GRAMMY CEO Speaks on The Weeknd's Omission

[MANiCURE1295 Pronounshe/him]

https://variety.com/2020/music/news/weeknd-grammy-snubs-1234839064/

The annual nominations for the Grammy Awards are always full of surprises. But in our many collective decades of Grammy watching, we have never witnessed an omission on the level of the one that the Recording Academy committees who decide the nominees have given to The Weekndthis year.

His “Blinding Lights” single is arguably the most ubiquitous song of the past year, and his “After Hours” album will be at or near the top of many sales and critics charts; he’s even playing the Super Bowl halftime show the Sunday after the Grammys. He led nearly all of the expert-predictions lists for the past several months.

And yet, his total number of Grammy nominations for the year that he dominated is zero.

The biggest nomination snubs in recent years include Taylor Swift not being nominated for Album of the Year for “Reputation” or “Lover” — which is slightly understandable, since she’s already won the award twice and voters may have opted to give other nominees a shot (and her “Folklore” album is up for a 2021 award). Another is Harry Styles’ debut album being shut out of nominations in 2018, although it wasn’t a hit on anywhere near the scale of “After Hours” (and Styles is now up for two awards). And even Drake’s widely reported non-nominations in recent years, originally speculated to be a failure by his reps to submit his releases, were later said to be at least partially intentional, due to his oft-reported indifference to the awards (although he’s up for three, even though he didn’t release an album in the eligibility period).

 

The committees have shown no disinclination to nominate The Weeknd in the past, as he’s received ten nods over three different years and won three trophies.

Even Kanye West, who posted a video of himself urinating on a Grammy Award earlier this year, got a 2021 nomination (in the Christian category, no less).

Which leaves two possible explanations, both of which have little to do with the actual music on the album. First, as mentioned above, a recording must be officially submitted for consideration — but since The Weeknd’s label, Republic, not only handles six-time 2021 nominee Taylor Swift but also Drake, it seems unlikely that they neglected to submit him, unless it was intentional; reps for The Weeknd and Republic did not immediately respond to Variety‘s requests for comment.

Another, more likely, possibility is one that Variety nodded to in an article earlier this year: whether The Weeknd is considered a pop or R&B act. While that factor would have played little role in him being left off of the three main categories for which he is eligible (Album, Song and Record of the Year), it’s entirely possible that the screening committees, which determine which releases are appropriate for their respective categories, may have decided that he didn’t fit their categories: In other words, the Pop committee may have considered him R&B and the R&B committee considered him Pop.

The Grammy nominations are two-step process in which committees, which include veteran music professionals who are not publicly identified, make their decisions based on a shortlist handed down from a screening committee that considers thousands of submissions. Variety spoke with Recording Academy interim president/CEO Harvey Mason, jr. about the matter on Monday, and while he exerts no control over the nominations, he did speak generally on the process.

“I don’t think [the Weeknd’s omission calls the nominations] process into question, honestly,” he said. “The process is there so we can continue to monitor excellence. I was in the ‘core room’ this year [which decides the main categories] and I observed, and the people in it are music professionals, at the top of their craft in songwriting and producing and there are a lot of artists. And they were critically listening to every song that came across their desks — or virtual desks — so I don’t think it shows a flaw in the process. It’s a long, arduous process and people take pride in it. The people in that room care: there are no agendas in there, there’s no ‘let’s snub this person’ or that person. It’s about, ‘Let’s try and find excellence.’”

Thoughts?

Edited November 24, 2020 by MANiCURE1295

[Mister G]

As mentioned in the other forum, load of s***. They engage in these actions every year that make them look less and less prestigious as the award show for "music's biggest night." Their choices are so bland and don't even represent all the content delivered this year. Blinding Lights was literally one of the biggest songs from end of 2019 into all of 2020 especially because of the hype it got through avenues such as Tik Tok, and poor Abel still got snubbed. Grammy's need to do better. 

[MANiCURE1295 Pronounshe/him]

1 minute ago, Mister G said:

As mentioned in the other forum, load of s***. They engage in these actions every year that make them look less and less prestigious as the award show for "music's biggest night." Their choices are so bland and don't even represent all the content delivered this year. Blinding Lights was literally one of the biggest songs from end of 2019 into all of 2020 especially because of the hype it got through avenues such as Tik Tok, and poor Abel still got snubbed. Grammy's need to do better. 

Yeah, the fact that the CEO doesn't think that this HUGE SNUB calls into question the nomination process I don't think anything ever will. What a joke

[admin Pronounshe/him]

What a TERRIBLE response. Music really was failed today.

[SLAG PronounsHe/Him]

“Another, more likely, possibility is one that Variety nodded to in an article earlier this year: whether The Weeknd is considered a pop or R&B act. While that factor would have played little role in him being left off of the three main categories for which he is eligible (Album, Song and Record of the Year), it’s entirely possible that the screening committees, which determine which releases are appropriate for their respective categories, may have decided that he didn’t fit their categories: In other words, the Pop committee may have considered him R&B and the R&B committee considered him Pop.”

This is complete rubbish tbh. Are nominations based on the artist themselves or the music. Why are artists being separated into categories by the genre of music they’ve released when they have the freedom to create music of whatever genre they choose. If he made a Rock album would  he not be considered or nominated  in this category because he’s considered an “R&B artist”? Is it not about the music at all?

[MANiCURE1295 Pronounshe/him]

1 minute ago, admin said:

What a TERRIBLE response. Music really was failed today.

