That Grape Juice was on-hand at the 2012 Soul Train Awards nominations announcements in New York today. There, the list of those up for coveted awards were read out to selected press outlets.
Without pre-empting too much too soon, most notable of the nominees are R. Kelly and Usher. For, this year’s tally sees both break Soul Train records. With five nominations, Usher blazes past Michael Jackson and Beyonce to earn the honor of most nominations in a single year, while Kelly now boasts the most total Soul Train Award nominations – of all time.
Want to know who else made the cut? The answer awaits after the jump…
2012 Soul Train Awards Nominations
Best New Artist
Elle Varner
Emeli Sande
J. Cole
Luke James
Robert Glasper
Centric Award
Daley
Esperanza Spalding
Gary Clark Jr.
Leah Labelle
Santigold
Best Gospel/Inspirational Performance
BeBe Winans- “America America”
Fred Hammond- “I Feel Good”
Marvin Sapp- “My Testimony”
Mary Mary- “Go Get It”
Whitney Houston and Jordin Sparks- “Celebrate”
Best Hip-Hop Song of the Year
2 Chainz ft. Drake- “No Lie”
Wale ft. Miguel- “Lotus Flower Bomb”
Nas- “Daughters”
Kanye West ft. Big Sean, Pusha T and 2 Chainz – “Mercy”
Young Jeezy ft. Ne-Yo- “Leave You Alone”
Best R&B/Soul Female Artist
Beyoncé
Estelle
Keyshia Cole
Mary J. Blige
Melanie Fiona
Best R&B/Soul Male Artist
Miguel
Robin Thicke
Trey Songz
Tyrese
Usher
Album of the Year
The One – Eric Benet
Channel Orange -Frank Ocean
Life Is Good -Nas
Write Me Back -R. Kelly
Looking For Myself -Usher
Song of the Year
Estelle- “Thank You”
John Legend ft. Ludacris- “Tonight (Best You Ever Had)”
Trey Songz- “Heart Attack”
Tyrese- “Stay”
Usher- “Climax”
Wale ft. Miguel- “Lotus Flower Bomb”
The Ashford & Simpson Songwriter’s Award
“Thank You”-Estelle
(Writers: Arden Altino, Akene “The Champ” Dunkley, Jerry Duplessis, Doug F. Edwards, Thomas D. Richardson, Aliaune Thiam)
“Tonight (Best You Ever Had)” -John Legend ft. Ludacris
(Writers: Allen Arthur, Christopher “Ludacris” Bridges, Keith Justice, Miguel Pimentel “Miguel”, Clayton Reilly, John Stephens)
“Daughters”-Nas
(Writers: Nasir Jones, Ernest D. Wilson, Patrick Adams, Gary DeCarlo, Dale Frashuer, Paul Leka)
“Share My Love”-R. Kelly
(Writer: Robert Kelly)
“Climax” -Usher
(Writers: Usher Raymond IV, Sean “Redd Stylez” Fenton, Thomas “Diplo” Pentz, Ariel Rechtshaid)
Best Dance Performance
Beyoncé- “Love On Top”
Chris Brown- “Turn Up The Music”
Nicki Minaj- “Starships”
Rihanna- “Where Have You Been”
Usher- “Scream”
Best Caribbean Performance*
Cover Drive – “Bajan Style”
Damien “Junior Gong” Marley- “SuperHeavy”
Jimmy Cliff- “Rebirth”
Matisyahu – “Spark Seeker”
Sean Paul – “Tomahawk Technique”
Best International Performance*
Amy Winehouse- “Our Day Will Come”
Daley ft. Marsha Ambrosius- “Alone Together”
Emeli Sande- “Next To Me”
Estelle- “Thank You”
Gotye ft. Kimbra- “Somebody (That I Used To Know)”
Rebecca Ferguson- “Nothing’s Real But Love”
Best Traditional Jazz Artist/Group*
Chris Botti- Impressions
Kenny Garrett- Seeds From The Underground
Melody Gardot- The Absence
The Robert Glasper Experiment – Black Radio
Tony Bennett- Isn’t It Romantic
Best Contemporary Jazz Artist/Group*
Ben Tankard- Full Tank
Brian Culbertson- DREAMS
Cassandra Wilson- Another Country
Esperanza Spalding- Radio Music Society
Peter White- Here We Go
Lifetime Achievement Award
New Edition
***********
The 2012 Soul Train Awards takes place at Las Vegas’ Planet Hollywood Casino on November 8th.
