Photo by Dan Garcia/The Early Registration

Best Urban Contemporary Album

Sail Out, Jhene Aiko
Beyonce, Beyonce
X, Chris Brown
Mali Is, Mali Music
G I R L, Pharrell Williams

I know it doesn’t work like this but Sail Out should win “Best Urban Contemporary Album” although I think another nominee should take home the “Album of the Year” award. Sail Out was a great debut album from the lovely Jhene Aiko and it is a shame that she was not nominated for “Best New Artist”. She put together a great project, and while she won’t (too much commercially successful competition), she certainly should win the Grammy this year.

Best Pop Vocal Album

Ghost Stories, Coldplay
Bangerz, Miley Cyrus
My Everything, Ariana Grande
Prism, Katy Perry
x, Ed Sheeran
In the Lonely Hour, Sam Smith

For the rest of the awards, I did all I could to stay within the nominees to pick a winner. I couldn’t for this one. Since the nominees were announced I still can’t believe that Lana Del Rey‘s critically acclaimed Ultraviolence did not receive a single nomination. Not only should it be nominated for “Best Pop Vocal Album” but it should have won the category, been nominated for “Album of the Year” and maybe even won that too. Well, how could an album that great not even be nominated? I must be wrong, right? No. I’m not. The album received wide critical acclaim, ended up near the top of many publications’ year end list, and without a doubt in my mind is better than Bangerz, Prism, My Everything, and x.

Best Pop Solo Performance

“All of Me,” John Legend
“Chandelier,” Sia
“Stay With Me,” Sam Smith
“Shake It Off,” Taylor Swift
“Happy,” Pharrell Williams

John Legend is the man and ‘All of Me’ is one of the most successful singles in Kanye’s G.O.O.D. Music label’s history. If you have heard this song, you know why its great and I won’t even waste your time telling you why it deserves to win.

Album of the Year

Morning Phase, Beck
Beyonce, Beyonce
X, Ed Sheeran
In The Lonely Hour, Sam Smith
G I R L, Pharrell Williams

This is a very weak selection of “Album of the Year” nominees. No disrespect to any of the albums, but a couple of the albums are simply mediocre. In The Lonely Hour and Beyonce’s self-titled album are both great projects and either one of them deserves the award. We have to go with the Queen B though, not only because she is Beyonce but because it is an amazing album and it has already changed the way music is released (due to its surprise release). Beyonce for the win.

What picks did we get wrong? Tweet us at @theearlyreg.