For real. This is literally the definition of your nomination process being called into question lol, they're so blind to not see that. I've always been a huge fan/supporter of the GRAMMYs even in recent years when they've gotten a LOT of flack, but this is REALLY QUESTIONABLE. Terrible look for them to not even recognize the biggest project of the year. 

[Lorde Von Kok PronounsHe/Him]

Yummy is considered excellence ? 

[Mister G]

They can come out and say what they really mean, which is that they want to give all the awards to Taylor Swift 

JK don't come after me just joking since we could all use some laughs considering the academy failed music today.

[MANiCURE1295 Pronounshe/him]

2 minutes ago, SLAG said:

“Another, more likely, possibility is one that Variety nodded to in an article earlier this year: whether The Weeknd is considered a pop or R&B act. While that factor would have played little role in him being left off of the three main categories for which he is eligible (Album, Song and Record of the Year), it’s entirely possible that the screening committees, which determine which releases are appropriate for their respective categories, may have decided that he didn’t fit their categories: In other words, the Pop committee may have considered him R&B and the R&B committee considered him Pop.”

This is complete rubbish tbh. Are nominations based on the artist themselves or the music. Why are artists being separated into categories by the genre of music they’ve released when they have the freedom to create music of whatever genre they choose. If he made a Rock album would  he not be considered or nominated  in this category because he’s considered an “R&B artist”? Is it not about the music at all?

no it really isn't about the music, I know we're all shitting on Justin for his comments but he is right, Changes was an R&B album, just because he's a pop artist doesn't mean his album his. And vice versa. Really disappointed in the academy today.

[MANiCURE1295 Pronounshe/him]

1 minute ago, Mister G said:

They can come out and say what they really mean, which is that they want to give all the awards to Taylor Swift 

JK don't come after me just joking since we could all use some laughs considering the academy failed music today.

I mean.....I honestly don't think you're wrong. Taylor and Dua clearly and winning the GF now lol.

[Battle For Your Life Pronounshe/him]

Bullshit

[Mister G]

5 minutes ago, MANiCURE1295 said:

no it really isn't about the music, I know we're all shitting on Justin for his comments but he is right, Changes was an R&B album, just because he's a pop artist doesn't mean his album his. And vice versa. Really disappointed in the academy today.

That was like Gaga winning the AMA for Best Artist - EDM. Umm I've never considered her an EDM artist (not like Martin Garrix, Tiesto, Steve Aoki, etc). But Chromatica could be viewed as EDM because it's 99% dance. And not for anything, but Joanne was primarily all Country influenced, some Indie and maybe Rock (John Wayne, and Perfect Illusion), and she was still only nominated in the Pop category even though the main genre wasn't Pop. 

Edited November 24, 2020 by Mister G

[Lorde Von Kok PronounsHe/Him]

This already looks so much better

[Elvira]

No one's buying that, sweetie, just stop with the bullshit. So Yummy is considered exellence? For real?

 Grammys 

[Elvira]

34 minutes ago, Lorde Von Kok said:

This already looks so much better

These + ROTY & AOTY it's what should've happened. Period.

[Gone]

Love him or hate him Weeknd’s album era this time round was grammy’s gold material! This absolutely proves the nomination process needs revamping and they need to change fast.

[Gone]

1 hour ago, SLAG said:

“Another, more likely, possibility is one that Variety nodded to in an article earlier this year: whether The Weeknd is considered a pop or R&B act. While that factor would have played little role in him being left off of the three main categories for which he is eligible (Album, Song and Record of the Year), it’s entirely possible that the screening committees, which determine which releases are appropriate for their respective categories, may have decided that he didn’t fit their categories: In other words, the Pop committee may have considered him R&B and the R&B committee considered him Pop.”

This is complete rubbish tbh. Are nominations based on the artist themselves or the music. Why are artists being separated into categories by the genre of music they’ve released when they have the freedom to create music of whatever genre they choose. If he made a Rock album would  he not be considered or nominated  in this category because he’s considered an “R&B artist”? Is it not about the music at all?

I think wbk that it isn’t about the music and its about the artist who they are and what race they are. Maybe if all fan bases link forces we can stir enough trouble for them to realise, even if they don’t change the noms, that they have made a huge mistake! 

[MANiCURE1295 Pronounshe/him]

YT 24 hours - 2020-11-24 16:16 EDT

136+39 Lady Gaga, Bradley Cooper - Shallow (Official Music Video) 898,163 

162+125 Lady Gaga, Bradley Cooper - Shallow (Live From The Oscars) 795,168 

456+251 I'll Never Love Again (from A Star Is Born) (Official Music Video) 425,583 

come through Brazil 

[SweetOreosOfHeaven Pronounshe/him]

1 hour ago, MANiCURE1295 said:

YT 24 hours - 2020-11-24 16:16 EDT

136+39 Lady Gaga, Bradley Cooper - Shallow (Official Music Video) 898,163 

162+125 Lady Gaga, Bradley Cooper - Shallow (Live From The Oscars) 795,168 

456+251 I'll Never Love Again (from A Star Is Born) (Official Music Video) 425,583 

come through Brazil 

I think you posted this in the wrong thread

 

[MANiCURE1295 Pronounshe/him]

1 minute ago, zcasx said:

I think you posted this in the wrong thread

 

you’re right...I was trying to find this post earlier  I’m a clown lol