Grammy Judges Jilt Justin Bieber for 'Unknown' Esperanza Spalding in Best New Artist Upset

With all of the egg-hatching, pluming feathers and other gimmickry at last night's Grammys, the stunning announcement of Esperanza Spalding (Esperanza who?) as Best New Artist of 2010 rocked the house more than Mick Jagger's jaunty swagger. Despite the fact that both Spalding and Bieber have a lot of hair, the difference between these two nominees for Best New Artist is like that of a National Geographic nature documentary vs. "Sarah Palin's Alaska." One is real; the other is made to seem real.

Like a bouncing tennis ball, the 53^rd Annual Grammy Awards show sprang back and forth between highly manufactured musical pageantry and more organic, natural performances. The two ladies, for instance, Lady Gaga and Lady Antebellum, were prime examples of this duality. Lady Gaga dramatically emerged from an enormous egg to sing her "Born This Way;" Lady Antebellum female singer Hilary Scott sang the trio's Best Album winning song "Need You Now" straight up, as unadorned as a peahen.

You Tube phenomenon Bieber is an example of the more packaged musical performer of today. His every career move is calculated with the strategic precision of a military operation. Spalding, a child musical prodigy, took only a couple of voice lessons, confiding to Nu-Soul magazine, "(I) learned a lot from singing in the shower." Her natural hairdo and choice of the non-sexy bass as her musical instrument shows she is more about being authentic to herself than being a pop star.

While pop music wannabes perform on MTV, Spalding shows up in unexpected places. She was hand-picked by President Cool himself, Barack Obama, to perform at his 2009 Nobel Prize awards ceremony in Oslo, Norway.

When she performed on the CBS Late Show with David Letterman, as shown on You Tube, an awestruck Letterman told musical pal Paul Shaffer, "You were right Paul. (She's) the coolest person we've ever had on the show." That coolness factor did not escape the Grammy judges, who dribbled past the popular Bieber to spotlight the uniquely talented Spalding, a self-described "jazz nerd," according to The New York Times and the first ever jazz artist to win the Grammys Best New Artist award.

Bieber fans were aghast at the Grammy judges' choice, mistakenly "beliebing" that one wins a Grammy based on how many Twitter followers they have, according to Popeater. "So the Esperanza Spalding has only 8 thousand followers on twitter and how many does justin bieber has?" tweeted a bugged Bieber fan.

Though Spalding and Bieber are both talented performers, Bieber is more like Twinkies to Spalding's made-from-scratch cake. Last night, it appears, the Grammy judges proved they were hungry for something fresh and natural.

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