World News – AU – The Grammys are facing serious questions after snapping up The Weeknd

Despite being one of the most successful and critically acclaimed albums of 2020, The Weeknd received no Grammy nominations. Getty Images

CLEVELAND, Ohio – There was a lot to unzip for Tuesday’s Grammy nominations. But the greatest story had nothing to do with who was nominated.

The Weekend, whose album « After Hours » and single « Blinding Lights » were the favorites chances to possibly win next year’s ceremony, was excluded from the main categories. That in itself was surprising. The bigger shock, however, was that The Weeknd didn’t receive a single nomination in any category.

The nudge was so egregious that Recording Academy Chairman and Interim President / CEO Harvey Mason Jr. . had to conduct several interviews in which questions about The Weeknd were removed from the nomination list.

Conspiracy theories have surfaced. Most importantly, an allegedly heated exchange between the pop star and the Grammys over the Super Bowl performance of The Weeknd. Sources tell TMZ that the Grammys issued an ultimatum to The Weeknd: Perform at The Grammys on Jan. . 31 or the Super Bowl a week later in February. 7th. Not both.

Perhaps worse: The Weeknd itself tweeted on Tuesday: “The Grammys remain corrupt. You owe me, my fans and the industry transparency … “

In response, Mason told Billboard that he was “sad” about The Weeknd’s testimony. “I’m trying to understand where this is coming from, but it was hard to hear. I can understand that he is disappointed [because he was disfellowshipped]. Everyone at the academy understands that they are disappointed. I was personally surprised that he was not nominated. ”

The omission of the Weeknd from all categories is perhaps the biggest nudge in Grammys history. It’s one thing to miss the general categories like album, record, and song of the year. However, it is unheard of to not receive a single nomination for an album with such critical and commercial success. So what happened

Yes. He submitted « After Hours » for Album of the Year, Best Pop Vocal Album, and Best Technical Album Non-Classical. He also submitted « Blinding Lights » for Record and Song of the Year, Best Pop Solo Performance, and Best Music Video. Both « In Your Eyes (Remix) » and « Over Now » were entered in the « Best Pop Duo / Group Performance » category. Weeknd’s Juice WRLD collaboration “Smile” was also entered in the “Best Melodic Rap Performance” category.

It’s a little complicated. For the main categories – album, record and song of the year (as well as best new artist) – the members of the Recording Academy’s large electoral base submit their votes. The top 20 voters are then narrowed down to the last eight by a committee of 20 unnamed industry professionals. Mason wouldn’t say if The Weeknd made the top 20 in any of the main categories. However, he revealed that “After Hours” was first entered in the “Best Progressive R&B” (the new name for “Best Urban Contemporary Album”) category. . The weekend previously won two Grammys in this category. However, this year « After Hours » was moved during a screening process (to the « Best Pop Vocal Album » category, in which it did not make it into the top 20).

Yes and no. On the one hand, it’s hard to imagine that even the Grammys could spark such a big conspiracy. On the other hand, it wasn’t until that year that the Grammys got into controversy after Deborah Dugan’s dismissal. The ousted president and CEO accused the Recording Academy of harassment and corruption. The allegations included voting irregularities: “There are cases of conflicts of interest that affect the results. ”

If a conspiracy theorist were to point out a possible (as yet unsubstantiated) case this year, you could look no further than Jacob Collier’s “Djesse Vol. 3 ”became the first album in Grammy history to earn an album of the year spot after not listing on the Billboard 200. Collier has a pretty industrial connection. He is under contract with the Quincy Jones management company. Jones has won 28 Grammys in his life.

Here’s what Mason told Billboard: « To be clear, voting in all categories ended long before The Weeknd’s performance at the Super Bowl was announced, so it could not have affected the nomination process in any way. « . ”

This year’s Grammy nominations were solidified in October. 28. The Weeknd was announced as the Super Bowl headliner in November. 12th. Now is it possible that Mason or someone (maybe several people) from the Recording Academy and CBS, the network that airs both shows, knew in advance that The Weeknd was playing at the Super Bowl? Naturally.

But why should you care? The Weeknd’s Super Bowl performance a week later would water down a promotion for The Grammys (or maybe both shows) considering he was a marquee artist. Justin Timberlake performed at the Super Bowl a week after being nominated in two main categories in 2004. However, JT was not billed to headline the Super Bowl that year. Janet Jackson was.

What is more interesting, however, is that Mason confirmed the Grammys were in talks with The Weeknd to perform at the Grammys. It seems strange that the Recording Academy seemingly had so long debates with an artist to know that he wasn’t nominated for a single award. These discussions may have taken place before the nominations were solidified. However, the TMZ “sources” make you think differently.

The Grammys have a serious PR problem here. For those unfamiliar with the Grammy voting process (which we all are), it’s hard to imagine Collier garnering more votes than The Weeknd from the Recording Academy’s general electoral base. The same goes for the deluxe version of Black Pumas’ debut album. The psychedelic soul group’s self-titled effort originally came out in June 2019. However, the deluxe version made the duo eligible again this year. « Black Pumas » reached No.. 200 on the billboard 200.

Sales aren’t everything and these albums above are solid works. Mason said voters had shifted their focus to new, emerging artists. Of course, Taylor Swift and Beyonce still got big nominations. The latter didn’t even release a proper studio album this year and received the most nominations. And while The Weeknd isn’t the Grammy juggernaut these two artists are, its two previous studio albums have both won awards. In fact, 2015 was nominated for album and record of the year for “Beauty Behind the Madness”.

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Grammy Awards, The Weeknd, The Recording Academy, Beyoncé, nomination