Best New Artist:
James Blake
Kendrick Lamar
Macklemore & Ryan Lewis
Kacey Musgraves
Ed Sheeran
Who Should Win:
Sully – I’m a big James Blake fan and could see him winning this award especially after Bon Iver won a couple of years ago. Kacey Musgraves is another artist who totally deserves this award, her album, Same Trailer Different Park, was a serious sleeper from 2013 that deserves more praise. Ultimately I’m going to say Macklemore & Ryan Lewis get this award, I mean every single they released was a hit and they put on one of the biggest tours of the year.
Michael – I would like to say Kendrick Lamar simply because of how much he killed this year in music, but if you’re a hip-hop fan, Kendrick is far from a “new artist”, so I can’t confidently place that label on him. I’m hoping James Blake wins this award and uses it as a platform for his music to be heard a bit more universally. His last two albums, which are full of sexy, cryptic and ambient sounds paired with constant bass heavy production, have been some of my favorite albums of the last few years and he deserves to be mentioned in the same breath as some of the most ingenious musicians in the World.
Who Should Be Nominated:
Sully – Night Beds – A 23 year old singer-songwriter from Nashville who is reminiscent of a young Ryan Adams or Jeff Buckley isn’t getting nearly as much recognition as he should be. His debut album, Country Sleep, has been on repeat for me all year and I have no plans of stopping, just a deeply emotional album that is written amazingly.
Michael – Chance The Rapper– The young Chicago based rapper has taken his opportunities in 2013 and ran with them. The charismatic emcee has put Chicago and the Midwest on his back and become the face of a style of hip-hop that has not seen its peak neared yet. Both insightful and gritty, Chance’s ability to use his words as lyrical photographs to portray to his listeners a raw culture that isn’t typically assessed in such an intuitive manner, is what successfully separates him from other rappers this past year.
Who Will Win:
Sully – Macklemore & Ryan Lewis
Michael – Kendrick Lamar
About James Sullivan