The Weeknd Boycotts Future Grammys

I'm sure the process is shady, but complaining about not winning because you *think* you are better than all the rest and believe there is voter fraud going on sounds a bit...familiar?

 

I don’t know much about The Weeknd or the Grammys but it does seem odd to me that this guy has had an insanely successful year and then didn’t even get nominated. Award shows, in general, for all big media have always seemed like an elite insider club with people patting each other on the back.

 

Your argument is a false equivalency. It ignores the fact the Grammys have had a serious issue with acknowledging Black artists over the years, not unlike the Oscars, the Golden Globes or the Emmys.

He's not asking for a win, he's asking why he wasn't nominated during a big year for him. It's also ignoring the fact that Blinding Lights just set a record for being the only Hot 100 single to spend an entire year on the chart, and being one of the most streamed songs of the year. The album is great, the singles have been great. Hell, the artwork was great. It didn't even get any technical nominations for that.

I'm sure sales recognition is gratifying, but to not be acknowledged by his industry with at least one nomination is certainly suspect. If he wants to stop playing the awards show game there, then more power to him.

 

He's not wrong about the secret committees.

 

Not sure if this is still a thing, but...

QFT

 

Sometimes an artist is just not a likeable person, and although it may not seem fair because likability shouldn’t determine the merits of an art award, it does play a factor.

 

Considering it was reported he was forced to choose between the Super Bowl Halftime Show and performing at the Grammy’s, it sounds like there was some shady stuff and he possibly was excluded out of spite. He totally deserved Grammy nominations for After Hours.

Still can’t get over how good his Halftime Show performance was.

 

I wasn't really intending to make an argument—just an observation—and 100% agree how black artists (and women) have been completely sidelined by these award shows. I didn't see in his statement that he was concerned about the bias against black artists -- it seemed that he was more challenging his art not being considered Grammy worthy, which is subjective?

 

Are you saying The Weeknd is not a likeable person? Based on what factors/information?

 

Its pretty apparent that there's Grammy "favorites" amongst the voting committees. The nominations are always kind of a joke though, not having Blinding Lights nominated for Record of the Year and Song of the Year is an absolute joke.

The Grammy's LOVEEEEE their white, safe, singer-songwriter types...I fully expect Taylor to clean up this year, but have a strange feeling Dua might upset her for Album of the Year. Seeing Black Pumas pull of an upset would be the greatest thing ever though.

Also, over the last few years it seems artists view the Grammys as a popularity contest, and not one based on the actual artistic value of a project. You have to think that these awards shows (VMAs, BET Awards, AMAs, CMAs) where artists teams are "buying" their awards in exchange for appearances/performances has contributed to that.

 

His statement doesn't exist in a vacuum though, and not being able to attribute the lack of nominations to a specific reason doesn't rule out potential racism. He doesn't need to mention that in the statement for it to be a factor.

It sounds more like he's contending that an album that has been well received critically / commercially while failing to garner a nomination in the industry's biggest award show is speaking out that the system is deeply flawed.

 

It's always been a shit show. Mariah had six nominations in 1995 for Daydream, they even had her perform and she didn't win a damn thing. 12 year old me knew it was BS after that moment.

 

Agreed. People always complain about the half time show, but I thought he did an awesome job

 

His halftime (very bad) performance backfired!

 

The Grammys snub happened before the halftime show and also his performance wasn’t that bad, unless we were watching different halftime shows.

 

Some real boomer Facebook commenter energy going on in some of these posts

 

Lol yeah ok, his streams, sales, and follows on social media went up significantly, not to mention he did a great job.

 

Can someone tell me what their idea of a good halftime show is? I just rewatched The Weeknd’s and again found it to be really good. He’s not lip syncing, he’s not relying on special guests or dancing, it’s just a dude in his 20s/30s that I don’t even follow but knew most of those songs and was bobbin my head the whole time!

 

Thrice featuring Daryl Palumbo with cameos including The Wonder Years, a mini horse, Four Year Strong reuniting live with their synth/hype man, and an acoustic medley performed by Manchester Orchestra.

 

Lol, ok I guess I meant from past super bowl performances! If I were constructing my own it would be Copeland doing Blink 182 covers.

 

mine would be weird al with Portugal the man for the remix of feel it still and weezer for Africa along with a bunch of al's hit

 

idk A LOT of of sb halftime shows have been pretty bad but i quite liked the weekends. seemed like 1 of the better ones to me and i gotta agree w some here about the boomer energy ha.

 

Wow, Weird Al would actually be awesome and I legitimately think a ton of people would be REALLY entertained by it too. This now has my vote.