The 2017 AMAs Nominations Feature Barely Any Women & Twitter Isn't Having It
The 2017 American Music Awards are coming up this Sunday, Nov. 19, on ABC. The AMAs are another one of those award shows where the results are completely decided by online fan voting, but what's not decided by fans are the nominations themselves. And plenty of fans are currently wishing they could decide the nominations, seeing as the full list of 2017 AMAs nominations feature barely any women. Seriously, there are less than 10 women nominated in non-gendered categories, and there are female artists who didn't get any nominations at all who definitely are deserving of them. Twitter has noticed, and Twitter isn't happy. To be quite freaking honest, neither am I.
Obviously, there are women nominated in the categories specifically dedicated to women. Beyoncé, Rihanna, Lady Gaga, and Alessia Cara are some of them. But the non-gendered categories are dominated by men. While it's great the men who are nominated are mostly men of color, the fact that there are only five women nominated in the non-gendered categories comes off to me as either wildly irresponsible and careless or brazenly intentional.
Either way, Twitter is calling bullsh*t on the 2017 AMA nominations (as they freaking should), and it's clear they're not pleased with this year's list.
Julia Michaels, Halsey, the women of Little Big Town (Karen Fairchild and Kimberly Schlapman), and Shakira are the only women nominated in non-gendered categories. And in Halsey's case, she's nominated for Best Collaboration for "Closer" with The Chainsmokers, so she's not even nominated for music that's completely her own (and she released a successful album earlier this year). Just to make this explicitly clear, that is only five women. Five women out of about 70 nominees.
Hey, AMAs, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?
ARTIST OF THE YEAR
The Chainsmokers
Drake
Kendrick Lamar
Bruno Mars
Ed Sheeran
NEW ARTIST OF THE YEAR
James Arthur
Niall Horan
Julia Michaels
Post Malone
Rae Sremmurd
COLLABORATION OF THE YEAR
The Chainsmokers feat. Halsey, “Closer”
Luis Fonsi & Daddy Yankee feat. Justin Bieber, “Despacito”
DJ Khaled feat. Justin Bieber, Quavo, Chance the Rapper & Lil Wayne, “I’m The One”
Maroon 5 feat. Kendrick Lamar, “Don’t Wanna Know”
The Weeknd feat. Daft Punk, “Starboy”
TOUR OF THE YEAR
Garth Brooks
Coldplay
U2
VIDEO OF THE YEAR
Luis Fonsi & Daddy Yankee, “Despacito”
Bruno Mars, “That’s What I Like”
Ed Sheeran, “Shape of You”
FAVORITE MALE ARTIST – POP/ROCK
Drake
Bruno Mars
Ed Sheeran
FAVORITE FEMALE ARTIST – POP/ROCK
Alessia Cara
Lady Gaga
Rihanna
FAVORITE DUO OR GROUP – POP/ROCK
The Chainsmokers
Coldplay
Imagine Dragons
FAVORITE ALBUM – POP/ROCK
Drake, More Life
Bruno Mars, 24K Magic
The Weeknd, Starboy
FAVORITE SONG – POP/ROCK
The Chainsmokers feat. Halsey, “Closer”
Luis Fonsi & Daddy Yankee feat. Justin Bieber, “Despacito”
Ed Sheeran, “Shape of You”
FAVORITE MALE ARTIST – COUNTRY
Sam Hunt
Thomas Rhett
Keith Urban
FAVORITE FEMALE ARTIST – COUNTRY
Miranda Lambert
Maren Morris
Carrie Underwood
FAVORITE DUO OR GROUP – COUNTRY
Florida Georgia Line
Little Big Town
Old Dominion
FAVORITE ALBUM – COUNTRY
Jason Aldean, They Don’t Know
Chris Stapleton, From a Room:, Vol. 1
Keith Urban, Ripcord
FAVORITE SONG – COUNTRY
Sam Hunt, “Body Like a Back Road”
Jon Pardi, “Dirt on My Boots”
Keith Urban, “Blue Ain’t Your Color”
FAVORITE ARTIST – RAP/HIP-HOP
Drake
Kendrick Lamar
Migos
FAVORITE ALBUM – RAP/HIP-HOP
Drake, More Life
Kendrick Lamar, Damn.
Migos, Culture
FAVORITE SONG – RAP/HIP-HOP
DJ Khaled feat. Justin Bieber, Quavo, Chance the Rapper & Lil Wayne, “I’m The One”
Kendrick Lamar, “Humble.”
Rae Sremmurd feat. Gucci Mane, “Black Beatles”
FAVORITE MALE ARTIST – SOUL/R&B
Childish Gambino
Bruno Mars
The Weeknd
FAVORITE FEMALE ARTIST – SOUL/R&B
Beyoncé
Kehlani
Rihanna
FAVORITE ALBUM – SOUL/R&B
Childish Gambino, Awaken My Love!
Bruno Mars, 24K Magic
The Weeknd, Starboy
FAVORITE SONG – SOUL/R&B
Khalid, “Location”
Bruno Mars, “That’s What I Like”
The Weeknd, “Starboy”
FAVORITE ARTIST – ALTERNATIVE ROCK
Imagine Dragons
Linkin Park
Twenty One Pilots
FAVORITE ARTIST – ADULT CONTEMPORARY
Bruno Mars
Shawn Mendes
Ed Sheeran
FAVORITE ARTIST – LATIN
Luis Fonsi
Daddy Yankee
Shakira
FAVORITE ARTIST – CONTEMPORARY INSPIRATIONAL
Lauren Daigle
MercyMe
Chris Tomlin
FAVORITE ARTIST – ELECTRONIC DANCE MUSIC (EDM)
The Chainsmokers
Calvin Harris
DJ Snake
TOP SOUNDTRACK
Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2: Awesome Mix Vol. 2
Moana
Trolls
Here's a list of just some of the women and their respective music who totally could (and definitely should have) been nominated for at least one award at the 2017 AMAs:
Kesha, Rainbow
Miley Cyrus, "Malibu"
Dua Lipa, "New Rules"
SZA, Ctrl
Fifth Harmony, Fifth Harmony
Lorde, Melodrama
Selena Gomez, "Bad Liar"
Katy Perry, Witness
Mind you, this is a very short list. The AMAs could have fit just one of these women in the non-gendered categories. And literally all of the women who are already nominated in the female categories are worthy of nominations in categories like Artist of the Year, Tour of the Year, and Video of the Year. Goodnight.
