2012 Grammy Awards: Best Pop Duo/Group Performance nominees
•Body and Soul, Tony Bennett & Amy Winehouse
•Dearest, Black Keys
•Paradise, Coldplay
•Pumped Up Kicks, Foster the People
•Moves Like Jagger, Maroon 5 & Christina Aguilera
Let's start with a blunt truth. Conventional wisdom says never bet against the dead person at the Grammy Awards, especially if their death is recent. From Ray Charles' Album of the Year win over Kanye West in 2005 to Roy Orbison's posthumous win, Grammy voters almost always choose the deceased artist when given an opportunity.
The exception is cases where the dead artist so clearly does not deserve to win that voters cannot possibly justify giving them the award - that was the case last year when Michael Jackson's "This Is It" failed to win Best Male Pop Performance.
So the late Amy Winehouse is a contender for Best Pop Group Performance with the legendary Tony Bennett for "Body and Soul," their beautiful duet. Many are assuming that song is a shoo-in to win, but it's not.
Maroon 5 and Christina Aguilera were all over radio last year with "Moves Like Jagger." In a normal year, this would be their award all the way. And it still has a very good shot to prevail, since "Body and Soul" made surprisingly little impact on the charts - and since Maroon 5 have won this award twice before already.
Coldplay are Grammy darlings, but the people who would vote for them are the same people who will probably go for Bennett and Winehouse this time. It's possibly that split could allow Maroon 5 & Christina to take the award.
Or, it could allow Foster the People to pull the upset. This category has featured a number of quirky winners over the years - everyone from Jamiroquai to the Brian Setzer Orchestra - and the delightful "Pumped Up Kicks" has a definite shot to follow in that tradition and eke out the win.
Despite all the caveats, I'm playing the favorites by calling for a victory for "Body and Soul."
2012 Grammy Awards: Best Pop Duo/Group Performance prediction
Should win: Moves Like Jagger
Will win: Body and Soul
Check out more of my Grammy Awards articles.
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