Your Guide to the
Grammy’s an article by Jared E. Hines With the many trials and tribulations 2016 threw at us, it’s safe to say that music wasn’t one of them. 2016 brought a slew of new music by top artists of various genres. With the recent 59th annual Grammy Awards just behind us, a review of the year’s top albums only seems necessary. This year’s Grammy award nominees for Album of the Year included Adele, Beyoncé, Justin Bieber, Drake, and Sturgill Simpson. While their music was certainly excellent, it was the artists’ boldness to delve into their personal experiences, which made for such a dynamic selection of nominees. I think many can agree that the appeal that sets Adele apart from many other pop vocal artists is her sense of authenticity. Within this album, Adele maintains mainly acoustic instrumentals over the soft yet powerful tone of her voice. 25 brought along the Record of the Year nominee “Hello,” an unarguable hit among fans and musicians alike. “Hello” is the perfect choice to start off the album as it sets the ground 31 | ENTERTAINMENT
work of what’s to come. Throughout “Hello” and the rest of the album, Adele’s vocal strength is mirrored by relatable and powerful lyrics. This incredible combination of lyrics, vocals, and acoustic instruments allows listeners to feel the emotion Adele portrays in each song. For the fourth time in her career, the one and only “Queen B” found herself upon the list of nominees for Album of the Year. Inspired by the controversial roller coaster of 2016, Lemonade is Beyoncé’s most political album yet. Lemonade may be the most controversial album of all the nominees, due to Beyoncé’s fearlessness to speak about several social issues, including feminism, embracing racial differences, and infidelity. “Formation” serves as the backbone and the rally cry of the album. This album was politically and socially driven to speak on the issues of the time from a black female perspective, one which is often silenced. Justin Bieber expanded abroad his primarily teen-
