by Simon Glickman and Sam Hissong

If, like us, you’ve been poring over Grammy Whisperer Paul Grein’s prognostications, you have a pretty clear sense of the songs and artists likely to dominate the major categories. Unlike the labels, multiple pubcos have their hands in a lot of the same projects. Which is one reason UMPG’s Evan Lamberg is singing the praises of Sam Smith. Sam’s primary co-writer/producer is Universal's Jimmy Napes, who co-penned Song of the Year frontrunner “Stay With Me.”

But Sam (a Sony/ATV writer) earns good will across the board, and Lamberg isn’t alone in suggesting that the singer is the first artist since Adele and Norah Jones (and the first male in a dog’s age) to captivate listeners of all stripes, even the ones who normally just listen to Metallica or Mozart.

“Stay With Me” is certainly the kind of tune that goes all the way, but you’ve gotta give it up to “Let It Go,” by Warner/Chappell-repped Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez. If you still think of it as “that big song from the snowy cartoon movie,” wake up—multiple versions in multiple languages, sing-alongs and fan covers and versions with toy instruments have shown beyond a shadow of a doubt that this fits the classic definition of a stellar song: Strip it down to the basic melody and it’s un-freakin’-deniable. Oh, and it did already win an Oscar.

Meghan Trainor, already recognized as a gifted tunesmith before achieving stardom (she’s with Nashville’s Big Yellow Dog Music), worked with new Sony/ATV signing Kevin Kadish on the monster “All About That Bass,” which is a sparkling combination of upbeat melody, groove and message.

Sony/ATV songwriter Taylor Swift penned her similarly infectious and exhilarating “Shake It Off” with MXM/Kobalt’s Max Martin and Shellback.

Uni’s Ian Axel and Chad Vaccarino, aka A Great Big World, wrote the aching ballad “Say Something” with Mike Campbell; this quiet song spoke very loudly at radio and retail—and is another perfect example of the “strip it down and it soars” variety.

UMPG also has the members of Coldplay, who collectively wrote candidate “A Sky Full of Stars.” We’ll have more Grammy babble later.

Justin Shukat at Primary Wave is waving his glowstick with glee after inking U.K. phenomenon Sigma, whose track with Paloma Faith, “Changing,” was one of the most underrated EDM-style jams of the last year.

Did you know that in addition to doing the pub thing, Sony/ATV’s Tyler Childs (who recently signed Tegan & Sara) is managing Bleachers through his company Quality CTRL? Well, now you do.

Hey, if you don’t email us, how are we supposed to know about the amazing shit you’re doing? Simon.glickman@hitsmagazine.com and/or Samantha.hissong@hitsmagazine.com.

SINGING ABOUT: Lindsey Lanier, DJ Mustard, Patrick Clifford…