Predicting the fate of the Dance/Electronic categories at this year’s Grammy Awards
The Grammy Awards 2015. There’s no option of Skrillex sweeping all respective categories, as he’s done multiple times. There’s no option of Daft Punk sweeping, well, the entire awards show. This year, the Dance/Electronic categories offer a wide variety of sounds, and a wide variety of artists, all of whom compete in a stiff competition with results completely up in the air.
Nothing is set in stone, and all nominees are of high quality — and that’s what makes this year’s nods so satisfying. However, there could only be one winner of each category, so let’s take a harder look and take a swing at making our picks.
Best Dance Recording
Basement Jaxx – Never Say Never
Clean Bandit ft. Jess Glynne – Rather Be
Disclosure ft. Mary J. Blige – F For U
Duke Dumont ft. Jax Jone – I Got U
ZHU – Faded
Dancing Astronaut’s Breakdown:
Let’s start by crossing off Disclosure, who missed their time to shine at last year’s award show as Settle lost to Random Access Memories, and Mary J. Blige’s rework of “F For U” couldn’t trump the original. Duke Dumont faces a similar scenario; “Need U (100%)” had its chance last year — a record superior to this year’s contender of “I Got U.”
ZHU’s “Faded” could be argued as the dance record of the year in many conversations, but pales in comparison to the two remaining nominees. Basement Jaxx’s “Never Say Never” saw international acclaim and arguably went underrated stateside, making it the closest thing to competition as Clean Bandit’s “Rather Be” will face in the category. All said and done, “Rather Be” was the dance recording of the year, whichever way you look at it.
Best Dance/Electronic Album
Aphex Twin – Syro
Deadmau5 – While (1<2)
Little Dragon – Nabuma Rubberband
Rôyksopp & Robyn – Do It Again
Mat Zo – Damage Control
Dancing Astronaut’s Breakdown:
This category comes more clear cut. Little Dragon’s Nabuma Rubberband can be crossed off the list first. Mat Zo’s time beneath the spotlight with Damage Control has been concluded for some time. Then there were three.
Rôyksopp & Robyn’s Do It Again pulls favorably from foreign markets, leaving its fate as a contender relatively unknown from the US dance perspective. Between Deadmau5 and Aphex Twin; one is the most revered production talent of the relevant EDM world, the other being a legendary electronic artist making a long-awaited return. While anticipation carried Aphex Twin’s Syro throughout the distance of its hype, there’s nothing that can be held against Deadmau5’s While (1<2).
Best Remix Recording
John Legend – All Of Me (Tiësto’s Birthday Treatment Remix)
Crossfingers ft. Danny Losito – Falling Out (MING Remix)
Bastille – Pompeii (Audien Remix)
Five Knives – The Rising (Eddie Amador Remix)
Galantis – Smile (Kaskade Remix)
Mr. Probz – Waves (Robin Schulz Remix)
Dancing Astronaut’s Breakdown:
Perhaps the tightest race, we see a coin toss between six high-quality and gold-worthy recordings. Process of elimination is the only way to treat a selection of this caliber.
Unless we’re in for a true surprise, we’ll eliminate the remixes from MING and Eddie Amador off the bat. While Galantis’ “You” was massive in the dance world, and Kaskade is no stranger to the Grammys, we’ll safely move onto the next half of the nominees. Similar scenario with Tiësto; John Legend’s original of “All Of Me” and Tiësto’s crossover remix strengthen the competition, but can’t help narrow things down.
We’ve held Audien’s “Pompeii” in the highest praises — it’s been our remix of the year. However, Robin Schulz’s remix of “Waves” is practically its own original record — a feat that will be difficult to topple in the battle for Grammy allure.
Update: Tiësto has won for his remix of John Legend’s “All Of Me.”