The Farr Side: Kanye West, Adele are early Grammy frontrunners

The 2012 Grammy nominations are out, so let the fun begin.

Im always excited to see the nominees. After all, the Grammys are the granddaddy of all the music awards shows.

Kanye West leads the pack this year with seven nominations, including one for Song Of The Year for All Of The Lights.

That follows Eminems lead last year, proving hip-hops creditability is here to stay.

Wests album, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, was a critical fave, but it was snubbed for Album Of The Year. Those nominations went to 21 (Adele), Wasting Light (Foo Fighters), Born This Way (Lady Gaga), Doo Wops & Hooligans (Bruno Mars) and Loud (Rihanna).

It appears Wests MTV debacle a couple years back with Taylor Swift didnt hurt him. In some ways, his nominations may show that fellow artists agreed with him. Swifts successful Speak Now album earned her only three nominations, and they were strictly in the country categories.

Swift had an awesome year, but in my opinion it wasnt nearly as big as Adeles. Adele should clean house come February. Her album, 21, is phenomenal and the years best. No other song dominated the airwaves as much as her Rolling In The Deep,which earned nominations for Record Of The Year and Song Of The Year. I believe shell win both.

She also got a Best Pop Solo Performance nod for Someone Like You.

Lady Gaga or Bruno Mars could potentially steal the Album Of The Year honors from Adele, but that seems unlikely. Adele is loved and respected by so many artists that I dont see it happening.

You cant overlook the Foo Fighters, either. All the popular votes just might get divided among Adele, Gaga, Mars and Rihanna, leaving Foo Fighters with the most. Remember last years Arcade Fire win? Im still scratching my head over that one.

The Grammys mixed it up this year, dropping the number of categories from 112 to 78. Tat decision resulted into the consolidation of gender-based awards such as Best Pop Duo/Group Performance, where the likes of Tony B! ennett a nd Amy Winehouse, Black Keys, Coldplay, Foster The People, and Maroon 5 and Christina Aguilera are competing. Talk about a mixed bag!

Im sure youll hear much talk about these and other categories between now and Feb. 12.

Who do you think should win?

David T. Farr is a Sturgis (Mich.) Journal correspondent. Email him at farrboy@hotmail.com. You can also find The Farr Side on Facebook.