GREIN ON GRAMMYS: MOVIES, TV AND BROADWAY IN THE SPOTLIGHT

We asked our Grammy Whisperer to do some of his trademark whispering in various genre fields. Here's his final installment. The nominations will be announced on Friday.

There is apt to be greater-than-usual interest in the Music for Visual Media and Musical Theater fields on this year's Grammy ballot. The former field will include nominations for such Oscar-bound films as A Star Is Born and Black Panther. The latter will include a nom for The Band's Visit, which swept 10 of the 11 Tonys for which it was nominated.

The front-runner for Best Song Written for Visual Media is "Shallow" from A Star Is Born, which is also the front-runner to win the Oscar for Best Original Song. "Shallow" is vying to become the first song to win in both of these categories since "Glory" from Selma three years ago. Moreover, it's vying to become the first song to win the Grammy first, and then the Oscar, since "Colors of the Wind" from Pocahontas 23 years ago. (The Oscars' eligibility period extends three months beyond the Grammy cut-off, so songs from award-caliber films often qualify for Oscars first.)

The Grammys placed Black Panther: The Album in the Best Rap Album category, rather than Best Compilation Soundtrack for Visual Media, because only three of its 14 tracks appear in the film. Rules in the Compilation Soundtrack category require that two-thirds of the tracks on the album appear in the film. This move made The Greatest Showman the clear front-runner in that category.

Voting members' choices in the Music for Visual Media field (which consists of the first three categories here) and the one-category Musical Theater field are not reviewed by a secret committee. It's whatever the voting members decide (imagine that!).

Best Song Written for Visual Media

The likely nominees are "Shallow" from A Star Is Born (Lady Gaga, Mark Ronson, Anthony Rossomando, Andrew Wyatt), "All the Stars" from Black Panther (Kendrick Lamar, SZA, Alexander William Shuckburgh, Mark Anthony Spears, Anthony Tiffith), "Remember Me" from Coco (Kristen Anderson-Lopez, Robert Lopez), "This Is Me" from The Greatest Showman (Benj Pasek, Justin Paul) and "Love Lies" from Love, Simon (Khalid, Normani, Jamil Chammas, Tayla Parks, Ryan Vojtesak).

"Shallow," "All the Stars" and "Love Lies" have all been top 10 hits. "Remember Me" won the Oscar for Best Original Song in March, beating "This Is Me." The Lopezes won in this Grammy category four years ago for "Let It Go" from Frozen.

The next five in terms of likeliness to be nominated are "Mighty River" from Mudbound (Mary J. Blige, Raphael Saadiq, Taura Stinson), "Mystery of Love" from Call Me By Your Name (Sufjan Stevens), "I'll Fight" from RBG (Diane Warren), "Ashes" from Deadpool 2 (Petey Martin, Jordan Smith, Tedd T) and "Flower of the Universe" from A Wrinkle in Time (Sade Adu, Andrew Hale, Ben Travers).

"Mighty River" and "Mystery of Love" were both nominated for the Oscar for Best Original Song. Warren is the top nominee in the history of this Grammy category, with 10 noms. She won 22 years ago for "Because You Loved Me." Celine Dion, who sang that smash, spoofs her image for singing overwrought power ballads in "Ashes." "Flower of the Universe" is Sade’s first recording in seven years. The group, fronted by Sade Adu, has won four Grammys.

Also: "Keep Reachin'" from Quincy (Jeff Bhasker, Quincy Jones, Chaka Khan, Mark Ronson, Andrew Wyatt), "Here Comes the Change" from On the Basis of Sex (Kesha, Andrew Pearson, Stephen Wrabel), "Hearts Beat Loud" from Hearts Beat Loud (Keegan De Witt), "Alfie's Song (Not So Typical Love Song)" from Love, Simon (Jack Antonoff, Ilsey Juber, Harry Styles), "Juneteenth" from Black-ish (Aloe Blacc, Peter Saji, Derek J. Watkins, Faune Alecia Watkins, Hilton Wright II), "You Shouldn't Look at Me That Way" from Film Stars Don't Die in Liverpool (Elvis Costello), "For You (Fifty Shades Freed) from Fifty Shades Freed (Ali Payami, Ali Tamposi, Andrew Watt), "We Won't Move" from The Hate U Give (Jessica Karpov, Arlissa Ruppert, Kevin White, Mike Woods), "Living in the Moment" from Book Club (Walter Afanasieff, Jay Landers, Carole Bayer Sager), "These Are the Words" from Pope Francis: A Man of His Word (Patti Smith, Tony Shanahan) and "OYAHYTT" from Sorry to Bother You (Ryan Christopher Parks, Raymond Riley, LaKeith Stanfield).

Best Compilation Soundtrack for Visual Media

The likely nominees are The Greatest Showman, Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again, Call Me By Your Name, Love, Simon and Crazy Rich Asians.

The Greatest Showman is this year's best-selling album in actual, you know, sales. The soundtrack from the initial Mamma Mia! film was nominated in this category 10 years ago. And this one has Cher!

