Before Monday’s awards even start, Kendrick Lamar already has made Grammys history. With 11 nominations, the trailblazing Compton rapper is second only to Michael Jackson’s 12 nods in 1984 (“Thriller”) for most ever. That’s great, especially when you consider that historically the Grammys have messed up not only when it comes to Lamar (snubbed him in 2014 to give Macklemore and Ryan Lewis Best Rap Album) but for hip-hop and black artists in general. Lamar knows as much but remains hopeful, telling Billboard, “It’s bigger than me. When we think about the Grammys, only Lauryn Hill [in 1999] and Outkast [in 2004] have won Album of the Year. [A win] would be big for hip-hop culture at large.” He’s right, and the only person standing in his way is Taylor Swift and her blockbuster album “1989.” (Who knows, though; judging by Beck’s surprise victory over Beyonce last year, maybe all this will be for naught because of a shock Chris Stapleton win.)
As Chuck Klosterman rightfully said in his GQ profile of the superstar, “If you don’t take Swift seriously, you don’t take contemporary music seriously.” Apart from Adele and Beyonce, no pop star has had more cultural sway or chart success than Swift. “1989,” her fifth album, was composed of radio hits (“Blank Space,” “Style” and “Shake It Off,” to name just a few whose words you surely know by heart) and songs that could’ve been everywhere had she made them singles (“Clean,” the bonus track “New Romantics.”) It sold a bonkers 1.287 million copies in its first week and impressed enough critics to place No. 7 on the 2014 Village Voice Pazz and Jop year-end poll. Plus, her star-studded “1989” world tour grossed an average of $4 million per night, and Ryan Adams’ cover album of her songs shot to No. 7 on the Billboard album chart (his second-highest ranking to date). With that success and her past domination of the Grammys (her second album, “Fearless,” won Album of the Year; her fourth, “Red,” was nominated), not to mention the quality of her songs (except for the grating “Welcome to New York,” which I liked better in a Mary-Kate and Ashley movie), “1989” seems like a safe bet to win big this year.
But since when were safe bets the right bets? The Grammys certainly have screwed the pooch before, like picking Steely Dan over Radiohead and Eminem in 2001 or Herbie Hancock over Amy Winehouse in 2008. This year, giving the award to Taylor Swift will seem like another out-of-touch snub. That’s not a knock on Swift, who, while incredible, released a pretty straightforward, ’80s-inspired pop album, but a testament to how important, rewarding and truly once-in-a-decade a record like “To Pimp A Butterfly” is.
The basically unanimous critical favorite last year, “Butterfly” is a sprawling, ambitious, socially and emotionally resonant opus. Its introspective lyrical content (the self-lacerating “u” and the overtly political “For Free?”) went as deep as a novel. The Pharrell-assisted jam “Alright” became a calling card for the Black Lives Matter movement, its triumphant “We gon’ be alright” chant shouted in the face of injustice. Though pop music doesn’t necessarily have to speak to a movement, the closest culture peg on “1989” was a thinly veiled, tabloid-fodder Katy Perry diss in “Bad Blood.” Though Swift captured self-empowerment (“Shake It Off”) and relatable autopsies of failed relationships (“Blank Space”), much of it feels outmatched in this comparison of albums so different that it’s a bit ridiculous to even view them head-to-head.
Sonically, too, “Butterfly” marked a larger leap for Lamar than “1989” was for Swift. The former, with its interwoven arrangements calling back to ’70s funk and jazz, was reverent but also forward-thinking with its freeform flow. The latter, though billed as Swift’s first official pop album, doesn’t veer far from the bombastic radio hits of “Red” cuts “I Knew You Were Trouble” and “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together.” Lamar, on the other hand, takes an astounding leap from the brooding trap of “Swimming Pools” to the funk-stomp of “King Kunta.” No one can deny the utter ubiquity of Swift’s synth-heavy singles, but when an artist like Carly Rae Jepsen arguably did pure, ’80s-tinged pop even better on “Emotion,” it’s tough to make the case for Swift. From a practical stance, much of her early, Nashville-leaning Grammy voters are likely veering toward the country Cinderella story of Chris Stapleton’s “Traveller.”
No matter what happens, this isn’t the first time these two have faced off. On Oct. 22, 2012, Swift’s “Red” was released on the same day as Lamar’s Compton Gildungsroman (look it up) opus “Good Kid, M.A.A.D. City.” Though Swift obviously outsold Lamar handily (almost topping a million more in units moved), the Grammys aren’t about sales, and hip-hop culture—which has been the mainstream for quite some time—knows the Grammys often haven’t accurately represented what actually matters in music. But the Recording Academy finally can start to make things right with a Kendrick Lamar win.
@joshhterry | jterry@redeyechicago.com
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