53rd Grammy Awards Go Indie...kinda

As the Grammys approach, I realize that this is the only year I've actually been interested in them. Normally the Grammy Awards tend to be a pretty predictable affair filled with nominations for the most popular and mostly similar sounding music. But this year with the nomination of The Arcade Fire's The Suburbs for Album of the Year, I sensed change in the air. And when I checked out other Grammy Nominees I was pretty surprised to see Ray LaMontagne nominated for multiple categories (like Song of the Year for "Beg Steal or Borrow"), Mumford & Sons up for Best New Artist, Sarah Bareilles up for Best Female Vocal Performance (though the fact that she's up against Norah Jones, Beyonce, and Lady Gaga makes her chances of winning plummet immensely), in addition to all sorts of surprising Grammy nods.

Taking a look at the nominees you'll notice this: All of a sudden, The Grammy's are becoming more Indie friendly. What does this mean? Well I'm not sure exactly. The fact that several big name Indie artists are put up against some multiple Grammy award-winning and award-nominated group is both hopefully and not at the same time. While you hope the "underdogs" wins, there's always going to be some doubt as to whether they're actually going to or if they do, why they actually won. Cynicism aside though, you definitely have to admit that the 53rd Grammy Awards are definitely going to be interesting to watch.