Idol Chatter & Voice Views

To say I was underwhelmed with that Grammy Nomination Concert last night on CBS would be an understatement.

We got to watch Justin Bieber play guitar and sing “My Favorite,” which only raised questions of whether the Grammys are pandering to popularity over talent by giving him a best new artist nomination.

In an hour-long show, we only heard the nominees for something like five categories.

And we watched LL Cool J try to interview artists who were in the audience, but seemed totally unprepared to be interviewed.

We were promised a complete list of nominees on the Grammy.com website after the show. I gave up waiting for it to appear at about 11:30 p.m.

But, this morning, a pleasant surprise.

American Idol won’t have to rely solely on Carrie Underwood to extend the show’s streak of six straight years with at least one former contestant winning a Grammy.

Adam Lambert and Fantasia are nominated, too. In fact, Fantasia received two nominations; three if you count one that’s really more of a songwriter than artist award.

Adam’s nomination is for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance for “Whataya Want from Me,” his biggest hit to date. His competition: Michael Jackson for “This Is It,” Michael Buble for “Haven’t Met You Yet,” Bruno Mars for “Just the Way You Are” and John Mayer for “Half of My Heart.”

Adam was unfairly passed over for a best new artist nominations. Those went to Bieber, Drake, Florence and the Machine, Mumford & Sons and Esperanza Spalding.

Curiously, two of the nominees for producer of the year — Rob Cavallo and Dr. Luke — were nominated in part for work they did on Adam’s debut album.

Best of all are Fantasia’s three nominations, including an R&B Album of the Year nod for “Back to Me.” It’s a category Jennifer Hudson won two years ago.

Other R&B Album of the Year nominees include “Wake Up!” by John Legend and the Roots; “Still Standing” by Monica; “Another Round” by Jaheim; and “The Love and War Masterpiece” by Raheem DeVaughn.

Fantasia’s lead single off  “Back to Me” — “Bittersweet” — is nominated at Best R&B Female Vocal Performance alongside “Gone Already” by Faith Evans;  “Everything to Me” by Monica; “Tired” by Kelly Price; and “Holding You Down” by Jazmine Sullivan.

“Bittersweet” is also nominated for Best R&B Song, which is essentially a songwriters’ award. The song was written byCharles Harmon and Claude Kelly.

Fantasia has never won a Grammy.

In fact, Idol’s previous Grammys were all won by three artists — Carrie Underwood with five, Kelly Clarkson with two and Jennifer Hudson with one.

If you missed last night’s blog, Carrie is nominated for Best Female Vocal Performance for the fifth straight year — this year for “Temporary Home.” She won the award in 2007, 2008 and 2009.

Her competition this time around: Jewel with “Satisfied,” Miranda Lambert with “The House that Built Me,” LeAnn Rimes with “Swingin'” and Gretchen Wilson with “I’d Love to be Your Last.”