Alicia Keys, the Eagles and Coldplay lead American Music Award noms

Lil Wayne, Coldplay, Alicia Keys, Chris Brown and the Eagles will vie for artist of the year at the 2008 American Music Awards, which are set for Sunday, Nov. 23 at 8 p.m. R&B star Keys leads all nominees with five, stemming from her November 2007 release "As I Am," an album that hit stores too late in the year to be considered for last year's telecast.

Other top nominees include British rockers Coldplay and classic rockers the Eagles, each with four apiece. Rapper Lil Wayne, whose "The Carter III" is a prime contender for the top-selling album of 2008, scored three AMA nominations, including a nod for favorite R&B/hip-hop album. Winners for the AMAs will be voted upon online by fans for the second-straight year. Voting is underway now, and will end on Nov. 7 at 11:59 p.m. Pacific time.

Comedian and talk-show host Jimmy Kimmel will return as host for the fifth time. Initial performers for the 2008 AMAs have also been lined up, and include Rihanna, who is nominated for favorite female artist (pop/rock), Ne-Yo, who will hype his recently released "Year of the Gentleman," Taylor Swift, who's up for favorite female artist (country), and boy/girl groups New Kids on the Block and the Pussycat Dolls, respectively.

Nominees for breakthrough artist include Colbia Caillat, known for her 2007 hit "Bubbly," Disney superstars the Jonas Brothers, hard rock act Paramore, producer-turned-singer/songwriter The-Dream and Flo Rida, who had one of last year's most ubiquitous singles in "Low." Paramore lost best new artist honors to Amy Winehouse, who is again nominated for zero AMAs, at this year's Grammy Awards.

In the pop field, Keys and Mariah Carey will compete with Rihanna for favorite female artist. Usher, Kid Rock and the aforementioned Brown are recognized as favorite male artist. Favorite band, duo or group consists of Coldplay, the Eagles and Daughtry, and favorite album nominees include Coldplay's "Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends, the Eagles' "Long Road Out of Eden" and Keys' "As I Am," the latter two having been released late last year.

Last year, Justin Timberlake, Beyonce, Linkin Park and Daughtry all tied with three nominations apiece. It was "American Idol's" Daughtry who took home the award for favorite pop/rock album as well as breakthrough artist, but his big night at the AMAs failed to translate into much recognition at the Grammy Awards.

Traditionally, the AMAs serve as a launching pad for artists to debut new singles or promote upcoming albums, and last year featured showcase performances from Duran Duran, Mary J. Blige, Alicia Keys and an awkward pairing of Sugarland and Beyonce. But in 2007, the AMAs were perhaps more notable for being a scriptless award show, as host Kimmel announced early on that he was not allowed to write any jokes for the event due to the writers strike.

For those who are looking ahead to the Grammy Awards, the Recording Academy will announce its nominees on Dec. 4. The AMAs skew even more popular than the Grammys, as the initial nominee list is culled from Nielsen SoundScan data and trade publication Radio & Records, and are not necessarily a good barometer of what will be nominated for the Grammys. However, expect heavy lobbying for Keys' "As I Am" and the Eagles' "Long Road out of Eden," both of which fared well at the AMAs, and both of which come with plenty of Grammy clout.

A full list of nominations, as released this morning by ABC, is below.

AMAs, CMAs score for ABC

ABC is doing well with its music-award programming this year.

Preliminary Nielsen research has this year's American Music Awards broadcast slightly improving upon last year's numbers, according to the Hollywood Reporter. The fan-voted awards averaged 11.8 million viewers, the show's strongest numbers since 1994.

ABC still lost to Fox for the evening, which had new eps of "The Simpsons" and "Family Guy."

Earlier this month, ABC scored big with the Country Music Assn. Awards. The CMAs, in fact, bested the AMAs, raking in an average of 15.9 million viewers.

But one gripe in the network's post-awards coverage for both:

Neither the CMA nor the AMA websites are showcasing any of the shows' performances. That means if you missed Alicia Keys attempting a live remix of her single "No One" on the AMAs, or Miranda Lambert delivering a scorching take on "Gunpowder and Lead," you missed it.

You can try YouTube for some of the CMA clips, but most of those from the AMAs have been "removed due to a copyright claim for Dick Clark productions." It's a shame, then, there's not more post-show content online, at least not yet.

Check this poll from the CMAs website, in which nearly 30% of voters claim they didn't get a chance to watch the show. That's certainly significant, since those users are actively seeking out more info on the awards after the telecast, and are being left without the best thing the shows have to offer -- live music.