The next five in terms of likelihood of nomination are Deadpool 2, Pitch Perfect 3, The Vietnam War—A Film by Ken Burns and Lynn Novick (The Silkroad Ensemble with Yo-Yo Ma), Paradox (Neil Young + Promise of the Real) and Sorry to Bother You (The Coup).

The soundtrack from Pitch Perfect 2 was nominated in this category. Yo-Yo Ma has amassed 18 Grammys, The Silkwood Ensemble has one. Young has two.

Also: Fifty Shades Freed, I, Tonya, Tully, Lady Bird, Superfly (Future), The Polka King (Jack Black) and This Is Us – Season 2.

Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media

The likely nominees are The Shape of Water (Alexandre Desplat), Star Wars: The Last Jedi (John Williams), Black Panther (Ludwig Göransson), Phantom Thread (Jonny Greenwood) and Incredibles 2 (Michael Giacchino).

The Shape of Water won the Oscar for Best Original Score, beating Star Wars: The Last Jedi and Phantom Thread. Williams is the top nominee and winner in the history of this Grammy category, with 32 noms and 11 wins. Desplat and Giacchino are both two-time winners in this category. Greenwood, who was nominated in this category 10 years ago for There Will Be Blood, has won three Grammys as a member of Radiohead. Black Panther is likely to be nominated for both of the soundtrack awards. That happens sometimes. La La Land won both of these awards last year; Hidden Figures was also nominated for both last year.

The next five in terms of nomination probability are BlacKkKlansman (Terence Blanchard), Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (Carter Burwell), Isle of Dogs (Alexandre Desplat), Blade Runner 2049 (Benjamin Wallfisch, Hans Zimmer) and Mudbound (Tamar-kali Brown).

Three Billboards was an Oscar nominee for Best Original Score. Zimmer is a two-time winner in this category. Tamar-kali is vying to become the first woman to be nominated in this category since Rachel Portman was cited for Chocolat 17 years ago.

Also: Eighth Grade (Anna Meredith, another woman on the hunt for a nom), Crazy Rich Asians (Brian Tyler), A Quiet Place (Marco Beltrami), Ant-Man and the Wasp (Christophe Beck), Avengers: Infinity War (Alan Silvestri), Christopher Robin (Jon Brion, Geoff Zanelli), Coco (Michael Giacchino), Deadpool 2 (Tyler Bates), Fifty Shades Freed (Danny Elfman), Hereditary (Colin Stetson), Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (Michael Giacchino), Lady Bird (Jon Brion), Love, Simon (Rob Simonsen), Marvel's Spiderman (John Paesano), Paddington 2 (Dario Marianelli), Solo: A Star Wars Story (John Powell, John Williams) and This Is Us (Siddhartha Khosla).

Best Musical Theater Album

The likely nominees are The Band's Visit (David Yazbek), Once on This Island, Carousel, My Fair Lady and Jesus Christ Superstar Live in Concert,

The Band's Visit won the Tony for Best Musical. Once on This Island was the upset winner of the Tony for Best Revival of a Musical, beating revivals of two of the most beloved shows in Broadway history, Rodgers & Hammerstein's Carousel and My Fair Lady. (The Grammys' entry list doesn't give above-the-title billing to Rodgers & Hammerstein. Let's hope that slight is rectified on the nominations list.)

Jesus Christ Superstar Live in Concert won the Emmy for Outstanding Variety Special (Live). This would be the first time that a made-for-TV production of a Broadway show has been nominated in this category. (Some Broadway purists may argue that it should have been placed in the Best Compilation Soundtrack for Visual Media category. Network TV is, after all, a visual medium. Discuss amongst yourselves.)

Trivia note: The Broadway cast album from Jesus Christ Superstar wasn't nominated in this category, but it was nominated for the 1972 Album of the Year award. (Go figure.) It's one of only two cast albums ever to vie for the top album award. The other is Funny Girl, which made a superstar out of its leading lady (1964).

The next five most likely to be nominated are Pretty Woman: The Musical (Bryan Adams, Jim Vallance), Frozen: The Broadway Musical (Kristen Anderson-Lopez, Robert Lopez), Mean Girls (Jeff Richmond, Nell Benjamin), Summer: The Donna Summer Musical and Jim Steinman's Bat Out of Hell: The Musical (Jim Steinman).

Pretty Woman: The Musical opened in August, so it will be in next year's Tony process. Frozen faced a fairly chilly reception from Tony voters (three noms, no wins). But the property may have more resonance with Grammy voters. The Frozen movie soundtrack was the #2 album of 2014 and won a Grammy for Best Compilation Soundtrack. Mean Girls received 12 Tony noms, but lost them all. (Ouch.) The show owes most of its popularity to Tina Fey's book, but she didn't write the songs. LaChanze received a Tony nom for Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Musical for her role in Summer: The Donna Summer Musical. Bat Out of Hell closed in November after a two-week run in Toronto, which led to the cancellation of a planned North American tour.

Also: The Cradle Will Rock, Prince of Broadway, Wonderful Town, A Christmas Story Live! and Working: A Musical.