What do you think of the nominations?
Lifetime Achievement Award to JANET JACKSON of course!!!
Mary J. Blige better win Best R&B Female Artist.
the greatest! Still relevant after 20 yrs and plenty of songs on My Life 2 should be hits!! Kids stop listening to the same TECHNO loop PLEASE!!!!! So boring!
Whats Usher being nominated for exactly, the only thing i can think of is ………….drum roll, and the artist whose music has most gone downhill is…………..Usher.
Elle Varner…………..best newcomer this year!
Goyte is not Soul , and he has never marketed himself as an urban act.
Have u hit his album b**** urban and souls are the same s*** with different beat !!! Soul s also known as black music urban is also known as black music so f*** off
Beyonce have 7 soul train awards RIHANNA ONLY HAVE 2 with 6 albums joke looool
@dumb b**** Gur who cares this is a ghetto low budget award show so Beyonce can have all those lil plastic trophies… while Rihanna gets her Brit awards Grammys & And all other highly publicized awards
UR F****** IDIOT CINT BEYONCE ALSO GAVEORE GRAMMIES THAN R**** AND WHO D F*** CARE ABOUT THAT LOW BUDGET RACIST BRIT AWARDS GOR IR INFORMATION BEYONCE HAVE 3 2WITH DC do that means beyonce have more than ur stupid c*** R****
beyonce is still getting nominations with 4? while some artist release other albums in that space of time. It happen with MTV(2 AWARDS) now with Soul Train? I can’t. Beyonce you shouldn’t be nominated darling. 4 was released more than one year ago. Lawd I can’t, I just can’t. Anyway goodluck, I love soul train because they focus not on popularity but talent in the industry and I am happy to see all these talents recognized. looking forward to see it.
Beyonce 4 is the BEDT R&B ALBUM OF 2011-2012
but songs from 4 have made a impact this year Love on Top was number one on the RNB charts this year and Dance 4 u is almost top 10 right now
Why is Beyonce nominated?….”4″ IS SO 2011, just saying not that i care for this Ghetto show.
She is the best R&B singer alive she doesn’t need albums put to get nominated b****
The best R&B singer alive…please!.
Yes age us 1 of them!!! #PHUCKYOFAV my opinion
2012 Soul Train Awards Nominations – Mely’s award choices
Best New Artist
Elle Varner
Centric Award
Esperanza Spalding
Santigold
Best Gospel/Inspirational Performance
Fred Hammond- “I Feel Good”
Marvin Sapp- “My Testimony”
Best Hip-Hop Song of the Year
Nas- “Daughters”
Best R&B/Soul Female Artist
Melanie Fiona – album is phenomenal yet she continues to get the “Deborah C**” treatment from US fans
Best R&B/Soul Male Artist
Miguel
Usher
Album of the Year
Life Is Good -Nas
Write Me Back -R. Kelly
Song of the Year
Estelle- “Thank You”
Usher- “Climax”
Wale ft. Miguel- “Lotus Flower Bomb”
The Ashford & Simpson Songwriter’s Award
“Daughters”-Nas
(Writers: Nasir Jones, Ernest D. Wilson, Patrick Adams, Gary DeCarlo, Dale Frashuer, Paul Leka)
Best Dance Performance
Beyoncé- “Love On Top”
Best Caribbean Performance* – can’t call it, don’t follow this type of music
Best International Performance*
Emeli Sande- “Next To Me”
Rebecca Ferguson- “Nothing’s Real But Love”
Best Traditional Jazz Artist/Group*
The Robert Glasper Experiment – Black Radio
Best Contemporary Jazz Artist/Group*
Esperanza Spalding- Radio Music Society
Lifetime Achievement Award – can’t wait to see who they get to pay tribute to them
New Edition
I agree with everone u picked .