(Photo courtesy www.cmaawards.com)

AMAs: live bloggin'

Closing thoughts: Kimmel was disinterested, and that set the tone for most of the show, which opened with a tepid attempt to infuse some life into will.i.am's flopping album, and ended with Fergie stressing her producer's importance.

In between the will.i.am cheerleading, Daughtry seemed to be onstage once every 25 minutes or so, as was Carrie Underwood, reminding us all that people like "American Idol." Performance-wise, Alicia Keys gave everyone a reason to disregard her new album, Beyonce tried to get her groove on with Sugarland, Chris Brown went all sci-fi, and the middle-of-the-road trio of Maroon 5, Daughtry and Rascal Flatts failed to bring any excitement to the show.

The AMAs don't really foretell the Grammys, but it will be interesting to see if Daughtry's big night here translates into a slew of nominations.

7:58: And we're out. It's moments like this we're all glad to live in the West Coast. Now we can turn off the company satellite and re-watch the taped delay edition.

7:54: Gene Simmons (shocking he wasn't too busy to come tonight), introducing favorite female pop/rock artist. Fergie wins. She's the first artist to seem genuinely appreciative and shocked to win.

7:49: Kimmel's back! He can barely talk, stumbling over his words. He introduces Daughtry to perform what Kimmel says is a special acoustic version of "Home," meaning it will be extra extra melodramatic. Time to get a soda. Oh, the acoustic version has strings to boot!

7:44: Kimmel is pretty much MIA for this whole show. He's sort of non-hosting hosting. It's oddly fascinating -- I don't believe I've ever seen a host care less about something.

7:35: Ed's mom: The AMAs are now in their 35th year, I believe, and are a product of Dick Clark Productions. Nominations are based on sales and radio data, so it's a popularity contest, not so much an awards show, and a chance to hype some records. Winners are voted on by the public, further heightening the popularity contest aspect of it.

If your mother doesn't like it, perhaps she can get a bumper sticker that says, 'AMAs: Not my awards -- I didn't vote.'

We typed that while Queen Latifah sang a perfectly inoffensive song in the background.

7:32: Kid Rock, asking people to stop and applaud for the U.S. armed forces. And then back to the awards.

7:30: Mary J. Blige performing "Just Fine." She's borrowing some of Chris Brown's "Tron" toys for her set.

7:20: Ack! Technical difficulties. The last 20 minutes of the blog were deleted. They will be re-posted momentarily.

OK, so they won't be restored. Bottom line: Duran Duran performed boring new single "Falling Down," which was produced by Justin Timberlake. Sadly, Timberlake did not appear with the band via satellite from Australia to pretend he cares, as he has each time he won an award.

Then Duran Duran played "Hungry Like the Wolf," which was voted on by fans via the Web. Singer Simon Le Bon reminded fans that this was the song America voted upon, i.e., 'this is the song we had to sing to plug our new album.'

OK, that's not exactly what was live-blogged 20 minutes ago, but it's close.

7:18: Before Usher gives some sort of lifetime achievement award thing to Beyonce, he's introduced by the AMA voiceover guy as having "conquered the fragrance world." Take that, P. Diddy! Bring on your little perfume thing, pal!

6:59: Alicia Keys. Performing "No One." No wait, she scrapped that. Now what, Junior Reid is on stage? Now she's doing reggae. Wait, now will.i.am is back on stage? She's kind of throwing her hand up in the air doing some sort of shaking thing. I have no idea what's going on anymore. Anyone? Help. What just happened? What happened to Alicia Keys' new single? Where did it go? I lost track. The badness/weirdness of that performance just momentarily zapped my brain of any and all thought. 

6:58: Daughtry just won favorite pop/rock album. See 6:22 p.m.

6:54: Kimmel, introducing Ashley Tisdale and Vanessa Hudgens, telling us his son just said he would like to lose his virginity to one of them. Anyone else have the feeling that Kimmel's son said no such thing?

6:48: Favorite aritst of the year, introduced by Miley Cyrus. This award comes with its very own cellphone sponsor.

Carrie Underwood wins again, giving her two book-ends for the evening. Her speech consists largely of this one completely unenthusiastic sentence: "Holy cow. That's all I have to say."

6:44: And there we have "Dancing With the Stars," introducing us to the self-proclaimed "prince of R&B" Chris Brown. Wonder if he's going to win the American Music Award for most overtly lip-synced performance of the evening.

