Grammys to Beyoncé and Adele this month — and present the rest of the awards during the Feb. 12 telecast?

“Because!” replied a laughing Neil Portnow, the president and CEO of the Recording Academy, under whose auspices the Grammys are presented.

“I don’t have a crystal ball, so maybe you know something I don’t,” he continued in a Monday phone interview. “I think people will certainly want to tune in and see how that all plays out.”

Beyoncé, 35, has a field-leading nine nominations, including Album of the Year (for “Lemonade,” her ambitious conceptual opus examining the black female experience in contemporary America ). She will also compete in the Record and Song of the Year categories (both for her politically charged hit, “Formation”).

A list of nominees in 12 leading Grammy categories appears at the conclusion of this article. A full list of nominees in all 84 categories — which were chosen from nearly 22,000 submitted recordings — can be viewed at grammy.com.

Among the new crop of nominees are at least eight current or former San Diego artists from across the musical spectrum. They include: the revamped punk-pop band blink-182 (Best Rock Album); versatile singer Gregory Porter (Best Jazz Vocal Album); sitar virtuoso Anoushka Shankar (Best World Music Album); violin master Mark O’Connor (Best Bluegrass Album);the late Frank Zappa (Best Classical Compendium); ace trumpeter Brian Lynch (Best Latin Jazz Album); Megadeth, whose leader, Dave Mustaine, is a La Mesa native (Best Metal Performance); and veteran big band composer and arranger Sammy Nestico (Best Arrangement, Instrumental or A Cappella).

At 92, La Costa resident Nestico may well be this year’s oldest active nominee in any category. While he has not yet worked with Beyoncé, that may only be a matter of time.

Queen Bey, as Beyoncé is fondly known by many of her fans, will be vying against the three other top contenders — Drake, West and Rihanna. They have eight nominations apiece, although none of them made the cut for Song of the Year — which honors songwriters — and only Drake is up for Album of the Year honors (for “Views”).

Close behind is Chance the Rapper with seven nominations, although none are in major categories. David Bowie, who died suddenly on Jan. 10, two days after the release of his acclaimed “Blackstar” album, has four nominations.

But the genre-leaping, shape-shifting English music legend was inexplicably skipped over for Album of the Year consideration. The other two nominees in that category include one budding country music visionary, Sturgill Simpson, and one lightweight teen-pop superstar attempting to re-cast himself as a “serious artist” *with wildly mixed results), Justin Bieber.

Notable releases that failed to make the cut for Album of the Year nominations range from Paul Simon’s “Stranger to Stranger,” Wilco’s “Schmilco” and Brandy Clark’s “Big Day in a Small Town” to Radiohead’s “A Moon Shaped Pool,” Bonnie Raitt’s “Dig in Deep” and Solange’s “A Seat at the Table.”

Frank Ocean’s heady “Blonde” might also have made the cut for Album of the Year consideration. But the 29-year-old vocalist made a very public point of not submitting it for Grammy consideration, a move he undertook to protest what he has called the awards’ “dated” screening and nominating process.

Hip-hop superstar West had vowed not to attend the Grammys next year if Ocean’s “Blonde” wasn’t nominated. The fact that the recently ailing West’s latest album, “The Life of Pablo,” was submitted but did not get an Album of the Year nod may reinforce his decision to boycott the star-studded awards ceremony.

Adele and Twenty One Pilots’ singer Tyler Joseph each earned five nominations Tuesday, with Adele getting nods for Album of the Year (for “25”) and Record and Song of the Year (both for “Hello”). If anyone will give Beyoncé a run for her money in the major categories, it is Adele, whose emotionally resonant music has a broad, multi-generational appeal..

Released in late 2015, “25” has thus far sold an estimated 20 million copies worldwide. That’s a staggering number in any decade, let alone in a digital era when selling 100,000 copies of an album is a notable accomplishment. The fact that Adele did not allow “25” to be streamed online until June, seven months after its initial release, no doubt boosted physical sales for the much-in-demand album.

This year’s Best New Artist nominees include Kelsea Ballerini, The Chainsmokers, Chance The Rapper, Maren Morris and Anderson .Paak. If sales alone decide the winner, The Chainsmokers should emerge victorious. Chance The Rapper may be one of the biggest beneficiaries from a new Grammy rule that clears the way for nominees whose music was available largely or only through streaming.

“We’re judging the creativity based on the art not the distribution process,” Grammy honcho Portnow said. “I mean, we have rules (about qualifying), but we want to be inclusive of artists who might not have the usual platforms for their music.”

Some of the more adventurous nominees are clustered in the Best Alternative Album category. There, the late Bowie’s “Blackstar” is pitted against “22, A Million” by Bon Iver, “The Hope Six Demolition Project” by PJ Harvey, “Post Pop Depression” by Iggy Pop and “A Moon Shaped Pool” by Radiohead.

