Why The Weeknd won’t submit music to the Grammys again – after getting zero nominations for After Hours, the Blinding Lights singer calls out awards ‘corruption’
- Now disbanded, the Grammys’ secret nominations review committees had been around since 1989, overseeing the ballot of the 12,000-member Recording Academy
- Chairman Harvey Mason Jr. insists the changes were not due to The Weeknd’s boycott – and the star says he’s not coming back anyway
The Grammys won’t be seeing any of The Weeknd’s music in the foreseeable future.
The global superstar reaffirmed his position in an interview with Variety, despite the Recording Academy’s moves to get rid of the secret committees that have been blamed for shutting the Starboy singer out of nominations for the Grammys that were presented in March.
“I think the industry and public alike need to see the transparent system truly at play for the win to be celebrated, but it’s an important start,” the three-time Grammy winner told Variety on May 3. “I remain uninterested in being a part of the Grammys, especially with their own admission of corruption for all these decades. I will not be submitting in the future.”
The Canadian singer, who is of Ethiopian descent, told the trade publication that “the trust has been broken for so long between the Grammy organisation and artists that it would be unwise to raise a victory flag”.
Harvey Mason Jr., the Recording Academy’s chairman and interim chief executive, told The LA Times that the changes had been in the works since last summer and were not directly related to the controversy surrounding The Weeknd’s shutout.
“It’s a long road to get to a transformative change like this,” Mason said. “It’s not something that happens quickly or in the case of a reaction to one event.”