Music industry people call it the “post-Grammy bump” or “post-Grammy spike.” What that means is that an artist cleaned up at the Grammy Awards and now they’re hoping to clean up at the cash register (or via PayPal), banking on fans to flood brick-and-mortar and online music stores searching for so-and-so’s huge hit. In order to prime the pump, the Grammys itself annually serves up a musical appetizer, this year, cleverly calling it 2010 Grammy Nominees (No. 5 debut on Billboard 200 albums sales chart, selling 50,000 copies its first week out).
Music’s Biggest Night: The twenty tracks on this year’s Grammy Nominees album run the gamut across the musical spectrum. Sure you’ll find Kings of Leon (“Use Somebody”), Colbie Caillat (“Fallin’ For You”), Green Day, (“21 Guns”), Katy Perry (“Hot N Cold”), Sugarland (“It Happens”), Kelly Clarkson (“My Life Would Suck Without You”), Pink (“Sober”), and Adele (“Hometown Glory”), just to name a few. But all pop music fans will relish in the fact that Beyonce (“Halo”), Taylor Swift (“You Belong With Me”), Lady Gaga (“Poker Face”), and The Black Eyed Peas (“I Gotta Feeling”), are also found on this collection. The following is a capsule look at these 4 acts.
Beyonce (6x Grammy winner: Best Female Pop Vocal Performance for “Halo;” Song of the Year, Best Female R&B Vocal Performance, Best R&B Song, all for “Single Ladies (Put a Ring On It);” Best Contemporary R&B Album for I Am…Sasha Fierce; Best Traditional R&B Vocal Performance for “At Last”) is the consummate multitalented artist. Born September 4, 1981 in Houston, she won her first talent contest at 7, and she’s kept on top of the music, movie, dance, fashion and endorsement worlds ever since. In 1996, her father/manager inked a record deal for Destiny’s Child and two years later, the group released its self-titled debut. Her first solo album, 2003’s Dangerously In Love spent 8 weeks at No. 1, selling well over 300,000 copies in just its first week out, and ties the record for the most Grammy wins (5) by a female artist ( a record she just topped with her 6 Grammy wins last month).
Taylor Swift (4x Grammy winner: Album of the Year and Best Country Album for Fearless; Best Female Country Vocal Performance and Best Country Song for “White Horse”) continues to confound her critics and conquer every chart. Her smash "You Belong With Me" topped not just the Country chart, but the CHR/Top 40 and Hot AC charts as well. In 2006, at just 16 years old, she released her self-titled debut, and to date has sold over 10 million albums worldwide, with her Grammy-winning Fearless topping the 4 million mark.
Lady Gaga (Grammy winner for Best Dance Recording for “Poker Face” and Best Electronic/Dance Album for The Fame) took her first baby steps as a performer almost literally as a baby, singing and dancing to Michael Jackson songs. “I was a ham as a little girl and I’m a ham today,” she proudly professes. No shock then that she titled her Grammy-winning album The Fame. But what may be shocking to some is that the disc has sold over 8 million copies across the globe, and spawned a fistful of hit singles, including “Poker Face,” “Paparazzi,” “Just Dance,” and “LoveGame.” The Black Eyed Peas (3x Grammy winners: Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals for “I Gotta Feeling;” Best Pop Vocal Album for The E.N.D., and Best Short Form Musical Video for “Boom Boom Pow”) broke out of the rough streets of L.A. in 1998 with Behind the Front, which was followed two years later by Bridging the Gap, an apt title as it turned out because it literally bridged the gap between the group being a trio (will.i.am, apl.de.ap, Taboo) and becoming a foursome with the addition of Fergie for 2003’s Elephunk. The success of a trio of top shelf singles, “Where Is the Love?,” “Hey Mama,” and “Let’s Get It Started,” was followed by their fourth album, 2005’s Monkey Business, and its duel dancefloor classics “Don’t Phunk with My Heart” and “My Humps.” Today, the Black Eyed Peas are one of the biggest musical acts in the world, last year teaming with perhaps the biggest, U2, for a massive tour.
Pow Wow Wow: Try, just try in vain not to move while you enjoy the video for “Boom Boom Pow”:
As A Matter of Fact…
* In December 2002, Beyonce replaced Britney Spears as the official spokesperson for Pepsi, one of the most sought after endorsement deals in the world.
* To date, Taylor Swift’s total digital downloads tally tops 20 million, and her MySpace page totals in excess of 250 million music streams.
* Lady Gaga (real name Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta) was born March 28, 1986 in Yonkers, NY.
* Prior to changing the name to the Black Eyed Peas, will.i.am and apl.de.ap were in a group known as Atban Klann, Atban standing for A Tribe Beyond A Nation.