The Weeknd‘s colossal shut out from the nominations at the 2021 GRAMMYs sent ripples through the music industry.
A dominant force this year, thanks to album ‘After Hours’ and hits such as ‘Blinding Lights,’ many anticipated Abel would be a surefire nominee in all of the major categories and then some.
And yet, quite the opposite came to be.
It’s ignited ample discourse, ranging from those who argue that commercial success shouldn’t automatically translate to to GRAMMY noms to those who feel his omission is farcical.
Aligning with the latter, the star himself weighed-in and branded the GRAMMYs “corrupt.” He expressed said sentiments amidst reports that there were issues surrounding a planned performance on the Jan 31 show and the Super Bowl a week later.
Now, GRAMMY Chief Harvey Mason Jr. has responded.
His words below…
“Congratulations to today’s Grammy nominees, who have earned their peers’ recognition for their incredible work. There were a record number of submissions in this unusual and competitive year.
We understand that The Weeknd is disappointed at not being nominated. I was surprised and can empathize with what he’s feeling. His music this year was excellent, and his contributions to the music community and broader world are worthy of everyone’s admiration. We were thrilled when we found out he would be performing at the upcoming Super Bowl and we would have loved to have him also perform on the Grammy stage the weekend before.
Unfortunately, every year, there are fewer nominations than the number of deserving artists. But as the only peer-voted music award, we will continue to recognize and celebrate excellence in music while shining a light on the many amazing artists that make up our global community. To be clear, voting in all categories ended well before The Weeknd’s performance at the Super Bowl was announced, so in no way could it have affected the nomination process.
All Grammy nominees are recognized by the voting body for their excellence and we congratulate them all.”
With that, what are…