CEBU, Philippines - The Black Eyed Peas were also nominated for record of the year for their feel-good song, “I Gotta Feeling,” while the Kings of Leon were nominated for “Use Somebody.” The Kings of Leon hit was also nominated for song of the year, as well as Maxwell’s comeback hit, “Pretty Wings.”
The Black Eyed Peas, Maxwell and Kanye West got six nominations each, while Jay-Z and DJ David Guetta got five.
The country act the Zac Brown Band was nominated for best new artist, along with R&B siren Keri Hilson, rockers MGMT, the punk duo the Ting Tings and the rock group the Silversun Pickups. The year’s most popular new artist, Lady Gaga, wasn’t eligible; her single “Just Dance” had been nominated last year, before she was a platinum-selling act; previous Grammy nominees can’t be nominated in the category.
Recording Academy President Neil Portnow said that scenario won’t likely happen again: “There will be some changes so that particular situation won’t repeat itself.”
Wednesday’s nominations were unveiled at Club Nokia in Los Angeles as part of a prime-time CBS special. It was the second year in a row that the Recording Academy revealed a handful of its 109 nominees during a televised concert; in the past, they had been announced during a morning news conference.
Swift, who turns 20 later this month, said she was holed up in a Los Angeles hotel room with her mother, editing home videos on her computer, when the nominations were being read. It was then she got a text from her producer, Nathan Chapman, that just read “AAUUGGH!!!!!”
Taylor didn’t know what to make of it.
Then he called and told her about her first nomination, song of the year, for her hit, “You Belong With Me.” And then the screams started, and continued when the nominations kept coming in.