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| Nate Ruess of fun., left, and Janelle Monae perform onstage at The GRAMMY Nominations Concert Live! held at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tenn., on Wednesday |
The Grammy Awards celebrated the diversity of music as six different artists tied for top nominee — Kanye West, Jay-Z, fun, Dan Auerbach of The Black Keys, Mumford & Sons and frank ocean.
Auerbach received five nominations as a member of the Keys and also is up for producer of the year, earning a spot with the others at the top of the list as the Grammy's primetime television special came to his hometown Wednesday night.
The rockers little resemble any of the other acts at the top of the list. The top nominations for Jay-Z and West, two of hip-hop's most important figures, is a familiar refrain; each has routinely been at or near the top of the nominations list for the last several years.
Indie pop band fun., a featured performer during the show, aired live from Nashville's Bridgestone Arena on CBS, rode the success of its anthemic hit "We Are Young," featuring Janelle Monae, to sweep of the major categories, earning nods for best new artist, song and record for "We Are Young" and album of the year for "Some Nights." The band's producer Jeff Bhasker is up for four nominations.
"When you call your band fun. with a period at the end of the sentence, you set a very high standard for yourself and for fun itself," Taylor Swift, the concert's co-host, said in introducing them. "Fortunately this band from New York has lived up to the name in the best possible way.
