Every music artists dream is to win a Grammy; it is one of the highest accolades in the music industry. The nominees for the 2017 Grammy Awards were recently announced. However, this academy of electors seems to have made some interesting nomination decisions this year and I’m here to point a few of them out. Get ready for some cynicism.

How is Chance the Rapper nominated for best new artist?

I saw Chance the Rapper in 2015 at an SDSU sponsored concert.  He gained recognition three years ago with his mixtape “Acid Rap”. Three years of recognition doesn’t really seem like much of a “new” artist to me. He often performs at college campuses and offers up all of his music for free online download. While this helps to avoid the streaming issues that can are often associated with artists and payment, it leaves question as to how Chance survives in a competitive market. Additionally, and with all biases aside, that performance that I saw was awful. The song “Cocoa Butter Kisses” really creeped me out.

A better nomination in this category is The Chainsmokers. Although I am not primarily a pop/dance/electronic music listener, there is no doubt that The Chainsmokers have had a very successful year. They have had multiple hits including my personal favorite “Closer” and continue to bring new things to the table in terms of collaborations and performances.

How did Blink-182’s California get nominated for Best Rock Album?

Don’t get me wrong, I love Blink-182. However, I prefer pre- Matt Skiba Blink, as do most sane people. California was a good album, but not a great one, especially when compared to past Blink albums.

A better nomination in this category is Weezer’s self-titled album. My favorite song of the album is “Thank God for Girls”. This album is Weezer’s tenth studio album. Whether or not Weezer actually receives the little golden trophy, they sure are fabulously prolific.

The Song of The Year

This is perhaps one of the most important categories of the whole awards ceremony. It is left until the end so that you have to stay tuned the entire time for fear of missing it. This year the nominees are pretty standard 2016 hits: “Formation” by Beyoncé, “Love Yourself” by Justin Bieber, “Hello” by Adele, “I Took A Pill In Ibiza” by Mike Posner, and “7 Years” by Lukas Graham. The nominees in this category were relatively well selected and all five songs have equal capability of winning, but I have a favorite, of course.

2016 brought about the Lemonade bug and while I truly appreciated seeing Beyoncé’s extra sassy side, I’m going to have to go with “7 Years” by Lukas Graham as my Song of the Year choice. Like many Top 40 hits, “7 Years” was a bit over played on the radio, but otherwise was a rather well written song. Perhaps the most award-winning part of this song is that it tells a story, which can be quite difficult in popular music. This story of a man throughout different stages of his life is relatable to everyone in some way, even if it’s just a little one. My favorite aspect of music, specifically lyrics, is that it can really touch people and “7 Years” excels in that way.