U2, India Arie lead Grammy nominations

U2 got the most nominations but the beautiful and very talented India Arie runs almost neck to neck with Irish music veterans in this year’s Grammy nominations. The current Gap ad model was honored with seven nominations for her acclaimed debut album Acoustic Soul including Album of the Year, while her single Video is up for two Grammys as Record and Song of the Year. India herself, who got her name because she was born on the same day as the great Mahatma Gandhi, is contending for the Best New Artist trophy against Alicia Keys, David Gray, Nelly Furtado and the exciting hard rock group Linkin Park.

India’s chance for a possible sweep of the 44th Grammys comes as a surprise in the face of really stiff competition provided by other famous pop females like Irish songbird Enya and her big-selling album A Day Without Rain, which only made it to the New Age category and sensational newcomers like Alicia Keys singing and piano-playing in Songs in the Key of F and the appealing rock and Latin mix coming from Canadian Nelly Furtado. In fact, Acoustic Soul was not even in the list of the biggest selling releases of the year just past. But it looks like India has a lot of admirers among the members of the Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences who pick the Grammy nominees and that is why she got so many nominations.

It is easy to see why India’s music has become so appealing. Totally devoid of gimmicks, her songs are very simple personal experiences that anybody can relate to. Her sound and singing style harken back to that time in the late ’80s when another girl-toting female named Tracy Chapman and her song Fast Cars ran circles around more experienced pop stars. When India sings I’m not the average girl from your video, in the first single release Video, you know right away that she is in truth singing about the truly average girl who most likely will never make it to a music video. That is, unless she makes her own. And because most females in this world do not look like Madonna or Britney, you know instantly that Video can also be your song.

This frame of mind runs through the inspired entirety of Acoustic Soul with 14 songs that she either composed or co-wrote with others, each boasting of sentiments and situations that she expresses with such originality and sweet bravado. Truth to tell, she sounds so intimate, she can be you and that best friend sharing your secret dreams and desires. India sings about having Brown Skin; about fulfilled and unfulfilled Promises; about the wonderful qualities of Strength, Courage & Wisdom; Nature, Back to the Middle; Ready for Love; Always in My Head, Simple; Part of My Life; Beautiful and the most affecting of them all, the love song I See God in You. The final cut in the album is a song titled Wonderful. It is India’s tribute to soul music legend Stevie Wonder. It is, like the others, also heartfelt and very expressive.

In the Album of the Year category India’s Acoustic Soul is up against All That You Can’t Leave Behind by U2; Love and theft by Bob Dylan; the O Brother, Where Art Thou soundtrack album by Various Artists and Stankonia by the rap act Outkast. For the Record of the Year and other nominees are Fallin’ by Alicia Keys; Ms. Jackson by Outkast; Drops of Jupiter by Train and Walk On by U2. For Song of the Year, India’s video is in contention with Drops of Jupiter by Train; Fallin’ by Alicia Keys; I’m Like a Bird by Nelly Furtado and Stuck in a Moment You Can’t Get Out Of by U2.

The Grammy Awards, the most important event for the recording industry, will be held in at the Staples Center in Los Angeles on Feb. 27, 2002. On its 44th year, the Grammy will be giving out trophies to the winners in 101 categories in 28 musical fields. Now that is really a lot. But that is only proportionate to the size of the American music industry that has grown over the years and it is only fitting that due recognition be given to those who came up with the best accomplishments of an entire year. Maybe India Arie will be among them.