James Blake
Kendrick Lamar
Macklemore & Ryan Lewis
Kacey Musgraves
Ed Sheeran
WHO SHOULD WIN: Kacey Musgraves
This is a hard one to pick, as the 2014 contenders for Best New Artist have their valid points. James Blake has built himself a small empire in the dance music scene, helping to spread the once again emerging genre across the continents. Ed Sheeran is a tender heart, with an acoustic drive that helped to usher in similar acts to the top of the Billboard charts such as Passenger and Ben Howard. Kendrick Lamar is one of rap's gems, dishing out honest music with meaning and helping to bring genuine lyrics back to the genre. There's also the Macklemore & Ryan Lewis juggernaut, the most successful nominee of the bunch who have further helped to spread rap music and do so with an independent spirit and original, groundbreaking music. But more on those two in a second.
Despite all those achievements, we here at Music Times would be remiss to not say country's rising star Kacey Musgraves isn't the most deserving Best New Artist. Emerging from a highly successful songwriting background, Musgraves broke through into the country music world with her forward-looking music. She manages to pull pop influences into country, thus expanding the genre's impact.
Plus, there's no denying that Same Trailer, Different Park is the one of the best country music albums of the year.
WHO WILL WIN: Macklemore & Ryan Lewis
We'll precede this by saying that this award is the wildest of all wild cards of the entire Grammy ceremony. Remember when relative unknown jazz artist Esperanza Spaulding nabbed the trophy from Justin Bieber, Drake, Florence + The Machine and Mumford & Sons in 2011? Or remember last year and in 2012 when established indie rock artists fun. and Bon Iver won the Grammy? Yeah... this one's hard to call.
So, while James Blake could throw everyone for a loop or Kacey Musgraves could steal the show (as she did at the CMA Awards), it's quite likely that Macklemore & Ryan Lewis may take this trophy home. Even though rap has long established itself as a valid genre with some of music's biggest acts, the Grammys have failed to acknowledge the genre's achievements with awards. Impactful artists such as Eminem, Kanye West, Nicki Minaj and Puff Daddy (now P. Diddy) have all been nominated for Best New Artist, but no rapper has won since the genre was incorporated into the Grammys program in 1989.
It may very well finally be the genre's year. Not only has Macklemore had continued success over the last year, with two No. 1 singles and a platinum album that has crossed fanbases all with music that truly means something. Moreover, for the generally stuffy Grammy voters, Macklemore and Ryan Lewis would be safe picks for rap's first Best New Artist.
There are a million things that could be said about Macklemore & Ryan Lewis winning this award as white men and what it says for rap, all of which would be totally valid. But it seems like this could finally be the year, and doesn't that mean something?
Who do you think should win? Vote below!
