++Here’s how to keep them straight. +
++There are just four categories at the Grammy Awards where artists from all musical genres compete against one another — Album of the Year, Record of the Year, Song of the Year, and Best New Artist. In these four races, country artists bump up against R&B musicians, and they both take on pop stars. If an artist wins one of these awards, they’ll make headlines and get to give a nice speech during the awards telecast. +
++But the Grammys’ many, many categories are already steeped in confusing industry-speak, and the top four awards are no different. With the exception of Best New Artist, it’s easy to confuse the other three. +
++Here’s everything you need to know to keep these categories straight. +
+ ++Album of the Year +
++The Album of the Year award is the most prestigious Grammy there is, the rough equivalent of the Best Picture Oscar. The category honors an entire LP, from the first track to the last, and everything about the production of the album’s sound. +
++Originally, the Album of the Year award went only to the album’s main artist. Today, the album’s producers, sound engineers, mixers, and songwriters are also honored, as are any featured artists who appear on the album. Generally, if you participated in creating a significant portion of the album (defined as at least 33 percent of its playing time), you get a golden gramophone. +
++How to remember it: The whole album gets an award! Some people confuse Album of the Year with Record of the Year, since albums used to be on physical records, and the two terms are often used interchangeably in common parlance. But singles also used to be on physical records, and you wouldn’t call a single song “Album of the Year.” +
++The 2021 nominees for Album of the Year are: +
++Folklore — Taylor Swift +
++Future Nostalgia — Dua Lipa +
++Women in Music Part III — Haim +
++Everyday Life — Coldplay +
++Chilombo — Jhené Aiko +
++Black Pumas (Deluxe Edition) — Black Pumas +
++Hollywood’s Bleeding — Post Malone +
++Djesse Vol. 3 — Jacob Collier +
++
++Record of the Year +
++Record of the Year is often confused with Song of the Year, since both awards go to individual songs. But the distinction is actually somewhat simple. The Record of the Year honors, first and foremost, the performing artist. Song of the Year honors the songwriter. +
++Record of the Year is given to the performing artist, the producers, the sound engineers, the master engineer, and the sound mixers. +
++How to remember it: Instead of thinking of “record” as a physical, spinning record, think of it as the product of a recording studio. Everyone who would be in a recording studio working on the Record of the Year–winning song receives a golden gramophone for this award. +
++The 2021 nominees for Record of the Year are: +
++“Colors” — Black Pumas +
++“Black Parade” — Beyoncé +
++“Rockstar” — Da Baby feat. Roddy Rich +
++“Say So” — Doja Cat +
++“Everything I Wanted” — Billie Eilish +
++“Don’t Start Now” — Dua Lipa +
++“Circles” — Post Malone +
++“Savage” — Megan Thee Stallion feat. Beyoncé +
++
++Song of the Year +
++The Song of the Year Grammy doesn’t actually honor the performer of the winning song. Instead, it goes to the person or people who wrote the song. +
++It’s easy to confuse this award with Record of the Year because there is often overlap in who is accepting the award. For example, if an artist has songwriting credit on their nominated song — a pretty common occurrence — then the artist might accept the award and give the speech. But they are receiving the award for writing and constructing the song’s lyrics and melodies, not for their performance of the song. +
++How to remember it: Try to think of it as Songwriter of the Year, rather than just Song. +
++The 2021 nominees for Song of the Year are: +
++“Black Parade” — Denisia Andrews, Beyoncé, Stephen Bray, Shawn Carter, Brittany Coney, Derek James Dixie, Akil King, Kim “Kaydence” Krysiuk, and Rickie “Caso” Tice (Beyoncé) +
++“The Box” — Samuel Gloade and Rodrick Moore (Roddy Ricch) +
++“Cardigan” — Aaron Dessner and Taylor Swift (Taylor Swift) +
++“Circles” — Louis Bell, Adam Feeney, Kaan Gunesberk, Austin Post, and Billy Walsh (Post Malone) +
++“Don’t Start Now” — Caroline Ailin, Ian Kirkpatrick, Dua Lipa, and Emily Warren (Dua Lipa) +
++“Everything I Wanted” — Billie Eilish O’Connell and Finneas O’Connell (Billie Eilish) +
++“I Can’t Breathe” — Dernst Emile II, H.E.R., and Tiara Thomas (H.E.R.) +
++“If the World Was Ending” — Julia Michaels and JP Saxe (JP Saxe Featuring Julia Michaels) +
++
++Fox News’s absurd reaction to Biden’s primetime coronavirus speech, explained. +
++Fox News reacted to President Joe Biden’s primetime announcement that all American adults would be eligible for a coronavirus vaccine by May 1 and the country’s aim is to return to a semblance of normalcy by July 4 by insisting that former President Donald Trump actually deserves the credit. But that claim can’t withstand scrutiny. +
++While Trump’s Operation Warp Speed program provided incentives for private companies to speed vaccine development and did directly help Moderna develop an effective vaccine, it’s not necessarily the case that vaccines wouldn’t be available today had it not been for Trump. The first FDA-approved coronavirus vaccine was developed by Pfizer last year without any direct help from the federal government. +
++To be clear — Trump deserves some credit for the fact that multiple vaccines were developed so quickly. As my colleague Dylan Scott reported last October, the federal government’s multibillion-dollar investment in helping companies like Moderna and Johnson & Johnson develop vaccines no doubt helped the country get to a point where there is finally some light at the end of the tunnel. Biden has acknowledged this, saying in December that “I think that the [Trump] administration deserves some credit, getting this [vaccine effort] off the ground, Operation Warp Speed.” +
++But vaccines don’t do much good if there’s no plan to get them into arms, and this is where Trump really fell short. As was the case when the US struggled to ramp up coronavirus testing infrastructure in the early days of the pandemic, the Trump administration’s plan for vaccine distribution did little more than pass the buck to under-resourced states. Trump’s failure to plan for the “last mile” resulted in episodes where unused vaccines were thrown out in the weeks before Biden took office. +
++So while it’s going too far to say Trump deserves no credit, the criticisms Biden opened his primetime speech with are totally fair. +
++“A year ago we were hit with a virus that was met with silence and spread unchecked. Denials for days, weeks, then months,” he said, alluding to Trump’s effort to downplay the coronavirus ahead of and during his failed reelection campaign. “That led to more deaths, more infections, more stress, and more loneliness.” +
+++“A year ago we were hit with a virus that was met with silence, and spread unchecked. Denials for days, weeks, then months. That led to more deaths” – Biden begins his big coronavirus speech by taking shots at Trump pic.twitter.com/gljYpCMLv5 +
+— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) March 12, 2021 +
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