Grammy night could be Carey’s coronation

But Carey and West face tough competition in the record of the year and album of the year categories. Other nominees for record of the year include Green Day’s poignant “Boulevard of Broken Dreams,” Gwen Stefani’s crowd-pleaser “Hollaback Girl,” and “Feel Good Inc.” from the cartoon-fronted band, The Gorillaz.

For album of the year, the field is just as fierce. U2, who seems to win a Grammy every time it puts out an album, is nominated for “How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb”; Stefani is up for her kitschy solo debut, “Love. Angel. Music. Baby.”; and rock god Paul McCartney, who released his most acclaimed work in years with “Chaos and Creation in the Backyard,” is also nominated.

Though the former Beatle’s album hardly had the commercial appeal of the rest of the nominees, the 63-year-old has never won a Grammy for best album — and he might be able to pull off an upset.

“People are always sentimental for a Beatle,” Krim said, though he added that a McCartney win “would be the one that would be a bit of a shocker to people.”

Compared to McCartney and many other nominees, Legend is a far less familiar name. The silky soulful balladeer made his debut in late 2004 with the album “Get Lifted,” and was nominated for a stunning eight Grammys, including song of the year for his simple yet elegant ballad, “Ordinary People.” He is a heavy favorite to win the best new artist category, in which he is competing with R&B dance queen Ciara, emo rockers Fall Out Boy, the rock group Keane and the country trio SugarLand.

“I think he’s a classic Grammy type of artist, who’s made a great record, critically acclaimed,” says Krim. “Sort of like the Grammys adopted Alicia Keys, and she’s sort of a Grammy mainstay, I think he’ll be the same. There’s no glitz or glamor around it, it’s very true.”

The Grammys will be broadcast live on CBS at 8 p.m. EST.

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