WILL THE GRAMMYS EVER SATISFY?
After Hours, the fourth studio album of Canadian singer The Weeknd, was his most fully realized work to date. It stylistically reinvented the R&B staple with tastes of new wave and dream pop, set to the psychedelic ‘fear and loathing’ aesthetic of overindulgence and promiscuity. It was his fourth number-one album on the Billboard 200, with 444,000 album equivalent units, including 275,000 pure album sales, in its first week. All 14 tracks from the album debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 within its first week, the two lead singles “Heartless” and “Blinding Lights” peaked at number one for weeks. It was one of the biggest albums of the year and met with critical acclaim — The Weeknd dominated 2020 with his studio efforts. It seems he was just beginning to tout this dominance with this announcement that he would be headlining next year’s Super Bowl and winning three awards at the American Music Awards. With this momentum it seemed that he was poised to win big during ‘music’s biggest night,’ the Grammys. But when nominations for the awards show were announced, he received a staggering zero nominations.
Fans were outraged and took to Twitter to express their discontent. Leading the charge was The Weeknd himself, tweeting “The Grammys remain corrupt. You owe me, my fans and the industry transparency…” This is far from the first time that The Recording Academy has snubbed artists from deserved nominations and awards, in fact, the most notable moments emerged from the awards show when monumental artistic feats go unrecognized. Kendrick Lamar’s mythical To Pimp A Butterfly lost to Macklemore’s The Heist, Beyonce’s masterwork of Lemonade lost to Adele’s 25, and even Prince’s iconic Purple Rain lost to Lionel Richie’s Can’t Slow Down. Yet, this time feels different — at least these artistic milestones were recognized with a nomination. To be quite frank, I cannot find an example of another album completely shut out that was as critically and commercially successful as After Hours. The next day, The Weeknd tweeted “Collaboratively planning a performance for weeks to not being invited? In my opinion zero nominations = you’re not invited!” Immediately coverage surfaced of an alleged ultimatum imposed upon The Weeknd between performing at the Grammys and the Super Bowl — TMZ reported that he lost his nomination because “the bitter back-and-forth talks pissed off Grammy hunchos.” Could he really have been denied nominations over a performance?
The Grammys are the second most popular awards show, just below the Oscars. They are slowly closing the gap and not for the thrilling announcement of the winners for 83 distinct competitive categories, most are not televised. Rather what draws the viewership is the extravagant and visceral performances that captivate between the awards. Every year, the biggest artists in the world take the stage to deliver envelope-pushing showcases. The Weeknd would no doubt deliver a show stopping performance on this stage, if his performance for the MTV VMAs is considered. In which he performed “Blinding Lights” atop a towering New York skyscraper scored with an extravagant fireworks display on the Hudson. And it is clear he has more in store being booked for the Super Bowl Halftime Show — yet it seems that the lengthy negotiations for such negated his nominations.
How does one get nominated for a Grammy anyhow? To simply qualify, a song or album must be commercially released and sold within the US between a 12 month period the prior year. If it fits the criteria, it can be submitted for consideration, among 20,000 yearly submissions. Members of the Recording Academy then vote to determine a winner. The Recording Academy flaunts the fact that the voting committees are composed of a jury of a musician’s peers, yet this gets murky. To become a member, individuals must have already won a Grammy, get an endorsement from a current member, or have released a commercially available body of music within the last five years. These members are asked to vote for nominations in only nine categories and the four major categories (Album, Record, and Song of the Year & Best New Artist). They then vote for winners in 20 categories. But what is not disclosed on the Grammy website is the secret committee that was assembled in the 1990s to review voters selections. They noticeably have control of the key categories that drive television ratings, including R&B and Pop. They have the power to make adjustments if they feel adjustments are needed and rig the nominations. This committee operates in complete secrecy and may very well be what shut The Weeknd out of nominations.
Amid the frustration of the snub, the interim chief of the Recording Academy, Harvey Mason Jr., embarked on a press run in an attempt to quell the fury of the fans. Over the phone with Billboard, he discussed The Weeknd’s claims about the corrupt nature of the Grammys saying, “It saddened me. I try to empathize with where that came from, but it was difficult to hear. I can understand he's disappointed [at being shut out]. Everybody at the academy understands that he's disappointed. I was personally surprised that he was not nominated.” What was ‘difficult to hear’ about The Weeknd’s grievances is unclear, especially with the fact that his initial tweet about the snub has over 1 million likes and 300,000 retweets. And artists throughout the industry, from Kid Cudi to Elton John, spoke out about the snub. In an interview with Variety he could only attempt to dodge the burning questions about The Weeknd. When asked how this could happen, he shrugged “Y’know, it really just comes down to the voting body that decides ... It’s really interesting, though.” His peculiar answers are perplexing to say the least, and they beg the question: why do the opinions of the Recording Academy matter at all?
Year after year, the Recording Academy has repeatedly demonstrated how out of touch they are with popular music. Fellow world-famous Canadian artist, Drake, brought this to attention in voicing his support for The Weeknd. He said on his Instagram story “I think we should stop allowing ourselves to be shocked every year by the disconnect between impactful music and these awards and just accept that what once was the highest form of recognition may no longer matter to the artists that exist now and the ones that come after … [The Weeknd] was a lock for either album or song of the year along with countless other reasonable assumptions and it just never goes that way … This is a great time for somebody to start something new that we can build up over time and pass on to the generations to come.” This is built off his now famous 2019 Grammys acceptance speech for Best Rap Song, where he spoke to undermine the importance of the award — he was suspiciously cut-off during this, many believing it to be a deliberate choice by the Recording Academy to silence dissatisfaction.
Frank Ocean shared a similar sentiment when he was asked why he omitted his universally acclaimed album, Blonde, from Grammy consideration in 2016. The album has been the crown jewel for many decade-end lists and he felt that his achievements need no recognition from the Recording Academy. He stated in a rare New York Times interview, “That institution certainly has nostalgic importance … It just doesn’t seem to be representing very well for people who come from where I come from, and hold down what I hold down … I think the infrastructure of the awarding system and the nomination system and screening system is dated.” He wanted to draw attention to the Recording Academy’s historical record of failing to recognize and award black artists — only 6 black artists have ever been awarded Album of the Year. And this just nearly scratches the surface of the often controversial and problematic institution. Some of the best musicians — Jimi Hendrix, Bob Marley, Diana Ross — have never won Grammys, yet their artistic genius has never been questioned. Maybe it is time to move on and forget the Grammys, after all, what do you value the opinion of a shadowy ‘democratic’ Recording Academy? The Weeknd deserved recognition for his artistic feats on After Hours, and not receiving a tiny gold gramophone won’t deny his dominance of 2020.
