Grammys Single Out ‘Umbrella,’ Daughtry, T-Pain For Musical Excellence

Our complete and utter disinterest in the Grammys has become something of a Defamer tradition, with the mainstream music industry’s most celebratory night of public self-diddling requiring of us zero emotional investment, thus greatly reducing the risks being forced to launch a mug of Kahlua at our TV sets after a particularly unjust upset. The Dixie Chicks are the best band on the planet? Sure, why not. That said, the 2008 nominees have been announced: The big winner was Kanye West, whose eight nominations we predict will do much towards reining in the rapper’s tyrannosaurus ego, and Motown throwback Amy Winehouse, nominated four times in the big categories, with each opportunity exponentially increasing the chance that the sobriety-averse chanteuse might reach into her beehive and magically produce her speech, an eight-ball, and a hand mirror. Nominated for five each were Foo Fighters, Jay-Z, Timbaland, Justin Timberlake and something called T-Pain, while four each went to Akon, Dierks Bentley, American Idol’s Chris Daughtry, Feist, Tim McGraw, John Newton, Ne-Yo, Rihanna and, finally, Bruce Springsteen, for whom surely just knowing he’s in the same company as that girl who goes “ella, ella, ella” will come as one of the highlights of an already legendary musical career.

• 50th annual Grammy Awards nominations [Variety]