6:40: Justin Timberlake won favorite soul/R&B album. So perhaps Kanye West was right. Before Timberlake won the award, we were given a rundown of past winners of the award. Come on, fellas, if "Dancing With the Stars" can go on without writers, you can come up with better award intros than that.

6:39: Starting to get the feeling the only folks watching this thing are those forced to live-blog it.

6:34: Lenny Kravitz. Dude still thinks rock stars are supposed to wear Ray-Bans indoors.

6:29: Further proving their relevancy and/or hipness, the AMAs bring out future of music Celine Dion. Maybe this is her electronic/atmospheric record, the one where Dion opens up, showing us the inner madness of having to play for rich tourists in Las Vegas. Or perhaps it's just some more background music for Kohl's, complete with some trademark over-singing. Yep, that's what it is. She does kind of a weird vampy, wannabe-sexy dance, and she clearly ripped off Underwood's dress.

6:27: OK, that was kind of funny, Kimmel. He said he's been waiting for something crazy to happen -- someone to get drunk, take a handful of pills -- go nuts. And that man is ... Josh Groban. Although I kinda feel bad for Groban. He probably went with his extra-crazy, utlra curly haircut today to prepare.

6:22: Daughtry wins again, adult contemporary artist. So this is the first year that Americans were able to vote for the AMAs online, and what did we learn? They simply revote for who they already voted for on "American Idol."

6:17: Sugarland covering Beyonce's "Irreplaceable," taking all the soul out of it. No sign of Beyonce yet. But she's coming, for sure. This must be that ultra-surprise Beyonce performance that ABC has been teasing as a really big ultra-secret surprise for the past two weeks. Yep, there she is. Remember when Jamie Foxx gave an awkward performance with Rascal Flatts at the CMAs earlier this month? This is kind of like that. Beyonce is trying to dance with Sugarland's Jennifer Nettles, but Nettles isn't really dancing to any sort of beat.

6:13: Underwood wins, favorite female artist/country. Proving she did indeed make a deal with the "American Idol" devil, she's sure to thank CAA and Simon Fuller -- "all my people who are in my entourage."

From the comment board: JSP writes, I love the Soulja Boy, or Superman, dance!  I wanna see Mr. Martens do it!

Thanks Mr./Miss JSP, but you definitely don't want to see that. I can't do it, I promise you.

6:02: Taye Diggs. Introducing Rihanna and Ne-Yo, explaining that Rihanna is not only known for her music, but her "classic beauty." Well, not going to argue with him, but yes, it sounded as odd as it looks in print.

Before Rihanna and Ne-Yo get on with "Hate That I Love You," she gives us a few bars of "Umbrella," making this the second medley of the night. Cuz if people aren't buying albums, they presumably can't take full songs.

Rihanna is wearing a drape from the apartment my grandmother lived in during the 1980s, and trying not to look awkward as she and Ne-Yo do a little acting with the singing.

6:00: Favorite soundtrack award given to "High School Musical 2." One bonus of having a writer strike: no annoying banter before the awards.

5:57 [Ed. Note: Carrie Underwood, Carrie Underwood, Carrie Underwood, Carrie Underwood. Carry on.]

5:55 Justin Timberlake won for male artist, but he's in Australia, and accepts the award in what looked to be a taped segment. He tries to poke fun at himself, by declaring that the requirements are one must be male and an artist to win, but the comment instead just kind of dismisses the AMAs. Cut to Kimmel, who's stumbling over his words and practically slurring his speech. He teases the Jonas Brothers for slipping around the stage, clearly giving up on any hope of being funny tonight.

5:51: The Jonas Brothers, singing "SOS." They imported a bunch of kids from the Radio Disney offices to dance around. Two got on stage and had to be walked off by a security guy.

5:50: Kimmel may in fact be drunk. He says he's been practicing the Soulja Boy dance for "like two weeks." I wish I was a striking writer and could spend two weeks failing to master a dance. 

5:44: Akon, winning soul/R&B male. He says T-Pain deserves the award instead, and brings him up on stage. T-Pain jokes that he's going to take the award home and looks about to say something else, but he's cut off by the music. No! The AMAs shall not stand for something unpredictable. He must not speak. Or maybe it's the WGA Brass Band working the pit, and they got word T-Pain's speech for non-winning was scripted.

