Music for moving pictures at the 58th Grammy Awards

I concluded Best November ever and other monthly meta with "I have two entries planned, both about awards show nominations."  I may end up having more, so follow along.

For the first post, I repeat the theme of Zombies and Grammys and write about the Grammy nominees honoring music for visual media and visual media about music at the 58th Grammy Awards.  Here are the nominees in these categories from Billboard along with my comments.

Best Compilation Soundtrack For Visual Media
• Empire: Season 1
      (Various Artists)
      [Columbia]

• Fifty Shades Of Grey
      (Various Artists)
      [Republic Records]

• Glen Campbell: I'll Be Me
      (Various Artists)
      [Big Machine Records]

• Pitch Perfect 2
      (Various Artists)
      [Universal Music Enterprises/Republic Records]

• Selma
      (Various Artists)
      [Paramount Pictures/Pathé Productions]

None of these comes from media that fit the primary entertainment theme here of collapse and decline in the context of speculative fiction.  The closest is "Fifty Shades Of Grey," which is glorified "Twilight" fanfiction, making it a derivative of urban fantasy with much more sex and none of the supernatural elements.  Sorry, not good enough, in more ways than one.  I suspect the music is the best thing about the movie, a point I'll return to later.  Instead, I'll have to look at this list from the perspectives of politics and crime.

For politics, I pick "Selma.  It's not about collapse and decline, but about progress through struggle.  I'm OK with that.  I can't be all DOOM all the time, and leavening the bad news with some hope fits the theme of this blog, too.

For crime, I'll stretch and consider "Empire."  That was a big hit at the Teen Choice Awards and got some nominations at the Critics Choice Awards.  The show itself is about the music business, but the previews for this season keep mentioning an FBI investigation, so I'm shoehorning it into crime and injustice.  As for its prospects of winning, I'm not optimistic.  It's the only TV show nominated and movies usually win in these categories.

Speaking of movies, the nominee I'd pick as the favorite would be "Selma" based on the strength of "Glory," which won the award for best song at the Golden Globes and Oscars, it should be the favorite for the hat trick at the Grammys.  That would put it in the same league as "Skyfall," which also pulled off the trifecta.

Follow over the jump for more about the music from "Fifty Shades of Grey" and "Glory," along with other movies.

Best Song Written For Visual Media
• Earned It (Fifty Shades Of Grey)
      Ahmad Balshe, Stephan Moccio, Jason Quenneville & Abel Tesfaye, songwriters (The Weeknd)
      Track from: Fifty Shades Of Grey
      [Universal Studios/Republic Records; Publisher(s): SONGS Music Publishing, LLC, o/b/o Songs Of SMP, Songs Of Universal, Inc. and Sing Little Penguin, Universal Music Corp, CP Music Group, Inc., Universal Pictures Music and UPG Music Publishing]

• Glory
      Lonnie Lynn, Che Smith & John Stephens, songwriters (Common & John Legend)
      Track from: Selma
      [Def Jam/ARTium Records; Publisher(s): Paramount Pictures/Pathé Productions Limited]

• Love Me Like You Do
      Savan Kotecha, Max Martin, Tove Nilsson, Ali Payami & Ilya Salmanzadeh, songwriters (Ellie Goulding)
      Track from: Fifty Shades Of Grey
      [Republic Records; Publisher(s): MXM admin. by Kobalt, Wolf Cousin/Warner/Chappell Music SCAND, Shellbeck Industries, Universal Pictures Music]

• See You Again
      Andrew Cedar, Justin Franks, Charles Puth & Cameron Thomaz, songwriters (Wiz Khalifa Featuring Charlie Puth)
      Track from: Furious 7
      [Atlantic; Publisher(s): Artist Publishing Group West/J Franks Publishing/Andrew Cedar Publishing admin. by WB Music Corp./Wiz Khalifa Publishing admin. by Warner-Tamerlane Publishing Corp./Charlie Puth Music Publishing/Artist 101 Publishing Group admin. by Warner Chappell Music, Universal Pictures Music, UPG Music Publishing]

• Til It Happens To You
      Lady Gaga & Diane Warren, songwriters (Lady Gaga)
      Track from: The Hunting Ground
      [Streamline/Interscope; Publisher(s): Diane Warren Trust d/b/a REALSONGS/Sony ATV songs LLC/House of Gaga Publishing Inc./GloJoe Music Inc.]

"Fifty Shades of Grey" got two nominations for a total of three from the Grammy voters.  "Love Me Like You Do" also got a Golden Globe nomination for Best Original Song.  That might help the song at with the movie critics and the Academy members, but it won't propel it to a win here.  It has to contend with "Glory," which has this.


Pray for a win at the Golden Globes and a nomination from the Motion Picture Academy, because the songs from "Fifty Shades of Grey" won't overcome this competition.  Instead, have a drink.*

One last category.

Best Score Soundtrack For Visual Media
• Birdman
      Antonio Sanchez, composer
      [Milan Records]

• The Imitation Game
      Alexandre Desplat, composer
      [Sony Classical]

• Interstellar
      Hans Zimmer, composer
      [WaterTower Music]

• The Theory Of Everything
      Jóhann Jóhannsson, composer
      [Back Lot Music]

• Whiplash
      Justin Hurwitz, composer
      [Varèse Sarabande]

Other than substituting "Whiplash" for "Gone Girl," this is identical to the soundtrack nominees for last year's Golden Globes.  My favorite is still "Interstellar," but it lost the Golden Globe to Johannson for "The Theory of Everything."  Desplat didn't win the Oscar for "The Imitation Game," instead bringing home the golden statue for "The Grand Budapest Hotel."  I'm not optimistic about Zimmer carrying off the gramophone.  In fact, I wouldn't put it past the Grammy voters to put "Whiplash" in first to honor a movie about musicians the way that the Oscar voters gave "Birdman," a film about actors, the Best Picture honor.  I think that was a mistake, but that's a rant for another time.

*Better yet, here's the recipe: The 50 Shades of Grey Cocktail.

It's sexy, kinky, and a questionably dangerous... 50 SHADES OF GREY!! Watch the lovely Brittany make this color-changing cocktail as we discuss proper kinky sex ed!!
...
THE 50 SHADES OF GREY COCKTAIL
1 Pint Vanilla Ice Cream
1 1/2 oz. (45 ml) Cake Vodka
Black Food Coloring
Whipped Cream
Strawberries

A kinky video for a kinky movie.

Stay tuned for at least one more entry about entertainment, this time about the Golden Globes.