USA Today

With Outkast, Missy Elliott and 50 Cent among prominent nominees, the winner has to be the Grammys. A deserving and diverse slate of fresh stars is restoring patina to a musical trophy long tarnished by the blunders and oversights of an out-of-touch voting body. Even as the Janet Jackson “Nipplegate” scandal ripples over the proceedings, the night should belong to creative figures not prone to wardrobe malfunctions.

The 46th annual Grammy Awards could anoint a host of young and brazen visionaries if Recording Academy members follow through with the risky and frisky impulses that yielded this year’s wide range of semi-finalists.

The timely recognition of current talent, especially in R&B and rap, not only pumps up Grammy’s hipness quotient, but it also adds genuine suspense to a race usually dominated by war horses, not wild colts. And it complicates a handicapping process that formerly relied on voter preferences for safe, sentimental and often stale fare.

Grammys’ peer vote sets it apart from popularity contests. In a Launch Radio Networks interview recently, Sting praised the Grammys as a serious and meaningful award. “It’s not like a magazine saying what’s in or what’s out,” Sting said. Voters “know how to make a record. They know how hard it is to make a good song.”

The act most likely to score a sweep is Outkast, veteran Grammy analyst Paul Grein says. “Outkast is certain to win for best album, and it’s the only nominee that could conceivably win album and record, plus producer of the year,” he says. “‘Hey Ya’ was ubiquitous during the voting period.”

Judging only by total Grammys won and past placement in the top four slots (best album, record, song and new artist), Grein says the most highly regarded nominees are Eminem, Outkast, Luther Vandross and Beyonce, in descending order.