5:42: Ryan Seacrest, Host Master, is here to introduce Maroon 5. He must've been repulsed by Kimmel's "Soulja Dance" as well, and is going to take control of the show from Kimmel. Or he's just going to spew some PR-speak about Maroon 5 being one of the blandest biggest bands on the planet. Yep, that's what he did.

5:34: Rascal Flatts just finished performing "Take Me There." Never quite realized how much that song kinda sounds like an Eagles/Bon Jovi hybrid till now.

5:32: Cutting back a few minutes ago. So who introduced Avril Lavigne? OneRepublic? Right. OK. Sure. That clears that up. But they did plug their debut album, clearly having read their record label one-sheet over a teleprompter. 

5:30: Avril performs the first full song of the night, and the first sans will.i.am. But she barely looked like she cared, not even breaking a sweat, she gave a few little half-hops. That's certainly not going to help sell tickets to her upcoming 2008 tour. But at least she didn't do the Soulja Boy dance.

5:24: Christina Applegate and James Blunt, bringing us favorite country band/duo. The award goes to Rascal Flatts. Member Jay DeMarcus had on a silver sportcoat, taking fashion tips from will.i.am perhaps. Two minutes and we're into Avril Lavigne singing "Hot." She's got what looks to be a pinkish, Fisher Price ' My First Microphone.' It matches her hair.

5:19: Breakthrough artist, Daughtry. Sigh. His bandmate has a mini-mohawk. It's small to denote the lack of rockin'.

5:15: He brings up Kellie Pickler and Jordin Sparks to do the "Soulja Boy" dance. "See, we don't need writers!" Maybe not, but how about some improv classes then?

5:13: Jimmy Kimmel, fourth time hosting, said it's the first time he's hosted drunk. He gives a shout-out to the striking WGA members by declaring, "I was not allowed to write any jokes for tonight's event," telling us we will sit through "made-up crap."

5:10: Nicole Scherzinger, singing "Baby Love," her bad R&B song with will.i.am. MTV put its faith in Timbaland to add some life to its show, and it looks like the AMAs put its money behind will.i.am., who dominated the first 12 minutes.

5:09: Oh, will.i.am is back! Singing "Heartbreaker." Eight minutes in, and it's all Black Eyed Peas members so far. Fergie is the better singer. Now if only we could have a Pussycat Doll ....

5:03: Fergie, sans will, singing "Girl Can't Help It." Or a few seconds of it. Now she's onto a different song -- "Big Girls Don't Cry."

5:00: will.i.am opening the awards with Fergie, singing "Fergalicious." Two minutes in and will.i.am. is gone -- just like his new album from the charts.

4:55 p.m.: Five minutes to go, and a chance to vote for one more award. Head here to cast your vote for the AMA "artist of the year." And here's the good news: you can vote as often as you want, so when you accidentally click on Daughtry (why else would you click on him?), you can go back and click on Akon 15 times to make up for it.

4:51 p.m.: The American Music Awards are less than 10 minutes away. Check this picture of R&B singer Chris Brown from rehearsals. He's gone "Tron" on us.

Photo credits: Daughtry, Getty Images; Beyonce, Associated Press; Underwood, AP; Brown, Getty Images

AMA blogging to be had here . . .

The American Music Awards are set for this Sunday night in Los Angeles, and this blog will be giving you live, minute-by-minute updates.

In much the same way the Country Music Assn. Awards were handled, the live blogging will begin when the show starts, meaning everyone can easily follow along -- except for those in the Western states, where the AMAs will air via a tape delay.

The fun starts at 5 p.m., and the AMAs will be broadcast live on ABC.

In the meantime, catch up on some pre-AMA coverage. Click here for an interview with producer Larry Klein, and click here for some info on performers and, lastly, click over here to read a little about what the AMAs may tell us about the Grammys.

AMA latest, and a Q&A with Larry Klein, the man behind the awards

The American Music Awards finalized its artist line-up Tuesday morning, adding to the show R&B singer Mary J. Blige, pop band the Jonas Brothers, rocker Lenny Kravitz, rapper-turned singer Queen Latifah,and country acts Rascal Flatts and Sugarland.

That brings the total number of AMA performers above the 15 mark, as Beyonce was also recently added.

Of the latest additions, Blige (pictured) is the most intriguing, as her new album, "Growing Pains," isn't due until mid-December.

Long-time producer Larry Klein is staying tight-lipped as to who will be opening the show, but teases that Sunday night's AMAs, which will air live from Los Angeles on ABC (except on the West Coast), will begin with a three-artist medley of sorts.

