Also nominated is Taylor Swift, who beat Beyoncé for Album of the Year when they first faced off in 2010. As L.A. Times pop music critic Mikael Wood reports – another showdown is looming.

That celebrities could use their cultural power to get fans to vote for a candidate struck me as ridiculous at best, snobby and condescending at worst.

For the first time since 2010, music-industry titans Beyoncé and Taylor Swift will compete for the Grammys’ coveted Album of the Year award for their records Cowboy Carter and The Tortured Poets Department.