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As part of the SKPop Grammys roundup 2022, here is a glance at the category of Best Pop Solo Performance.
2021 was an amazing year for pop music. Familiar heavyweights returned, veterans made comebacks, and new superstars were spawned. Pop music moved even further into blurring the lines between genres.
However, the Recording Academy's choices for Best Pop Solo Performance are rather predictable. Even with the highly public overhaul of its selection process after the backlash it received last year, the picks feel like the academy is trying to appeal to the lowest common denominator.
A brief glance at the nominees for this year's Grammy Awards for Best Pop Solo Performance
Here's SKPop's take on this year's nominees for Best Pop Solo Performance:
1) Justin Bieber - 'Anyone'
Justin Bieber publicly slammed the Grammys and announced that he wouldn't be attending the ceremony, as his album was selected in the Pop category instead of his intended R&B genre. But Anyone, with its rhythmic electronic influences and Bieber's crystal-clear vocals, is as pop as pop gets.
It is a sweet tune that will surely allure fans, but the song lacks novelty and even faced allegations of plagiarizing the Toto song Goin' Home.
2) Brandi Carlile - 'Right On Time'
Pop stalwart Brandi Carlilie returned with her seventh studio album In These Silent Days (2021), garnering critical acclaim for adding another feather to the hat of her expansive career.
Carlile's shivering vocal delivery of the uplifting lyrics on Right On Time which, in her own words, talk about the the love and loss of the year gone by, is gorgeous. It is a soothing song to help listeners re-emerge into a changed world.
3) Billie Eilish - 'Happier Than Ever'
This year, Grammy darling Billie Eilish released Happier Than Ever, a sprawling, genre-spanning follow-up to When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? (2019) which literally swept the Grammys. The album was as much a personal transformation as a musical one.
The title track is a microcosm of the transition, where the whispery balladic delivery of the first part bridges to an uptempo anthem fit for a rock god.
4) Ariana Grande - 'Positions'
Ariana Grande's Positions was released as a single in October last year, barely edging it past the deadline for qualification in the category of Best Pop Solo Performance. While the rest of her album consists of breathy ballads, the title track has Ariana channeling her familiar seductress vibe.
However, Grande's crazy vocal range finds no use in this trend-friendly track, which got the due viral attention it intended to achieve.
5) Olivia Rodrigo - 'Driver's License'
The dreamy bedroom pop track which catapulted Olivia Rodrigo into superstardom is a natural shoo-in for this category. However, it's a little sad that it got all the attention despite there being so many better tracks on Rodrigo's debut album Sour.
Driver's License has its share of heartfelt moments, and perhaps the only reason it has lost some of its sheen is because of how overplayed it was.
