Canadian singer-songwriter The Weeknd has announced that he will not allow his music label to submit his music to the Recording Academy for future nominations, after being snubbed completely by the jury at the 2021 Grammys.
“Because of the secret committees, I will no longer allow my label to submit my music to the Grammys,” he said in a statement.
He added that he would remain absent from the event until the Recording Academy got rid of its “secret committees”.
The Grammys’ voting procedures are always kept vague and have anonymous panels that get the final say in the nominations. This method has been criticised openly by many since it is believed that it could influence or overrule votes without public knowledge.
Earlier, the 31-year-old had taken to Twitter and asked the Recording Academy for “an explanation” shortly after the body announced the nominations for the 63rd Grammys, which included zero nominations for his album “After Hours”, despite the fact that one of its singles, “Blinding Lights” created a record for being at the top of the on US Billboard charts for an entire year.
“The Grammys remain corrupt. You owe me, my fans, and the industry transparency,” he had written on Twitter.
The Weeknd is one of the many artistes who have accused the Grammys of favouritism, corruption, and even racism.
Shortly after that, British singer-songwriter Zayn Malik slammed the Awards on Twitter claiming that the body was corrupt and heavily biased and that they “ignored those who did not stay in touch with them”.
He had said, “F*** the grammys and everyone associated. Unless you shake hands and send gifts, there’s no nomination considerations. Next year I’ll send you a basket of confectionary. (sic) ”
A couple of hours later, the 28-year-old singer explained that his rant was not about him, or his recently-released music, which did not qualify to be considered for this year’s nominations, but about every other musician who he felt has been ignored by the Grammys for similar reasons.
“My tweet was not personal or about eligibility but was about the need for inclusion and the lack of transparency of the nomination process and the space that creates and allows favouritism, racism, and networking politics to influence the voting process,” he explained.
Earlier, Drake had also expressed similar views and written, “Similarly, rapper-producer Drake had called out the Grammys right after The Weeknd’s rant, writing on social media that they didn’t matter “anymore”.
“I think we should stop allowing ourselves to be shocked every year by the disconnect between impactful music and these awards and just accept that what once was the highest form of recognition may no longer matter to the artists that exist now and the ones that come after. It’s like a relative you keep expecting to fix up but they just can’t change their ways.”