When Justin Bieber failed to earn a single nomination for the 2013 Grammy Awards, Beliebers everywhere freaked out. Even Bieber’s manager, Scooter Braun, tweeted a lengthy message blasting the Recording Academy that read in part, “I just plain DISAGREE. The kid deserved it. Grammy board u blew it on this one.”
The interesting thing is that Bieber, as well as Adam Lambert, Jason Mraz and others, would almost certainly have been a 2013 Grammy nominee if the Academy hadn’t changed its rules last year.
There used to be separate categories for both Male Pop Performance and Female Pop Performance. But starting with the 2012 Grammys, all solo artists went into the same pool. Now, there’s just a “Best Solo Pop Performance” category.
As it turns out, all five nominees for the Solo Pop award in 2013 are female. Not a single guy made the cut. If the Male Pop Performance award still existed, Bieber’s “Boyfriend” would have been an overwhelming favorite to earn a nomination, along with Mraz’s “I Won’t Give Up” and Ne-Yo’s “Let Me Love You.” Other contenders would have included Ed Sheeran’s “The A Team,” Lambert’s “Never Close Our Eyes,” and Phillip Phillips’ “Home.”
The irony is that one of the Best Pop Solo nominations went to Carly Rae Jepsen’s “Call Me Maybe.” Bieber’s own protege stole a possible nomination away from him!
Look at the women who did end up scoring Best Pop Solo Performance nominations. Who would you remove from the category to make room for Bieber or Lambert? Adele? Kelly Clarkson? Katy Perry? Nope. It’s hard to argue with that group of nominees.
Bieber did earn two Grammy nominations a couple years back. And he continues to make fans and earn respect among his peers. It’s just not his year for scoring a Grammy nomination. But it will be shocking if he doesn’t end up earning lots of Grammy noms in the future.
Last Updated on January 9, 2013
