Grammys: Who Will Win This Year? Predictions From a Six-Time Grammy Winner
Taylor Swift's 1989 was the best-selling album of 2014, with more than 3.6 million copies moved.
[...] despite allowing Swift to complete her (seemingly) effortless transition from country singer to pop sensation, it won't be enough to stop hip-hop artist Kendrick Lamar from sweeping this year's Grammy Awards, according to an industry expert.
Harvey Mason Jr., a six-time Grammy award-winning songwriter, record producer and film producer, has worked on albums for Elton John, Beyonce, Justin Timberlake, Justin Bieber and Britney Spears.
The rapper has racked up 11 nominations, putting him just one shy of Michael Jackson's record for the most nominations in one night.
The Grammy voting process is pretty rigorous and scientific, with votes from more than 20,000 people - including engineers, writers, artists, musicians and industry insiders - who have the six credits required to cast a ballot.
The academy takes a lot of pride in making sure all genres are represented.
Ahead of Sunday's ceremony, Mason broke down the process - and who/what he thinks are the likely winners in 10 important categories, plus one that he's particularly invested in.
(Ed. note: these are Mason's professional predictions, not personal choices.) On to the categories!
"Really Love," D'Angelo and The Vanguard
With that in mind, "I have to say "Uptown Funk," Mason says, calling the ubiquitous song "the biggest event record on the list.
[To Pimp a Butterfly] is produced like a classic record - it's really well done and you can tell a lot of care went into that record.
Did you buy into the performance of the duo or group? For instance, although Uptown Funk includes Mark Ronson, Bruno Mars owns it.
Best Pop Vocal Album
Great songwriting, production, singing.
"Truffle Butter," Nicki Minaj feat.
Best Rap Song (name listed is performer)
Glory has legs because of all the visibility from award shows.
(The song won several prizes last year, in