MusicRadar

MusicRadar picks the winners so you don't have to...or something like that

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Everybody loves an awards ceremony. The glitz, the glamor, the red carpet, the horrible outfits, the weird performances, the 'how the hell did that get nominated?'

With the Grammy Awards taking place Sunday 8 February in LA, MusicRadar - never one to miss out on a good horse race - is starting an annual traditional in which we pick the winners. Or we try to.

Rather than go through the laundry list of categories, we've narrowed our field down to the four biggies. What follow are MusicRadar staff predictions, not personal musical preferences.

Hell, if we were talking about actual faves, we'd be arm-wrestling and body-slamming for days...

1. Record Of The Year

The nominees: Chasing Pavements - Adele, Viva La Vida - Coldplay, Bleeding Love - Leona Lewis, Paper Planes - M.I.A., Please Read The Letter - Robert Plant & Alison Krauss

Michael Leonard predicts: Viva La Vida - Coldplay
Whatever the controversial origins of the melody, I think Coldplay's Viva La Vida will win out. Huge US sales and airplay plus a bold arena arrangement are going to make it hard to resist - hey, U2 had nothing out, OK?

Ben Rogerson predicts: Bleeding Love - Leona Lewis
Lewis's swift rise to international superstardom came as something of a surprise - winners of UK talent shows usually struggle to make an impression in their own country, never mind on the rest of the world. This Ryan Tedder-penned song was the making of her, though, and its ubiquity throughout 2008 could see it scoop the big prize.

Mike Goldsmith predicts: Bleeding Love - Leona Lewis
Easy this. It's been around for eons and surely we're reaching critical mass on the Cowell Tolerance Scale but 3,500,000 downloads in the States alone means this is a shoo-in, surely. Unless everyone WAKES UP AND VOTES FOR PAPER PLANES 'COS IT'S BRILLIA… Ahem.

Chris Vinnicombe predicts: Bleeding Love - Leona Lewis
The Joe Satriani vs Coldplay lawsuit debacle is likely to urinate on Viva La Vida's chips, but we're loathe to back a horse from the Cowell stable. That said, Lewis has the twin advantages of huge stateside sales and the fact that she's slightly more talented than 2004's UK X Factor winner Steve Brookstein.

Joe Bosso predicts: Bleeding Love - Leona Lewis
Way too much controversy surrounding Viva La Lawsuit, and Plant And Krauss will mostly likely score in the next, bigger category. So I'm giving it to the X Factor winner. Nice song, great performance, and what more do you really need?

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