“You Owe Me”: The Weeknd Calls The Grammys “Corrupt” After Nominations Snub

After receiving no nominations for either his smash hit ‘Blinding Lights’ or 2020 album After Hours, The Weeknd — aka Abel Tesfaye — has called out The Grammys for ‘corruption’.

The 2021 nominations were announced this morning, and The Weeknd was a noticeable omission, given that After Hours held the #1 spot on the US Billboard 200 charts for four weeks, an honour last held by Drake’s 2018 album Scorpion.

Unlike Drake, who has repeatedly been snubbed by the awards, The Weeknd is usually luckier, having ten nominations and three trophies to his name spanning his career. As speculated by Variety, it’s entirely possible that his label, Republic, simply didn’t nominate him — but given they did nominate Taylor Swift and other acts, that’s unlikely.

And while artists sometimes purposefully neglect to nominate works (Cardi B and ‘WAP’, for example), it’s clear by The Weeknd’s comment on Twitter that wasn’t the case here. After The Weeknd led headlines about Grammy’s snubs, he logged into Twitter to make his own comment: “The Grammys remain corrupt. You owe me, my fans and the industry transparency…”.

The Grammys remain corrupt. You owe me, my fans and the industry transparency…

— The Weeknd (@theweeknd) November 25, 2020

Short, but pointed.

TMZ is reporting that The Grammys reportedly gave The Weeknd an ultimatum recently, where he wouldn’t be invited to perform at the awards if he went ahead with his planned 2021 Superbowl Half Time show. The site suggests the snub is payback for refusing to play ball — given they’re relying on ‘sources close to the artist’, it’s more or less just gossip at this point.

Regardless, The Weeknd’s criticism of The Grammys lines up with the body’s public reckoning in the last decade by musicians and fans alike, who question their decisions in nominations and awards.

The Grammys have a history of side-lining of both female artists and BIPOC artists – the latter was most apparent in 2017, when even Adele, who accepted Album of the Year for 25, said that Beyoncé should have won. (Or remember when Mumford & Sons beat Frank Ocean?)

Earlier this year, Tyler, The Creator called out the Grammys for racism in nominating his album IGOR in rap, and sidelining Black artists into ‘urban’ or ‘hip-hop’ categories (and, accidentally proving the point, Justin Bieber today lamented his three nominations were for ‘pop’ category, despite Changes being an album with “hip-hop beats”).

Variety also speculated that the uncertainty of where to put The Weeknd’s music — in pop or R&B categories — could have essentially split the vote, leading to no nominations.

In addition, the Grammys have been accused of nominations acts that don’t receive enough pre-votes: former CEO Deborah Duggan recently pointed towards the 2019 awards, saying that an artist whose song was ultimately voted 18 of 20 on the ‘Song of the Year’ shortlist received a nomination.

“This artist was actually permitted to sit on the ‘Song of the Year’ nomination committee,” she told Good Morning America. “Incredibly, this artist is also represented by a member of the Board.”

When today’s nominations were announced, Nicki Minaj reflected back on the 2010 Grammys, where she lost Best New Artist to “white man” Bon Iver. Given how huge Pink Friday was, she has a point.

Never forget the Grammys didn’t give me my best new artist award when I had 7 songs simultaneously charting on billboard & bigger first week than any female rapper in the last decade- went on to inspire a generation. They gave it to the white man Bon Iver. #PinkFriday

— Mrs. Petty (@NICKIMINAJ) November 24, 2020

Listen to ‘Blinding Lights’ below.