Following the Recording Academy’s announcement of its Grammy nominations for the 2021 awards show, a massive backlash arose on social media with countless criticisms.
High profile musicians also spoke out against the award show, including Drake, Nicki Minaj and last year Ariana Grande. Most the criticism came after several artists were overlooked in this year’s nominations.
Drake, who is nominated for three Grammys next year, has called for the Grammys to be replaced with a new awards show after expressing his disappointment of The Weeknd being overlooked, “I think we should stop allowing ourselves to be shocked every year by the disconnect between impactful music and these awards,” said the rapper on his Instagram.
“This is a great time for somebody to start something new that we can build up over time and pass on to the generations to come.” The Grammys are yet to respond to Drake’s comments.
Drake’s disapproval caused many to follow and thousands of Twitter users shared their thoughts.
The Weeknd’s most recent album, After Hours, is currently this year’s best-selling record in the US. Due to his success and popularity, the album was widely expected to feature in the album of the year category.
After the nominations were released, the pop singer, whose real name is Abel Tesfaye, spoke up against the Awards, calling them “corrupt” and complained “you owe me, my fans and the industry transparency”.
He later took to Twitter to share how the Awards have asked him to perform at the 2021 ceremony, despite being snubbed, “Collaboratively planning a performance for weeks to not being invited? In my opinion zero nominations = you’re not invited!”
The Grammys responded to The Weeknd’s statement, saying they “empathised” with his disappointment and explained how every year some “deserving” acts can miss out.
One of rap’s biggest female rappers, Nicki Minaj, also took to Twitter to criticise this year’s nominations, suggesting that the Grammys are consistent for overlooking black artists in nominations. She wrote, “Never forget the Grammys didn’t give me my best new artist award when I had seven songs simultaneously charting on Billboard & bigger first week than any female rapper in the last decade,” going on to point out: “They gave it to the white man Bon Iver.”
On the contrast, a Grammys advisory group, The Black Music Collective, praised the diversity seen in this year’s nominations. The group includes artists such as Quincy Jones, John Legend and Yolanda Adams.
They applauded the Academy, saying “It’s a historic year as 10 black women are nominated in the top four categories and more than 20 black nominees are represented in the general fields.”
The ceremony is expected to be held on 31st January 2021, with restrictions being put in place including social distancing due to coronavirus health and safety risks. See the full shortlist for the 2021 awards show here.