Yes as soon as Beyonce wins
How Soul Train gonna nominate Channel Orange for album of the year and not nominate Frank Ocean for best new artist? If that ain’t shade I.don’t know what is.
Uhm, where are Brandy and Monica??? New Edition life time award?? Seriously? Please give that to the real vets!
No one cares about old school flops honey! you b****** stay living in the past it ain’t 1997 anymore hunty!
Ill pass on this lil ghetto award show I can bearly put yup with the BET awards
LOL! B**** your endorse Ke$ha. Bye. Your opinion about anything is so past the point of being irrelevant that it’s downright dead. Your taste is laughable and you are a cheesy little f*****…I mean maggot…nah, I was right the first time…f*****.
Gur who cares this is a ghetto low budget award show so Beyonce can have all those lil plastic trophies… while Rihanna gets her Brit awards Grammys & And all other highly publicized awards
Ur a stupid idiot beyonce have more Grammies than R**** b**** suck to motha BRIT AWARD S A LOW BUDGET RACIST S*** AWARD AND BEYONCE HAVE THAN R**** ASWELL SO F*** YO SELF
I spy some Michael Jackson shade like anybody cares about the soul train awards. Let me know when usher or anybody else blazes pass Michael Jackson with the Most Grammy Wins in a year. *Drops Mic*
I’m still waiting on a MICHAEL JACKSON Best Dance Performance or Humanitarian Award. The Grammy’s or Soul Train Music Awards should have jumped at a chance to honor MJ !
And screw Usher! No matter how hard they try to push him as the nex,t new MJ, it’s just not going to work! #MJWillForeverBeTheKING!…haters….
J Cole winning best new artist, his album is the only one that made a commercial impact and is relevant.
Is he a new artist though? For some reason I thought he has been out for awhile!
Well dam no Kelly Rowland smh if Beyonce 4 is up there im pretty sure Motivation shoulda been!!!!!
motivation was nominated last year 4 had songs on the chart this year also Kelly Rowland didnt
I really wish that the Soul train awards were more promoted/popular – with a good line up and good organisation it is a really good awards show, but hardly big stars attend them smh. I want
Elle Varner for Best New Artist
Melanie Fiona for Best R&B/Soul female artist – why was Keyshia nomianted? I love her
and all but the last song she released from Calling All Hearts was back in the spring 2011!!!!
Rihanna or Chris for Best Dance Performance
Trey Songz for Best R&B/Soul male artist
Trey Songz’s Heart Attack for Song of the Year (the songs nominated alll dont deserve it in my opinion but this is he best song out of all of them).
Emeli Sande’s Next to me for Best International performance
Channel Orange or Write Me Back for Album of the year.
Im not too fussed for the other categories lol.
Actually Keyshia Has A New Single & Its #7 On The Charts So Do Your Research
Yeah I know she does – Enough of No love was released back in August – It hasnt had much impact – There usually is a cut off point where a person can be nominated – for the soul train awards that cut off point is around late august 2011-late august 2012. I doubt that Keyshia could be nominated because of that sng because it’s only just recently started to make an impact in SEPTEMBER – she shouldnt be nominated..
Rihanna’s white washed music has no business being nominated for a Soul Train award. That pop b**** has no soul. She’s not black enough and is basically a chocolate Bratz doll. And they shouldn’t be endorsing Frank Ocean at all. He’s a homosexual.
u a stupid n*****.
And you’re a sock puppet and a p**** who is too scared to say that b******* under you’re regular name.
Since what I said apparently bothered you so much, I’ll repeat it just for you…
“Rihanna’s white washed music has no business being nominated for a Soul Train award. That pop b**** has no soul. She’s not black enough and is basically a chocolate Bratz doll. And they shouldn’t be endorsing Frank Ocean at all. He’s a homosexual.”
