The Grammys, since their beginnings, have been very controversial as racism allegations and controversy on the voting process itself was looked down upon by not only viewers but also celebs. Just a few days ago, world-renowned music artist, Abel Makkonen Tesfaye aka “The Weeknd” posted an Instagram post claiming he was extremely dissatisfied with the said Grammy nominations. The Weeknd is a three-time Grammy winner and a nine-time Grammy nominee. This year he released an entire album plus remixes to that album. Several songs in this album received millions and even billions of streams. In addition to this, the Weekend is getting more and more recognition as an artist as he is performing at the Super Bowl next year. The real question remains, why did The Weeknd not get a nomination on what is supposedly his best year in music?
In the fans’ opinions, there really are only two possible reasons why The Weeknd was not given even a nomination. The first one being that the Super Bowl timings clashed with the Grammy timings as the Super Bowl is the seventh of February and the Grammys are the last week of January. Even if this were to be true, it is entirely unfair that the artist was not given the opportunity to go to both events if he indeed earned it- which he did and can be proved by the numbers of streams and his fans’ support. The second reason is, of course, discrimination at the Grammys, which has been a huge problem for years. The big four as fans call it is especially surprising that The Weeknd was not nominated for best record, best song, best album, and best new artist(which he is not eligible for). Though there are a few nominees of color in each of these categories, something to note is that each of these categories as well as the other categories are being filed with more and more people of color. There could definitely be a possibility that the Grammy’s are catching on to this and making sure that minorities are staying minorities in each category.
All in all, the reputation of the Grammy is slowly but surely declining. In addition to the racism allegations, several artists like Drake are even stating that the “Grammys matter no more”.
