This Year's Grammys

In case you missed it, Katie Couric sat down last night with four musicians as part of the CBS "All Access" Grammy coverage. Of the four chosen artists, Lil Wayne was perhaps the most obvious pick. Not only was Tha Carter III 2008's best-selling album, moving nearly 3 million copies off the shelves, but it's one of the flat-out strangest albums to break the mainstream in years. Lil Wayne's claims of Martian origin don't seem so out there after hearing his oddly appealing garbage disposal of a voice and streams of non sequitur rhymes. Surely an interview with Couric, such a mainstay of normative American culture, might pique viewers' interests. Add to this his eight Grammy nominations, more than any other artist received this year, and his interview made sense.

Katy Perry, too, wasn't entirely surprising. Though she's up for only one nomination, Best Female Pop Vocal Performance, Perry's "I Kissed A Girl" spent seven weeks as America's #1 single. Relevant? Sure.

But Justin Timberlake? The man's only slightly in the running this year for his collaboration with Madonna on her lackluster single "Four Minutes." He's made no new music of his own since 2006's FutureSex / LoveSounds. And interviewee number four, Taylor Swift? She's got zero nominations, as her most recent album was released too recently to be counted.

This is "All Access" coverage? Instead of Justin Timberlake, who many viewers are surely familiar with already, how about Adele, a virtually unknown songstress who's up for four nominations including Best New Artist? Or, instead of Swift, who, again, is up for zero Grammys, how about Coldplay, who are up for seven?

Furthermore, do viewers even care about Grammy coverage when ratings have been so dismal in recent years? Unless, of course, this was merely a ploy for CBS, who also happens to be broadcasting the award ceremony, to drum up a few more viewers this year.

As for the interviews themselves, substance was sorely lacking. The most interesting thing we learned about Lil Wayne was already revealed in the show's promo clip - that he was born Dwayne Jr. but dropped the "D" (and the Jr.) since Dwayne Sr. was a deadbeat dad. When asked about being a role model, he had this to say: "Never in my life would I ever set out to be an example for people on how to live their lives. If you need an example for how to live, then you just shouldn’t have been born." Is he simply shrugging responsibility or is he presenting a potentially philosophical pondering? It only shows there's always two ways to take Weezy's output (like accepting Tha Carter III as a work of (flawed) genius, and rejecting his new "rock" single as the tepid Kid Rock wannabe it is).

As for Perry, the fact that she previosuly tried (and failed) to make it as Christian pop star may be news to some. That she's now the "bad girl" of the pop scene seems a surprising change for someone who still has the word "Jesus" tattooed on her wrist. Can you pull a 180 like that and maintain credibility? Does it matter to someone profiting off thinly-veiled lesbian sex? Her only hit before "I Kissed A Girl" was the bluntly-titled and potentially offensive "Ur So Gay," a criticism of a maybe homosexual boyfriend. As Couric put it, "But it wasn't an indictment against gay people or homosexuality?" Perry's answer: "Not at all." Well, that answers that, then! Continue to earn bucks by kissing girls in music videos.

Timberlake discussed acting, advertising, and golfing. Swift talked about her break-up with Joe Jonas and watching CSI.

Overall, not a thrilling night of television.

With any luck, the actual Grammys will prove more interesting. This year's performers include M.I.A., Radiohead, Stevie Wonder, Jamie Foxx, U2, and more. In a special performance, T.I. will perform with Jay-Z, Kanye West, and Lil Wayne, a big blowout before he receives his jail sentence at a March 29 court date.

The ceremony airs this Sunday at 8 on CBS.