The Easiest Way to Win a Grammy? Collaborate!
(Taylor Swift and Colbie Caillat the 2009 Grammys. Photo: Michael Caulfield/Getty Images)
Wanna win a Grammy for album of the Year? You could knock yourself out making a great album, or you could do what 16 artists have done since 2007 — just make a guest appearance on one or more tracks on somebody else’s album. Let the other artist do the heavy lifting!
Colbie Caillat was featured on one song (“Breathe”) on Taylor Swift’s Fearless, the 2009 winner for Album of the Year. Despite that fairly minor involvement, Caillat received a Grammy for Album of the Year that is identical to Swift’s (except for the name inscribed on the nameplate, of course).
The same is true of the six artists who were featured on Herbie Hancock’s River: The Joni Letters, the 2007 winner, and nine artists who were featured on Daft Punk’s Random Access Memories, the 2013 winner.
This leads to trivia questions that would stump even a Jeopardy champion.
Name the album for which Joni Mitchell won her only Grammy for Album of the Year. Most would say Court and Spark. And Mitchell’s classic 1974 album was indeed nominated. But the correct answer is River: The Joni Letters.
Name the album that brought Tina Turner her only Album of the Year Grammy. Again, most would say Private Dancer. And Turner’s career-capping 1984 blockbuster was nominated. But, again, the correct answer is River: The Joni Letters.
Name the album that brought Giorgio Moroder his only Album of the Year Grammy. Most would say Donna Summer’s Bad Girls, which he co-produced, or the Flashdance soundtrack, which he produced. And both of those albums were nominated. But the correct answer is, you probably have figured out by now, Random Access Memories.
Between one and four of the Album of the Year nominees have had featured artists every year since 2007, when the Recording Academy began giving Grammys to featured artists.
Two of this year’s five Album of the Year contenders have featured artists. Eight artists, including Ronald Isley, George Clinton, and Snoop Dogg, are featured on Kendrick Lamar’s To Pimp a Butterfly. Three artists — Lana Del Rey, Ed Sheeran, and Labrinth—are featured on The Weeknd’s Beauty Behind the Madness.
Rap albums tend to have the most featured artists. Lil Wayne’s Tha Carter III, a 2008 nominee, and Macklemore & Ryan Lewis The Heist, a 2013 nominee, each had 12.
Jay Z and Drake have each been nominated as featured artists on three albums, more than anyone else. (Oddly, neither artist has yet been nominated for Album of the Year for one of their own albums.) Sheeran, Snoop Dogg, Lil Wayne, T-Pain, and Anna Wise have each been nominated as featured artists on two albums.
Critics of this “trophies-for-everybody” approach say that it devalues a Grammy when someone can win for Album of the Year for what might well amount to a couple of hours work on one track. I tend to agree. Perhaps featured artists should have to be featured on multiple tracks on an album to be awarded a Grammy. None of the featured artists on Fearless or River: The Joni Letters met this tougher standard, but three of the featured artists (whether credited or not) on Random Access Memories did — Pharrell Williams, Nile Rodgers, and Chilly Gonzales.
