His album ‘After hours’, the most successful of the year, has been ignored in the nominations for the awards, which will be held this Sunday.
The singer The Weeknd will not return to submit his music to the selection process for the Grammy Awards, which he has already accused of “corrupt” and “not very transparent” after failing to achieve any nominations despite being one of the big favorites of him.
“For the secret committees, I will not let my record company present my music to the Grammys again,” the singer said in a statement published by The New York Times.
The author of Blinding lights refers to the committees made up of music industry veterans, executives and artists that decide the nominees in some categories, while in others the candidates are chosen by the voting pool of the Recording Academy of States. United.
This difference in criteria has been the subject of criticism on previous occasions, including by former directors of the organization who have tried unsuccessfully to change the voting process.
The Weeknd’s absence from the Grammys – his name does not appear in any of the more than 80 categories – was received by surprise among the international music press, as his latest album After Hours is considered one of the best works of 2020 in numerous lists.
Also, the single Blinding lights became the first song in history to remain in the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100 chart throughout the year.
“The Grammys are still corrupt. They owe transparency to me, my fans and the industry …”, the artist tweeted hours after the Academy announced its candidates for the 63rd edition of the awards.
Following The Weeknd’s decision, the singer’s representative indicated that he hopes other artists will join the boycott and that this opportunity be seized for the Grammys to develop “rightly, finally.”
According to Variety magazine, sources close to the conflict explain that The Weeknd’s team and the Grammy organization held tough negotiations for the artist to perform at the next gala, a complex logistics since the following week his grand appearance was scheduled at the Super Bowl.
Finally, the gala was postponed until March, but some executives prevented the artist from performing at the two major musical events in the United States.
Beyoncé, with nine nominations, and Dua Lipa, Taylor Swift and Roddy Rich, with six each, are the artists most nominated for the 63 Grammy Awards, which will be delivered this Sunday in Los Angeles (USA) in a reinvented ceremony for the coronavirus pandemic.
