LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Adele may be a safe bet to clean up at tomorrow‘s Grammy Awards, but if music fans think that means a night of few surprises, they should ask Justin Bieber.
The Canadian teen idol left the Grammys empty-handed last year after losing the best new artist award to jazz bassist and singer Esperanza Spalding — the first jazz artist to clinch the coveted prize.
Sunday’s new artist race is just as diverse and could again have jaws dropping, but it won’t be the only spectacle at the music industry’s biggest awards show that will draw the attention of millions of fans watching on TV.
Singer Adele is giving her first major performance since throat surgery. Katy Perry will appear at a key event for the first time since her breakup with estranged husband Russell Brand, and then there’s R&B singers — and former lovers — Chris Brown and Rihanna who will both turn out.
Still, among the races, the new artist category presents among the most intriguing of the night’s nominee matchups. Rappers Nicki Minaj and J Cole, country music group The Band Perry, indie rock band Bon Iver and electronica dance music producer Skrillex are competing for the title in a category that is often the hardest to predict.
Minaj, 29, is the most commercially successful act of the five after her No 1 debut album ‘Pink Friday’, and in a sign of her popularity, she appeared on the biggest TV stage in the world at last week’s Super Bowl halftime show with Madonna.
But surprise nominations for Bon Iver and disc jockey Skrillex — the first electronica dance act to get a nod in the newcomer category — have pundits torn.
“Last year, the Grammy voters pulled a fast one,” said Bill Werde, editorial director of Billboard music magazine.
“Everyone expected Justin Bieber’s name to be called and they announced Esperanza Spalding’s name. So how jaw-droppingly great will it be if Skrillex walked on the stage to accept the best new artist award rather than Nicki Minaj, who I think a lot of people would say is the front runner,” Werde said.
Skrillex, 24, has an impressive five Grammy nods in total this year, including two for his dance album ‘Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites’.
Bon Iver, fronted by Justin Vernon, boasts four nominations, including two in the top categories of record and song of the year for “Holocene”.
And don’t count out The Band Perry — the three siblings whose single “If I Die Young” was a cross-over hit on both country and pop radio last year and helped to win the trio eight awards from various country music groups.
