2013 Grammy Nominations: 5 Biggest Snubs and Surprises

Something was missing from last night's big Grammy nominations announcement.

Wait, wait...Gimme a sec.

Oh, right. Girls!


1. The Night the Women Went: Not that there aren't going to be a healthy number of chances for members of the fairer sex to win prizes on Feb. 10, the night of the 55th Annual Grammy Awards, but not only are the contenders for the most prizes all men, men are the only ones with a chance at winning Album of the Year. Only five or six acts get the call, but still...No Katy Perry. No Kelly Clarkson. No Pink. No Fiona Apple. No Nicki Minaj. Just guys. Deserving guys, but still. Just...guys.

2. Grammys Lose Direction: As predicted, Harry Styles' best shot at going to the Grammys is on the arm of Taylor Swift. The Recording Academy ignored "What Makes You Beautiful" in all its catchy glory and more than 5 million copies sold and equally overlooked the British quintet for Best New Artist.

3. Ocean Rising: Frank Ocean, one of those field-leading fellas with six nominations, including Album of the Year for Channel Orange, has thoroughly proved himself to be far more than a guy riding a wave of tabloid headlines and hype to stardom. And we're pleased to see the Grammys recognizing him for one of the most emotional, inventive offerings of the year.

4. Breaking Up With "Boyfriend": Two years after nominating Justin Bieber for Best New Artist (and jilting him for Esperanza Spalding), it turns out 50 million Beliebers can be wrong. Apparently the Recording Academy just wasn't as wasn't as charmed by the Biebs' well-received sophomore effort Believe as the rest of us were. Fine, no fondue for them!

5. No Roman Holiday: Could the Grammy organizers still be smarting from what Nicki Minaj did onstage in 2012? Because we're still not sure what that was, either. But wasn't Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded edgy and full of enough verbal trickery to merit a Best Rap Album nod? Instead, Minaj came up empty. If it comes as any consolation, though, that woman who sits near her at the American Idol judges' table, Mariah Carey, didn't get any Grammy nominations this year (she had a few eligible singles), either.