Scoreboard: John Mayer, Grammy Previews

John Mayer returns with a new EP this week; Scoreboard also previews the Grammy candidates for Record and Song of the Year

Billboard Artist Top 10

For the magazine dated February 11, 2017

See the full chart at http://www.billboard.com/charts/artist-100

So far 2017 has been good to The Weeknd, who has been the #1 artist for 4 of 6 weeks and whose album Starboy has been #1 on the Billboard 200 for five non-consecutive weeks, including this one. Migos and Lil Uzi Vert maintain their #1 hold on the Hot 100 with “Bad And Boujee,” while John Mayer has the week’s biggest new release with EP The Search For Everything: Wave One.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BPvxrZ5BNWC/?taken-by=afireinside&hl=en

Northern California rockers AFI have the week’s biggest new LP, their tenth overall, and come in at #14 on the Artist 100

John Mayer’s Search Comes In Waves

This week marks the first John Mayer release since 2013’s Paradise Valley and the new material for his forthcoming album The Search For Everything is being released in waves. This week’s EP presents the first four songs off the album, which land somewhere between the Americana of his most recent album and the pop-oriented sound that made Mayer a superstar in the early 2000’s.

“Moving On And Getting Over” is the mission statement for the first wave and at age 39 it’s not surprising to hear @johnmayer get contemplative. He jams the track out, influenced by his touring with Dead & Company, the supergroup built around surviving members of The Grateful Dead. The poppiest track on the EP is single “Love On The Weekend,” which has nothing to do with Abel Tesfaye, but gets Mayer back to the carefree pop-rock that first made him famous. Back in 2008 he covered Tom Petty‘s “Free Fallin’” and “Love On The Weekend” represents Mayer’s own entry in the canon of Southern California romancing. In a recent Rolling Stone interview Mayer disclosed that he wants the album “to be the kind of massive production you associate with classic 70s albums like Fleetwood Mac‘s Rumours.” That is quite the ambition, but I’m not stopping @johnmayer from shooting for Rumours, he can still land among the waves.

With his latest project, John Mayer is all music, no drama

Grammys Preview: Record and Song of the Year

With the Grammys a week away, Scoreboard is departing the Album of the Year competition for the two biggest awards that go to individual tracks – Record and Song of the Year. This time around, three tracks are nominated for both – Adele‘s “Hello,” Beyoncé‘s “Formation,” and “7 Years” by Lukas Graham. The same track won both awards 5 times in the last 10 years, Sam Smith was the most recent to win both for 2014 with “Stay With Me.” Last year, the Record Grammy, which honors the entire production of a track, went to the #1 Billboard hit of the year, “Uptown Funk” by Mark Ronson and Bruno Mars. Song of the Year, which is awarded to the lyricist, went to the #2 Billboard hit of the year, “Thinking Out Loud” by Ed Sheeran. This year, Sheeran is again nominated for Song of the Year for his help writing Justin Bieber‘s “Love Yourself,” which was the #1 Billboard hit of 2016. If the Grammys continue their (short) streak of honoring Billboard’s biggest hits of the year, then “Love Yourself” is the shoo-in for Song of the Year over the three double-nominated hits and Mike Posner‘s dark horse “I Took A Pill In Ibiza,” which is Posner’s sole Grammy nomination this year.

Bruno Mars is not nominated for a Grammy this go-round, but will perform at the Grammys on February 12

If the odds are in favor of Bieber and Sheeran for Song of the Year, who is the favorite for Record of the Year? The two hits nominated for Record, but not Song, are “Work” by Rihanna ft. Drake and “Stressed Out” by Twenty One Pilots, Billboard’s #4 and #5 hits of 2016. “Hello” finished the year at #7 and “7 Years” at #12. “Formation” did not make the year-end Hot 100 and only spent 7 weeks on the chart (“I Took A Pill In Ibiza,” as a contrast, spent 37 weeks on the Hot 100). The lack of chart impact may be what holds back @beyoncé from winning the Record trophy, though “Formation” is nearly a lock for Best Music Video. As for Record of the Year, my money is on that work work work work work work.

@beyoncé just won the Internet, next up: the Grammys