Over the years, the Grammy awards have been dubbed as music’s biggest night.
The Grammys is a yearly celebration of today’s biggest artists and their achievements in the music industry. Artists can win awards in categories such as Album of the Year, Record of the Year, Best Rap Song, Best Rap Performance, and more.
However, in recent years, more and more artists have been coming out with their allegations against the Grammys and the notable problems with the nominations and categories. Artists such as The Weeknd, Tyler the Creator, and Zayn Malik have criticized the Grammys’ nomination and selection processes.
On Twitter, Zayn Malik called out the Grammys by tweeting “Unless you shake hands and send gifts, there’s no nomination considerations.” In another tweet. he called for “the need for inclusion and the lack of transparency of the nomination process and the space that creates and allows favoritism, racism, and networking politics to influence the voting process.”
Similarly, after the 2020 Grammy awards, rapper Tyler the Creator criticized the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences after his win for Best Rap Album for his 2019 record “IGOR.” Tyler criticized the organization for categorizing his music as rap.
He said, “It sucks that whenever we, and I mean guys that look like me do anything that’s genre-bending or that’s anything they always put it in a rap or urban category. I don’t like that ‘urban’ word, it's just a politically correct way to say the n-word.”
The nominations board has been putting Black artists in “urban” categories for years. Artists such as Kanye West and Frank Ocean have done music in genres such as Gospel and pop throughout their careers, yet they have only received nominations in Rap or R&B categories.
The Weeknd made headlines this year when his album “After Hours” and the biggest song of the year, “Blinding Lights” were not nominated at all. In a statement with the New York Times, The Weeknd said, “Because of the secret committees, I will no longer allow my label to submit my music to the Grammys.”
The only response seen so far came from the recording academy’s interim president, Harvey Mason Jr. in a statement to the US Today where he said, “we are going to take a hard look at how to improve our awards process, including the nomination process.”
All fans and artists are hoping for actual change to come out of the backlash the association has faced this year. These artists pour their heart and soul into their music and deserve the highest accolades for their incredible achievements.
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