The 56th Annual Grammy Awards hosted by LL Cool J will air live from the Los Angeles Staples Center this Sunday (January 26) at 8 p.m. EST on CBS. We've examined the biggest categories and have put in our two cents on who we think should win and who we think will win each award. Vote for your pick in our poll at the bottom of the page.
Category: Best Songs for Visual Media (NOTE: The award for Best Songs for Visual Media goes to the composer of the song, not the performing artist)
Nominees:
"Atlas" performed by Coldplay (from The Hunger Games)
"Silver Lining" performed by Jessie J (from Silver Linings Playbook)
"Skyfall" performed by Adele (from Skyfall)
"We Both Know" performed by Colbie Caillat feat. Gavin DeGraw (from Safe Haven)
"Young and Beautiful" performed by Lana Del Rey (from The Great Gatsby)
"You've Got Time" performed by Regina Spektor (from Orange is the New Black)
What Song Should Win: "You've Got Time"
It was a close call for who we'd like to see win. "Young and Beautiful," performed by Lana Del Rey, does a great job of conjuring the imagery of The Great Gatsby. She sings about seeing the world, getting everything she wants and having the world as her stage, but what she is really concerned with is being loved. This is pretty much the same concern as Jay Gatsby's, who has everything, but all he really wants is Daisy. However, we have to go with "You've Got Time" by Regina Spektor as our "winner" instead.
"You've Got Time" was written for the Netflix drama Orange Is the New Black, which centers on life in a women's penitentiary. It is paired with a title sequence that features the varied faces of female prisoners. What sticks out right away with this song are the lyrics, which describe the feeling of being trapped, staying up at night counting mistakes, having all the time in the world to think about those mistakes and knowing that everyone on the outside is waiting on you. The best line in the song is "taking steps is easy, standing still is hard," which throughout the episodes you come to find is one of the most difficult things for the prisoners to deal with.
Beyond the lyrics, the cadences and repetition in the song elicit that emotion of feeling trapped and anxious. It starts off rough with aggressive guitars, like one's introduction into prison life, then it softens and slows around the refrain, almost like how the routine of being institutionalized becomes a feeling of comfort after a while. It finally ends with a wake up call from that comfort as she belts, "You've got time." When it comes to a song being written exclusively for a piece of visual art and working to help tell the story of that piece of art, Spektor nailed it with "You've Got Time."
What Song Will Win: "Skyfall"
Let's face it. Adele is award season royalty. She's already won a Golden Globe and an Oscar for "Skyfall," with nine previous Grammy's to boot. Three times could be the charm with this hit (maybe even four as the song is also nominated for Best Score Soundtrack For Visual Media). That's not to say the song isn't deserving of another award. The ballad is truly is as epic as the Bond film it supports.
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