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Chance the Rapper and 4 other things to watch at the 2017 Grammys

The celebration of pop music is tedious and often frustrating but sometimes wildly entertaining, and perhaps we’ll hit all three notes at the 59th annual Grammy Awards on Sunday. While last year’s big storylines pitted Kendrick Lamar’s political hip-hop masterpiece “To Pimp a Butterfly” against Taylor Swift’s “1989” for Album of the Year (Swift won), this year has even bigger names duking it out for the top spot: Beyoncé’s “Lemonade” and Adele’s “25” are the two most notable nominees.

Elsewhere, this year’s most welcome story rests on Chicago’s own Chance the Rapper, who racked up a historic seven nominations (a first for a streaming-only artist) and looks to take home the coveted Best New Artist award. I’ve long been on record as unenthusiastic about watching the Grammys, but I care about the opportunity to see Chance have a fantastic showing and represent his hometown’s great music community.

Though I’m still getting over the initial shock of actually being invested in the Grammys, I managed to find the time to list the top five things I’ll be looking out for when the broadcast airs at 7 p.m. on CBS. The Carpool Karaoke guy hosts, unfortunately.

1. Chance the Rapper

Like I mentioned, Chance the Rapper’s seven nominations are a huge deal. To put things into perspective, last year, Taylor Swift received seven Grammy nominations. This year, Beyoncé leads with nine total, while Drake, Rihanna and Kanye West rounded up eight apiece. More than that, Chance’s nominations are historic for an unsigned artist who releases his streaming-only music for free.

His 13-song “Coloring Book” project, which he considers a mixtape, is up for Best Rap Album after making Billboard history as the first full-length to chart on streams alone. He’s also up for the Best New Artist award, which features nominees The Chainsmokers, Kelsea Ballerini, Maren Morris and Anderson .Paak. While I’d be fine with .Paak winning, I’ll throw my TV out the window if “Nickelback of EDM” The Chainsmokers take home the award.

On top of those nods, Chance has the opportunity to receive recognition from the Recording Academy for “No Problem,” which is up for Best Rap Song and Best Rap Performance, as well as his West collaborations “Famous” (Best Rap Song) and “Ultralight Beam” (Best Rap Song and Best Rap/Sung Collaboration).

2. The rest of Chicago’s big showing

Chance the Rapper isn’t the only Chicago artist looking to make a splash this year. West has eight nominations, but there’s also BJ the Chicago Kid, who recently sang the national anthem at Barack Obama’s Chicago farewell speech. He has nods for Best R&B Album (“In My Mind”), Best R&B Performance (“Turnin’ Me Up”) and Best Traditional R&B Performance (“Woman’s World”).

Chicago Americana hero Robbie Fulks has two nominations, Best Folk Album (“Upland Stories”) and Best American Roots Song (“Alabama At Night”). Englewood native Jennifer Hudson, alongside the cast of “The Color Purple,” is up for Best Musical Theater Album, while the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Lurrie Bell are nominated in classical music and blues categories, respectively. While many of these categories aren’t broadcast on TV, all are worth keeping tabs on during the Grammys.

3. Album of the year

Is it going to be Adele for her chart-shattering “25” or Beyoncé for “Lemonade,” which also doubles as one of the best films of 2016? Or will someone like Sturgill Simpson get the “Who Is Arcade Fire?” award for his pretty stellar “A Sailor’s Guide to Earth” in a surprise upset? I have no idea! I just hope it’s Beyoncé.

4. Where is Kanye?

There will be at least four notable absences from the Grammys this year. Topping the bill is Frank Ocean, whose excellent “Blond(e)” disappointingly missed the deadline and was snubbed. He told the New York Times last fall, “That institution certainly has nostalgic importance. It just doesn’t seem to be representing very well for people who come from where I come from, and hold down what I hold down.” Making good on his promise to boycott the Grammys if Ocean’s album was snubbed is West. Also missing the event are Album of the Year nominees Justin Bieber and Drake, but who cares about them?

5. Barely veiled references to the Trump administration

Like Meryl Streep at the Golden Globes and the cast of “Stranger Things” at the SAG Awards, there’s a good chance an artist is going to address the Trump administration with a fiery and potent speech. While in a normal year we’d bet on West making headlines, his absence and bizarre recent appearance at Trump Tower truly prove that this is not a normal time.

@joshhterry | jterry@redeyechicago.com