Hey Grammy, ‘You Belong with Me’

Frequently
criticized for being out of touch with the tastes of the people, there
is often a disparity between who the National Academy of Recording Arts
and Science gives a Grammy to and who deserves it. We invited you, our
readers, to tell us who you thought would go home with awards in a
perfect world, and who you thought would actually win on Sunday night.

In
the four biggest categories, which seemed to be dominated by pantsless
women — Gaga, Beyonce, Black Eyed Peas (Fergie counts!) and Taylor
Swift (she wears dresses, so she is still technically a pantsless
woman) — you cited many differences between preference and prediction.

For album of the year, 53 percent of you said Taylor Swift will win for
“Fearless,” while only 25 percent of you thought she should win. Most
responders thought the honor should go to Lady GaGa for “The Fame,” but
only 12 percent thought that album would actually win.

With
five nominations, Gaga was a frequent “should win” in our polls, (a
majority favored “Poker Face” as Record of the Year) but you didn’t
think it was likely that she would win. In that regard, Taylor Swift is
the anti-Gaga. Nominated for eight awards, the 20-year-old country pop
singer was frequently cited as someone who probably would take home
statues, (a majority of you said her “You Belong to Me” would be the
Record of the Year) but not so frequently as one who you thought
worthy. Is it that you think the Academy has residual guilt for the
whole Kanye incident?

Speaking
of the Kanye incident, Beyonce — who is the one that West proclaimed
had the greatest video of all-time over the mic that he stole from
Swift — leads the Grammys with 10 nominations, but in the Album of the
Year and Record of the Year categories, most of you saw her as an
underdog in many respects. Only 7 percent of you thought she should win
the Record of the Year award for “Halo,” while absolutely none of you
thought she should win. But the majority of you did think Lady B will
win, and actually deserves to win Song of the Year for “Single Ladies
(Put a Ring on It).”

Follow along on Sunday night or check out our full Grammy coverage on Monday to see how you did.