Those in the area can pick from a range of ticket options to attend the awards.

This year brings a host of changes to the AMAs. For the first time ever, winners in the fan-picked awards were chosen via Internet voting, and fans also were able to utilize the Web to decide which song new-wavers Duran Duran would perform.

Late last week, Extended Play spoke with Klein, a Dick Clark Productions veteran has worked on "American Bandstand" and "New Year's Rockin' Eve," among others, to try to get a sense of what viewers may expect on Sunday night, as well as the difficulty of staging a music awards show today.

Talk about putting on an award show in this climate. Music sales are down, and TV ratings aren’t what they used to be.

The challenge is that there are simply so many other choices nowadays. It’s not just television. There’s so many places for people to get entertainment, be it the Internet or whatever it may be. You don’t have a choice of four or five -- you have your choice of hundreds.

It’s like radio many years ago. You’d turn on one radio, and you’d hear pop, rock, R&B and whatever. Radio changed, and it became very narrow-cast. TV is going that way, and it’s becoming fragmented.

But that’s why I like the AMAs. We take those fragments and put them all in three-hour event and it makes all the sense in the world.

AMAs pick Duran Duran; fans pick the song

The American Music Awards are taking the whole fan-voting thing pretty seriously.

As voting on the nominees comes to a close at midnight on Nov. 1 (about four hours from the time of this post), another vote is about to start. Expect an announcement early Thursday that Duran Duran will not only appear on the Nov. 18 telecast, but fans will be allowed to pick which song the act plays.

The new-wave survivors will be appearing on the AMAs nominally to hype upcoming "Red Carpet Massacre," a new album due Nov. 13.

Yet sources close to the awards say fans will get to choose among older Duran Duran cuts to see on the show, including "Notorious" and "Hungry Like the Wolf." The online clicking should begin Thursday, and last until Nov. 14.

In addition to the Duran Duran item, the AMAs are expected to announce the latest in its string of performers.

Sources say R&B singer Chris Brown, Black Eyed Peas maestro will.i.am. and pop act Maroon 5 will be added to the line-up. The performer list already includes Alicia Keys, Avril Lavigne, Celine Dion, Daughtry, Fergie, Rihanna and Pussycat Doll Nicole Scherzinger.

The influence of reality TV on award shows isn't entirely new, as even the Grammys got into the act last year with an ill-thought-out competition to sing with Justin Timberlake. But that was little more than an "American Idol"-rip, and it's high-time award shows start raising the stakes.

Letting the fans pick what song it will hear is a swell start, especially in a year where TV ratings are less-than-desired, and award performances can be diced-and-spliced later for online viewing. A gimmick, perhaps, but one that takes the idea of a "fan's choice" award up a step.

And it's a far less convoluted gimmick than the one recently employed by the MTV VMAs, where artists were stationed in various rooms and only brief snippets of live performances were shown during the telecast. Rather than give fans the show they wanted, it forced them to work for it.

(Photo courtesy EPA)

What's missing from the AMAs soundtrack category?

The best soundtrack released this year was Columbia Records' "Once."

The film played out like a live-action mix tape, with the songs changing in shape and intensity as the reel progressed. The music was effortlessly used to reflect the changes in on-screen relationship between Marketa Irglova and Glen Hansard. At times hesitating and innocent, the acoustic-driven tunes held the difficult task of illustrating such emotions, and they succeeded.

Therefore, it's hard for me to seriously take any music awards that failed to nominate "Once," but that's exactly what happened with the American Music Awards. The albums competing for favorite soundtrack are "Dreamgirls," "Hairspray" and "High School Musical 2."

"Hairspray" will win. Disagree? Go vote.

Granted, "High School Musical 2" has a seemingly magic formula behind it. Millions in Disney-fueled marketing + kids love it + It already sold a ton.

In fact, "HSM2" has already topped 1 million copies in sales, according to Nielsen SoundScan, while "Hairspray" should be coming up on the 700,000 copy mark in the coming weeks.

But unless ABC's Web site is going to be bombarded by votes from the tween set -- or Disney's street team -- it will come up short. The album's sales are propelled by parents, and I'm guessing they're not so passionate about it winning anything, and the kids they're buying it for aren't the demographic that's interested in the AMAs right now -- not unless the AMAs are taking out ads at Hannah Montana concerts, but even then it's doubtful. Besides, John Travolta has a larger, more energized fan-base than Clay Aiken Zac Efron.