“I think it’s encouraging to note how much creative freedom artists are taking, whether it’s brand new or established artists, following their muse wherever it takes them,” Portnow said. “And part of that has to do with the fact you don’t have quite the filtering system we have had over the years, where you had to be on a major (record) label to reach a fan base.

“There are lots of ways now for artists to connect and that creates an opportunity for artists to determine ‘What do I want to say, and how do I want to say it?’, rather than putting something in a neat little box. We see that with newer artists and some of the established artists, who are making great music, taking those extra next steps and being unpredictable and courageous. What’s great is that it appears there is a public and audience and music fans who want to followed and that makes for great art.”

The five Best Musical Theater Album nominees includes “Bright Star,” the Tony-nominated Steve Martin/Edie Brickell musical that got its start at San Diego’s Old Globe before moving on to New York for a short Broadway Run.

One of the most unlikely nominees in any category is Kip Winger, the former bassist and singer in the hair metal band Winger. His album “Winger: Conversations with Nijinksy,” performed by Martin West & The San Francisco Ballet Orchestra, is nominated for Best Contemporary Classical Composition.

Grammy ballots will be mailed Dec. 14 and must be completed and returned by Jan. 13. The winners will be selected by the Recording Academy’s nearly 14,000 voting members.

59th annual Grammy Awards nominees

(For a full list of nominees go to grammy.com)

Album Of The Year

“25” — Adele

“Lemonade” — Beyoncé

“Purpose” — Justin Bieber

“Views” — Drake

“A Sailor’s Guide To Earth” — Sturgill Simpson

Record Of The Year

“Hello” — Adele

“Formation” — Beyoncé

“7 Years” — Lukas Graham

“Work” — Rihanna Featuring Drake

“Stressed Out” — Twenty One Pilots

Song Of The Year

“Formation” — Khalif Brown, Asheton Hogan, Beyoncé Knowles & Michael L. Williams II, songwriters (Beyoncé)

“Hello” — Adele Adkins & Greg Kurstin, songwriters (Adele)

“I Took A Pill In Ibiza” — Mike Posner, songwriter (Mike Posner)

“Love Yourself” — Justin Bieber, Benjamin Levin & Ed Sheeran, songwriters (Justin Bieber)

“7 Years” — Lukas Forchhammer, Stefan Forrest, Morten Pilegaard & Morten Ristorp, songwriters (Lukas Graham)

Best New Artist

Kelsea Ballerini

The Chainsmokers

Chance The Rapper

Maren Morris

Anderson .Paak

Best Pop Vocal Album

“25” — Adele

“Purpose” — Justin Bieber

“Dangerous Woman” — Ariana Grande

“Confident” — Demi Lovato

“This Is Acting” — Sia

Best Dance/Electronic Album

“Skin” — Flume

“Electronica 1: The Time Machine” — Jean-Michel Jarre

“Epoch” — Tycho

“Barbara Barbara, We Face A Shining Future” — Underworld

“Louie Vega Starring…XXVIII” — Louie Vega

Best Rock Album

“California” — Blink-182

“Tell Me I’m Pretty” — Cage The Elephant

“Magma” — Gojira

“Death Of A Bachelor” — Panic! At The Disco

“Weezer “— Weezer

Best Alternative Music Album

“22, A Million” — Bon Iver

“Blackstar” — David Bowie

“The Hope Six Demolition Project” — PJ Harvey

“Post Pop Depression” — Iggy Pop

“A Moon Shaped Pool” — Radiohead

Best Urban Contemporary Album

“Lemonade” — Beyoncé

“Ology” — Gallant

“We Are King” — KING

“Malibu” — Anderson .Paak

“Anti” — Rihanna

Best Rap Performance

“No Problem” — Chance The Rapper, Featuring Lil Wayne & 2 Chainz

“Panda” —Desiigner

“Pop Style” — Drake, Featuring The Throne

“All The Way Up” — Fat Joe & Remy Ma, Featuring French Montana & Infared

“That Part” — ScHoolboy Q, Featuring Kanye West

Best Country Solo Performance

“Love Can Go To Hell” — Brandy Clark

“Vice” — Miranda Lambert

“My Church” — Maren Morris

“Church Bells” — Carrie Underwood

“Blue Ain’t Your Color” — Keith Urban

Best Jazz Vocal Album

“Sound Of Red” — René Marie

“Upward Spiral” — Branford Marsalis Quartet, With Special Guest Kurt Elling

“Take Me To The Alley” — Gregory Porter

“Harlem On My Mind” — Catherine Russell

“The Sting Variations” — The Tierney Sutton Band

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