8th An 5 nu e a h l T G s ra d m ar my Aw RECORD OF THE YEAR There’s more than a touch of soul in each nominee for this category, which includes some of the year’s most indelible songs “Really Love” “Uptown Funk!” “Thinking “Blank Space” “Can’t Feel D’ANGELO & MARK RONSON Out Loud” TAYLOR SWIFT My Face” THE VANGUARD FEATURING ED SHEERAN PRODUCERS Max Martin, THE WEEKND PRODUCER D’Angelo BRUNO MARS PRODUCER Jake Gosling Shellback PRODUCERS Max Martin, ENGINEERS/MIXERS Russell PRODUCERS Jeff Bhasker, ENGINEERS/MIXERS Jake ENGINEERS/MIXERS Ali Payami Elevado, Ben Kane Bruno Mars, Mark Ronson Gosling, Mark “Spike” Stent, Serban Ghenea, John ENGINEERS/MIXERS FROM Black Messiah ENGINEERS/MIXERS Geoff Swan Hanes, Sam Holland, Serban Ghenea, John LABEL RCA Records Josh Blair, Serban FROM X Michael Ilbert Hanes, Sam Holland Ghenea, Wayne Gordon, LABEL Atlantic Records FROM 1989 FROM Beauty Behind the The sultry “Really Love” is John Hanes, Inaam Haq, LABEL Big Machine Madness a smooth gateway to Black On this paean to eternal Boo Mitchell, Charles Moniz, Records LABEL Republic Records Messiah, D’Angelo’s first love — or at least a love Mark Ronson album in 15 years. Opening that lasts until he’s 70 — To complete her move One of two songs in this FROM Uptown Special with a swell of strings and Sheeran turned to frequent from country to pop, Swift category to feature the work LABEL RCA Records a flamenco guitar, not to collaborator Jake Gosling, returned to Swedish hook of 2015 Grammy producer mention a sexy female voice The most unapologetically with whom he worked on master (and 2015 Grammy of the year Max Martin, The whispering in Spanish, the exuberant song since Pharrell his label debut, +, to produce producer of the year) Max Weeknd’s “Can’t Feel My boudoir ballad reaches Williams’ “Happy,” “Uptown the earnest guitar- and Martin, who co-produced Face” spent three a slow sizzle by the time Funk!” spent 14 weeks keyboard-based track. It has nine songs on 1989, nonconsecutive weeks at D’Angelo’s falsetto at No. 1 on the Billboard paid off: The ballad became including this No. 1 nugget. the top on its way to beckons his lady to let “our Hot 100, while the video the first song to spend a Built on an infectious ubiquity. The song’s driving, nectars mingle.” The soulful topped 1 billion global views. full year in the Official U.K. programmed drum loop, upbeat rhythm contrasts track, which samples Curtis This ode to the horn-filled Singles Chart top 40, some of her cleverest and with its tortured lyrics as KND: LAMAR TAYLOR LAMAR KND: Mayfield’s “We the People R&B of the ’70s started as a grabbing 500 million Spotify most biting lyrics and a The Weeknd compares his Who Are Darker Than Blue,” jam in Mars’ studio, with the streams and reaching No. 2 cascading bridge, Swift lover to a drug, predicting peaked at No. 43 on the Hot now-instantly recognizable on the Hot 100. But perhaps distills the entirety of an that “she’ll be the death R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart, Chic-like opening guitar line most of all, it became an up-and-down relationship of me.” Most significantly, while the album bowed at not coming until the very end. instant classic at weddings into a neatly packaged four the sleek, Michael Jackson- No. 5 on the Billboard 200. Ronson told NPR he stressed and anniversary parties, minutes. The song’s video channeling dance-pop tune “Really Love” is the outlier so much over his guitar part in no small part due to the became the most-viewed in resided at the top while of the category — a layered that he fainted in a restaurant. romantic video, which Vevo’s history in October, The Weeknd’s “The Hills” ode to devotion from an “When you’re doing features Sheeran learning and that wasn’t all: When climbed to No. 2, making the otherwise politically something that doesn’t how to ballroom dance. “Blank Space” leapt 13-1 on Canadian crooner the first charged album, and a sound like anything else on the Hot 100 in November, lead artist to simultaneously nomination that few the radio at the time,” he said, Swift became the first solo have the top two songs since Grammy prognosticators “you almost need to, like, woman in the history of the 2009, the highlight of a truly saw coming. iron-clad it to make sure it chart to replace herself in the breakout year. gets through.” peak position. D’ANGELO: TIM MOSENFELDER/GETTY IMAGES. RONSON: KEVIN MAZUR/MTV1415/WIREIMAGE. SHEERAN: BEN WATTS. SWIFT: SARAH BARLOW. THE WEE 26 BILLBOARD | JANUARY 2, 2016.