My one hot take on the grammy nominations:

Fetch the Bolt Cutters is indisputably a better record than Black Pumas (which is a good album!)

This is all label politics, voting blocs and the like - I am surprised to see the heat for the second year in a row from an ATO band with a relatively low profile (and limited catalog) when they were nominated for Best New Artist last year.

Once again, a good band! But tons of good bands do not get nominated in their first two years of existence for that category (See: @phoebe_bridgers ). Meanwhile Fiona Apple drops an incredible record, one you could easily argue was her best yet AND has major label push? So weird.

but I haven't done the math on who the labels were pushing. If you've got all the Sony people splitting votes that leaves room for ATO voting for one band, and that can make the difference. Once again, politics.

As the labels have to shrunk to a big three, remember the people with votes often work at labels and will support the artist on their roster over their personal interest - another the reason the grammys are not a good representation of what the best music out there is.

I blame @thatmiketierney for this crash course years ago. Thanks, Mike!