The Weeknd is Officially Boycotting the Grammys as 2021 Show Nears

The Weeknd will no longer send out any songs into the annual awards show

The Weeknd has officially decided to boycott the Grammys. With a number of hits, especially the latest single ‘Blinding Lights’ which remained on the top Billboard Hot top 10 for 52 weeks, the musician’s take on Grammys might come off as a surprise.

 

Why The Weeknd is boycotting the Grammys

Hence, The Weeknd will no longer send out any songs into the annual awards show, after his hit single has declined a nomination. Based on certain reports, the Grammys have previously faced a lot of criticism for having biases against female artists and black artists.

 

In particular, The Weeknd has issues with the little transparency in the voting process of the prestigious awards. For instance, the nominations in the Grammys come from the ‘Recording Academy’ which is a non-profit organization based in Santa Monica, California.

This organization includes industry executives, producers, and artists. However, from 1995 and onwards, a secret committee of members has been choosing the Album of the Year, Song of the Year, and the Best New Artist.

And over the last few years, black artists including Kendrick Lamar and The Weeknd have repeatedly faced marginalization in the Grammy categories. Furthermore, in the last 9 years, only 4 black music artists have won the top Grammys.

 

It was back in 2008 when the last black artist received the Album of the Year award. With that, according to a study of the period between 2012 and 2020, it was revealed that black artists only have 38% representation on the Billboard Hot 100.

And yet, only 27% of these artists received Grammy nominations. Whereas this year, the ratio went even lower to 24%.

When the Times asked The Weeknd why he is boycotting the Grammys, he said, “Because of the secret committees.”

 

It is not just The Weeknd, but other artists have also condemned the voting process of the Grammys. For instance, Zayn Malik also recently tweeted his disapproval of the process. In one tweet, he even wrote, “F– the Grammys and everyone associated.”

So, it turns out that The Weeknd is not the only artist. Rather, many others may share his viewpoint. This may or may not push the Grammys committee into making the voting process more transparent.

 

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