😉
I can’t believe they would nomiate Gotye’s very non-soul a***. In fact, they need to nix that whole “Best International Performance” category. Let’s not be fake…
Cover Drive – “Bajan Style” will win best Carribean Peformance. Pop megastar Rihanna has endorsed them and even let them open her show in Barbados, they have potential.
Beflopsay will lose Best R&B female and Where have you been will take it home for best choreo. Speaking of, why is Gimmicki Garbaj nominated, she didnt dance in starships.
WOW the Soul Train Music Awards snubbed Chris Brown for the WHITE BOY Robin Thicke? Oh right he was on a REALITY TALENT SHOW so he has to get some shine. Wow why does he have to get his “SHINE” on a SO-CALLED BLACK AWARD SHOW? O_0
Anywho,
Why is J. Cole (who I like) being nominated for BEST NEW ARTIST?
WHO ARE THESE PEOPLE in this category? —> CENTRIC AWARD
¯\_(ツ)_/¯ (Esperanza Spalding beat out Justin Bieber for the Best New Artists at the Grammy’s so I like her chances).
Best Gospel/Inspirational Performance
**WINNER** Whitney Houston and Jordin Sparks- “Celebrate”
4)Best Hip-Hop Song of the Year
**WINNER** Nas- “Daughters”
Best R&B/Soul Female Artist
Beyoncé
Best R&B/Soul Male Artist
Trey Songz ==> THEY BOTH WON 2 YEARS AGO! I CAN SEE A REPEAT!
Usher
Album of the Year
Channel Orange -Frank Ocean ==> THEY WILL BE POLITICALLY CORRECT AND GIVE THIS AWARD TO FRANK OCEAN BASED ON THEIR DESIRE TO APPEASE THE GLBT COMMUNTY
Song of the Year
NONE OF THESE SONGS SHOULD WIN 0_O
The Ashford & Simpson Songwriter’s Award
DON’T CARE
Best Dance Performance
**WINNER** Chris Brown- “Turn Up The Music”
BUT THEY WILL PROBABLY GIVE IT TO BEYONCE OR RIHANNA
Best Caribbean Performance*
DON’T CARE
Best International Performance*
DON’T CARE
Best Traditional Jazz Artist/Group*
**WINNER** Chris Botti- Impressions
Best Contemporary Jazz Artist/Group*
IT SHOULD BE Cassandra Wilson OR Peter White BUT Esperanza Spalding WILL PROBABLY WIN
Lifetime Achievement Award
**YEAH 3X FOR**—> New Edition 🙂
that best male award looks tough cuz i kinda want them all to win but beyonce??? why??? anyways i hope elle varner wins and frank ocean for his album
They shouldn’t have nominated Frank. This ain’t MTV okay. The Soul Train and BET Awards shouldn’t go out of their way to pander to political correctness.
aside from a few dire nominations, this doesnt look too bad.
hope emeli takes it for international performance, she makes me proud to be scottish!
why is nicki minaj nominated for anything? after she shaded soul train in her song “hov lane”.
I see beyonce got em’ mad because she’s nominated. Haha, You haters are her congratulators. Congrats to everyone though, don’t really care but glad the king is nominated.
Hey can u vote and love on top shouldve been named for song of the year too
HOW THEY GONA NOMINATE KEYSHIA AND NOT BRANDY AND MONICA AND ESTELLE…LIKE REALLY WHAT A JOKE!!!!! IM OVER SOUL TRAIN AND BEYONCE AND MARY SHOULDNT EVEN BE NOMINATED!!!
Keyshia Single Is Doing Better Than Brandys So Thats Why & Her Award Is So Overdue
I Hope Keyshia Cole Wins Her Awards Are So Overdue Everyone Has Had Their Shine Let Keyshia Have Her Moment!
Rebecca Ferguson! Love her! She better win!
Wow – Keyshia, Anthony Hamilton, Gladys Knight!! Now I’m hyped for this. I am so sick of the BET Awards retreading the same performers each year. These shows need to do a better job of promoting r&b music and showcasing r&b artists.