The biggest international music awards of the year, the 53rd Annual Grammys,  will be aired Live on Vh1 on Monday, 14 Feb,, at 6. 30 am, with a repeat the same night at 9 pm. We bring music lovers a series featuring the views of singers and composers like Vishal Dadlani, Uday Benegal, Luke Kenny, Hard Kaur and Monica Dogra examining this year's nominations and predicting winners. Today, Uday Benegal, pioneer Indian rock singer and musician and lead vocalist of Indus Creed, shares his views

What do you think of Grammy Nominations this time round for Record Of The Year and Album Of The Year?

I think Jay-Z and Alicia Keys should win for the Empire State of Mind 

Do you think there's an artist that deserved to be nominated and the academy skipped them?

It's about whether the industry recognizes the artistic excellence. Grammy is very commercialized. So whoever has been in the news more gets more nods.

Have you come  across any surprising nominations this year – I mean Mumford & Sons, Ray LaMontagne,  Florence & The Machines are nominated  That's a pleasant surprise, right?

Well, Mumford & Sons getting nominated is definitely a surprise. Artists like them don't generally get nominated for Grammys, let alone in more commercial categories like Best New Artist. Keeping that in mind, I would have loved to see artists like Iron & Wine and Porcupine Tree up there. I think Porcupine Tree gets a lot of technical nominations, but I think they definitely deserve more than that.

Who do you think should win the Best New Artist Of The Year?

Well the nominees are Justin Bieber, Florence, Mumford, Esperanza Spalding and Drake. I think Justin Bieber is the most obvious choice, just because of the impact he's had. That's a remarkable talent for a kid.

What do you think about the Rock Solo Category?

Well I haven't heard them all, but I believe Neil Young has been consistently phenomenal. Eric Clapton… I haven't heard his new stuff; McCartney too I haven't heard. But Paul McCartney has always been pretty inconsistent with his music.

In the Rock Group Category, who do you think has the best show at winning among Arcade Fire, Kings Of Leon & Muse?

I think Muse is an amazing band, and Arcade Fire is outstanding. I'm not very happy with the new album that Kings of Leon put forward. I think I much preferred their first album over this one. But I'd say I'm rooting for Arcade Fire.

What about the Hard Rock & Metal categories?

Well, I think Soundgarden, definitely, for Hard Rock, and I'm not too sure about Metal, but it's amusing to see Iron Maiden still making it to the nominations after all this time.

So who would you like to watch perform at the Grammys this year?

Bjork, definitely. There's a fantastic out-of-this-world whimsy in her performance, and Bjork is also an amazing artist to watch.

So is Lady Gaga, with her outrageous performances…

Well, Lady Gaga accompanied by the word â€?outrageous' has kind of become a clich?©. She's very theatrical and I don't think that's a bad thing. I mean the more out-of-the-ordinary you are, the more you get noticed, and it's not the first time people have dressed in such absurd costumes in the music industry. Lady Gaga's music is not as interesting to me as her theatrics are.

You might be aware that there are two nominations from India (Best Jazz Instrumental Album: Historicity by Vijay Iyer Trio, and for Best World Music Album [Contemporary] -- Om Namo Narayanaya-Soul Call by Chandrika Krishnamurthy Tandon… 

Well I haven't heard about the latter, but I know that Vijay Iyer Trio are a phenomenal jazz artist, and they have an incredible pianist. But no, I didn't know they were nominated. It's great news, and I wish them good luck.

In general are you happy about this year's Grammy nominations?

Well no, I never am. With Grammys the nominations are always a massive compromise. They are big record labels and radio stations helping each other to make more money.

So is there an artist you suggest people should watch out for?

Well I can't make predictions on who's to watch out for because I don't know who's gonna be the next big thing. I can only tell who would be the most satisfying to listen to. And I think Iron & Wine are a tremendous music talent and a band people should listen to more. Similarly, Mutemath is a band that people should listen to more, and when Paul McCartney does his project with his producer and it's called â€?The Fireman Project' -- it's very occasional and he's  done it three times before -- then people should look out for that!