LEILA FADEL, HOST:
Tomorrow, the Grammy nominations will be announced. And for the first time ever, nominees for Best Album Cover are coming. Did you have any favorites growing up?
A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
Oh, my gosh, Leila. OK, so yeah, "Like A Virgin" was the first album I ever bought, the Madonna album, her second album.
FADEL: Oh, OK.
MARTÍNEZ: I felt like I was bringing in something, like, that I shouldn't have been bringing into my house, so I had to hide it from my mom.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "LIKE A VIRGIN")
MADONNA: (Singing) Like a virgin touched for the very first time.
MARTÍNEZ: "Doggystyle," Snoop Dogg's, really, first album. That has some really cool artwork. It gave you kind of a preview of what was to come.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "WHO AM I (WHAT'S MY NAME)?")
SNOOP DOGG: (Rapping) From the depths of the sea, back to the block, Snoop Doggy Dogg, funky as the, the, the doc.
MARTÍNEZ: And then probably my favorite, Leila, is "Dirty Mind," Prince. That was 1980. It's Prince standing there, black-and-white picture, with a long trench coat and nothing on underneath except for a bandana and bikini bottoms.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "WHEN YOU WERE MINE")
PRINCE: (Singing) When you were mine, I gave you all of my money.
FADEL: Do you still have these albums?
MARTÍNEZ: Oh, I absolutely do, yeah.
FADEL: Oh, I don't have any albums I grew up with. I lived in Saudi Arabia as a kid, and I would buy these album coverers, but they would look very different for me because at the time, Saudi Arabia would censor everything. So all the Mariah Carey albums that I would buy had her in very modest outfits. And then I would come to the U.S. and realize, oh, that's not what she was wearing.
MARTÍNEZ: (Laughter).
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "HEARTBREAKER")
MARIAH CAREY: (Singing) Heartbreaker, you got the best of me. But I just keep on coming back incessantly. Oh, why...
FADEL: So we'll find out tomorrow who's nominated for this new category.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "HEARTBREAKER")
CAREY: (Singing) I should have known right from the start you'd go and break my heart. Give me your love, give me your love, give me your love, give me your love. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.