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American Morning

Some Insights into Who May Win Big at This Year's Grammys

Aired January 04, 2002 - 09:44   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Many people expect to hear the name of this group, Destiny's Child, and expect to hear that name quite a few times this morning when the Grammy nominations are announced. Those announcements are going to made in about an hour and a half from now.

Joining us from our New York bureau to give us some insights is editor in chief of "Vibe" magazine Emil Wilbekin.

Thanks for joining us. How are you doing?

EMIL WILBEKIN, "VIBE" MAGAZINE: Great this morning. Thanks for having me.

HARRIS: Let's start off with the obvious ones. You expect Destiny's Child to get nominated a number of times, or what?

WILBEKIN: Absolutely. I mean, Destiny's Child had a great year. They kicked off 2001 with "Independent Women" from Charlie's Angels, and then they just moved it on through with "Survivor." I mean, they had one of the biggest years yet for them. It's their third album. Kids love them. Adults love them. And you know, they are young women doing their thing. They are the new Supremes. I think they will definitely be nominated.

I think -- you know, the Grammys really look at people who had a huge impact musically, huge record sales, and people who really work hard, and I think Destiny's Child does that.

HARRIS: Using that as the criteria, give is your list of who you think are shoe-ins.

WILBEKIN: I think shoe-ins for nominations, Jennifer Lopez I think is another one who will do really well. She worked really hard this year. Very sexy, she's big with Hollywood, she's big with music industry, she got married -- she had a really good year. So I think Jennifer is a great person to be nominated.

Faith Hill I think is another one, country western's darling. I mean, everyone loves faith hill. She is really smart, she is sexy, she is married to a successful husband, who is also in the music industry who has top music. So I think Faith Hill is another person who every year gets nominated, and hopefully this year will win.

Then if you are talking about the one that everyone is talking about, you got to look at Alicia Keys. Alecia Keys is Clive Davis's newest protegee. He has done wonderful, wonderful work with Whitney Houston, and Aretha Franklin, and all these great singers, and I think Alecia Keys is the big shoo-in this year, brand new artist, sold over four million albums.

HARRIS: She may be among one of the most unique ones out there. Her style is definitely different, and it's more mature than she -- I guess more mature than her years I would say.

WILBEKIN: Absolutely. I mean, she started playing piano when she was 12 years old. She's mixed race, she's urban, she's pop -- she's kind of everything that's new and modern, and being a piano genius kind of helps.

HARRIS: Big time. In fact, that to me, is one of the things that stands out. I mean, not very many artists actually play their own music, you know, and that's what she does.

WILBEKIN: Exactly. Guitars were the big things this year, and Alecia came out with piano. So I think that's helps her really stand out.

HARRIS: How about surprises? Any surprises you see brewing on the horizon?

WILBEKIN: A couple of surprises. I think Erin Carter might do really well. He's Lance from N'Sync little brother, and people love him. He had a great poster up with the American flag behind him. He performed at the American concert. He is just someone people really like. So you can't sleep on the teen pop thing right now.

HARRIS: Yes, my eight-year-old daughter Lauren, loves him, so if her taste is any indication.

WILBEKIN: Absolutely. And in hip-hop, I think Ja Rule make a big splash this year. He did the duet with Jennifer Lopez "I'm Real." He had a huge single where he actually sang an R&B hook. And people love him. He was in "The Fast and Furious." His album sales are really strong, and he works really hard. So I think Ja Rule, who is our artist of the year, I think is going to do really well as well.

HARRIS: No kidding.

All right, how about the boy bands and girl groups? Any of them standing out in your mind?

WILBEKIN: Well, you know, N'Sync will probably get nominated, because N'Sync is amazing and does a good job. I think Britney will definitely be up there with, you know, Jennifer Lopez, because she works hard, she is sexy, she had a big album this year. I think, you know, teen pop is important to the mix right now.

HARRIS: And marketing doesn't hurt either.

WILBEKIN: Marketing? Marketing good videos are definitely helpful to the Grammy nominations. HARRIS: That and being easy to look at.

WILBEKIN: Yes.

HARRIS: that helps out big time.

WILBEKIN: Exactly. You want it have good looks at the awards, too.

HARRIS: You want to have a good looking show, nothing wrong with that. Thanks a lot. We sure do appreciate it, and we'll check and see how things turn out. You'll see in about an hour and half from now.

WILBEKIN: Great, thank you.

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