The 60th Grammy Awards, Lorde amd Angelo Yelich attended

Christopher Polk/Getty Images for NARAS

Lorde and Angelo Yelich-O'Connor attend the 60th Annual Grammy Awards at Madison Square Garden on Jan. 28, 2018 in New York City. 

The 60th Grammy Awards went smoothly enough as the stars came out, mega-collabs lit up the Garden and the winners went away, well, grinning. But something wasn’t quite right about the industry’s night of nights, observers noted. Something important was missing: women.

Speaking to the press backstage at Madison Square Garden, the show’s producers responded to chatter about the underrepresentation of women, and in particular the absence of Lorde from the stage.

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The New Zealander hit the summit of the Billboard 200 for the first time withMelodrama, her sophomore album which was shortlisted for album of the year. Lorde was the only woman nominated for the prize, but she apparently wasn’t extended an invite to perform solo. And people want to know why.

Recording Academy President Neil Portnow and Grammys executive producer Ken Ehrlich were pressed on the awkward situation. "These shows are always a matter of choices, and we know we have a box and the box gets full and filled up,” Ehrlich told reporters. “She had a great album, album of the year is a big honor, but there's no way we can really deal with everybody. Sometimes people get left out that shouldn't, but on the other hand, we did the best we can to make sure that it's a representative and balanced show."