Atlantic Goes for the Gold with New Grammy Compilation

To cap off a relatively all-over-the-place year in pop music for 2013, January 26 sees the 56th annual Grammy Awards, broadcast live as always from Los Angeles’ Staples Center. The competition is particularly heavy with nominations for rappers, both veterans (Jay-Z) and upstarts (Kendrick Lamar, indie sensations Macklemore & Ryan Lewis, who continue to self-release their work without a major label behind them), but there’s a little something for everyone on the 2014 Grammy Nominees album, due January 21 from Atlantic Records.

The 18 tracks herein span dozens of categories and genres. Do you like R&B-flavored pop? Justin Timberlake, nominated for seven awards this year, offers “Mirrors,” a shimmering ballad off his 20/20 Experience double album, while future Super Bowl halftime performer Bruno Mars brings “Locked Out of Heaven” – the best Police song Sting never wrote – and Robin Thicke is represented by the year’s biggest chart hit, “Blurred Lines.” New Zealand’s iconoclastic Lorde, a Record of the Year and Song of the Year nominee at only 17, offers her inescapable “Royals,” while Daft Punk (who will perform with Stevie Wonder at the telecast) satisfy all ages with “Get Lucky,” a killer disco track bolstered by an immediately recognizable guitar riff from CHIC’s Nile Rodgers.

Other key tracks include “Brave,” from singer-songwriter Sara Bareilles’ The Blessed Unrest (a surprise nominee for Album of the Year), Macklemore & Ryan Lewis’ uplifting tolerance anthem “Same Love,” the excellent “Just Give Me a Reason” by pop survivor P!nk and Nate Ruess of fun., and “Merry Go Round,” a criminally underrated track by country singer Kacey Musgraves. (Her Same Trailer Different Park is up for Best Country Album, “Merry Go Round” is up for Best Country Song and Musgraves herself contends for a Best New Artist trophy.)

For the full track list, as well as a breakdown of nominations surrounding each song, hit the jump.