The Grammy Award nominations for 2017 are out, and while some of the major contenders came as no surprise (hello Adele and Beyoncé), other favourites were nowhere to be seen. Queen Bey leads the field with nine nominations, while Drake, Rihanna and Kanye West follow closely with eight each, and Adele snagged five nods across the major categories: Album of the Year, Record of the Year, Song of the Year, Best Pop Solo Performance, and Best Pop Vocal Album.
Big names like Bruno Mars, The Weeknd and Frank Ocean were not on the list. However, they were not exactly snubbed—the first two released their albums after the 30 September deadline and Ocean’s 2016 releases (Blonde and Endless) while eligible, were not submitted for consideration. But there were some other names we thought deserved a mention or two. Here’s a rundown on the nominations’ snubs and surprises:
No love for Justin Timberlake’s ‘Can’t Stop the Feeling’
…aka the song that dominated airwaves and had us bopping to its upbeat tune. It’s like history repeating itself for JT – a few years ago The 20/20 Experience was left out of the major categories, and this time around his #1 hit misses the Song of the Year and Record of the Year lists, or even any of the pop categories. Instead, the song settled for a relatively paltry Best Song Written for Visual Media nomination. Ouch.
Shawn Mendes misses out on Best New Artist
It sure seemed like Mendes would’ve been a shoo-in to the list, seeing how his debut album Handwritten took #1 on the Billboard chart back in 2015, and his most recent album Illuminate has been churning hits that are all over our radio. He proved to be a good sport over the snub though, congratulating Chance The Rapper, who scored a Best New Artist nomination, on Twitter.
Where is Alessia Cara?
It is no secret the young pop-R&B singer with the powerful, soulful vocals is a Billboard Top 40 darling – her newest singles ‘Wild Things’ and ‘Scars to the Beautiful’ from her debut album Know-It-All topped the charts. But the 20-year-old Canadian, like Mendes, is nowhere to be seen in the nominations.
David Bowie’s Blackstar shut out of major categories
The late pop culture icon last album was nominated in the Best Alternative Music Album, Best Rock Performance and Best Rock Song categories, and has been regarded as one of his finest creative statements, yet it missed out on the major categories such as Record of the Year and Album of the Year. Then again, David Bowie has never had much luck with the Grammys, having only taken home one award in his almost five decade-long lauded career.
Beyoncé is in a Rock category
Yep, amongst the pack leader’s nine nominations is one in the Best Rock Performance category. The track – ‘Don’t Hurt Yourself’ from Lemonade – features Jack White, and is going up against the likes of Bowie, Alabama Shakes, Disturbed and Twenty One Pilots.
De La Soul scores a nomination
And the Anonymous Nobody is the inventive hip-hop pioneers’ ninth full-length album in their near 30-year history, and finally scores them a well-deserved nomination of their own in the Best Rap Album category – they won Best Pop Collaboration back in 2006 for the Gorillaz collab ‘Feel Good Inc.’. Competition is not easy though, the album will be going up against works from Drake, Kanye West and Chance the Rapper.
The 2017 Grammy Awards will take place on 12 February 2017 at Staples Center, Los Angeles. Find the full list of nominations here.
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