As for "Dreamgirls," isn't that old news? The soundtrack will be almost a year old by the time the AMAs air on Nov. 17. "Dreamgirls" took home three trophies at the Golden Globes, but its three Oscar-nominated songs were bested by the power of Al Gore. That seemed to kill any of thunder "Dreamgirls" had. It's nomination here seems more like a ploy to get one of the film's stars to perform on the show.

That leaves "Hairspray." But that still doesn't answer the more important question.

America has not yet spoken ...

Last week brought us the nominee announcement for the 35th annual American Music Awards, a fact the music industry seemed to forget 14 hours later when Radiohead's new album hit the Web. No big surprises on the AMA list, as top nominees included Justin Timberlake, Beyonce, Linkin Park and Daughtry -- a virtual snapshot of an end-cap display at Wal-Mart or Target stores around the nation.

Last year's AMA production was used primarily as a vehicle to hype new singles from Fall Out Boy and Mary J. Blige. And there will surely be blockbuster artists looking to preview new or upcoming releases this year.

Not to sound too harsh, but these days, the AMAs (and most music award programs other than the Grammys) are more a commercial than an awards show, a chance for the music biz to suit up and look dashing on the red carpet. After all, when our favorite artists are available 24/7 for on-demand viewing on the Internet, a fan-voted awards show is, perhaps, not the wisest use of precious DVR space (nor are 11 unwatched episodes of "Damages," but that's my issue). 

But is there, perhaps, something the AMAs may foretell us about Grammy nominations, in much the same way the less-respected Golden Globes are used to fuel pre-Oscar pontificating?

Sadly, not much. Take last year, when album honors went to Nickelback, and favorite band/group was the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Though the latter scored a Grammy album of the year nod, neither went home with any of the top multi-genre awards at the Grammys, and the list goes on and on.

But alas, AMA nominations have confirmed one of our fears, and it is this: "American Idol" loser Daughtry will score a best new artist nod at the Grammys.

While his presence in the AMAs breakthrough artist category -- along with rockers Plain White T's and R&B singer Robin Thicke -- was a given, he surprisingly tied the likes of Beyonce and Timberlake with three total nominations. With only 20 total categories, Daughtry is batting .150. (Be impressed -- that tops the performance of Cubs slugger Aramis Ramirez in the NLDS.)

Daughtry is also represented in pop/rock's favorite album category, and confusingly slotted in the adult contemporary field as a favorite male artist. (Adult contemporary? Has Daughtry already graduated to dental office music?)

But back to the issue at hand: The Grammys have already shown that they don't mind dishing out awards to "American Idol" contestants. See Kelly Clarkson and Carrie Underwood. The latter, in fact, took home last year's best new artist Grammy. And that was an award she won months after taking home the "breakthrough artist" trophy at the AMAs. Granted, that may be the only example in recent history of such a crossover in the new artist/breakthrough artist fields, but it's enough to give us pause.

With the AMAs putting Daughtry -- who apparently never heard a Goo Goo Dolls ballad he didn't like -- on equal footing with a star like Timberlake, he's now more readily positioned as a legit artist to Grammy voters. And don't think there won't be some heavy lobbying from his label RCA, which is always eager to prove that "American Idol" is more than a karaoke contest. (It's not.)

No big deal, some may say. Daughtry has surely proved he has a fan base, and he's been successful enough that he's probably tapped an audience beyond "American Idol." He even toured with rock 'n' roll heavyweights Nickelback.

But if he gets a best new artist nomination it's a shame, and here's why. Best new artist is the one Grammy category that has the potential to truly be about discovery. Last awards was one of the first in which the Recording Academy almost got the entire category right, nominating James Blunt, Chris Brown, Imogen Heap, Corinne Bailey Rae and the aforementioned Underwood. While we can't endorse the artistic merits of each of those artists, most were in fact "new" (more new-ish, in the case of Imogen Heap).

This year, as every year, the category has the potential to be incredibly strong, with such artists as Lily Allen (pictured), Amy Winehouse and Peter, Bjorn and John all deserving nominations. Feist will probably squeak in there, despite not being a newcomer, and we'd applaud the Recording Academy's recognition of M.I.A. in the field, since now that she's worked with Timbaland she's surely safe for the Grammys to acknowledge (though we are against artists who have released more than one album being recognized as a best new artist, but we'll deal with that later).

So why waste a space for Daughtry in the best new artist category, an artist America has already voted against?

(Photos courtesy of RCA and Capitol Records)