The Weeknd has had an amazing year in music.  Between his album, ‘After Hours,’ and songs like ‘Blinding Lights,’ ‘In Your Eyes,’ and ‘Heartless,’ he absolutely killed 2020 however,  Abel’s 2020 success was still not enough to earn a Grammy nomination.

After after the nominees were revealed yesterday (Nov. 24), Abel posted, “The Grammys remain corrupt.  You owe me, my fans and the industry transparency…”

 

 

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A post shared by The Weeknd (@theweeknd)

 

A source later revealed to TMZ, “There were many conversations between the Grammys and the Weeknd team about his performance slated for the 2021 Grammys.  There was an ultimatum given resulting in a struggle over him also playing the Super Bowl that went on for some time and was eventually agreed upon that he would perform at both events… [The Recording Academy] had all these convos with the Weeknd team in the past month, and today on November 24th, the Weeknd had not one nomination and is now completely ignored by the Grammys.  This was the year that they were supposed to rise up. What is the process and where is the transparency?”

 

 

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Recording Academy Chair and Interim President/CEO Harvey Mason Jr. issued a statement earlier this morning (Nov. 25) which stated:

 

“We understand that the Weeknd is disappointed at not being nominated. I was surprised and can empathize with what he’s feeling. His music this year was excellent, and his contributions to the music community and broader world are worthy of everyone’s admiration.  We would have loved to have him also perform on the Grammy stage the weekend before [the Super Bowl].  Unfortunately, every year, there are fewer nominations than the number of deserving artists … To be clear, voting in all categories ended well before The Weeknd’s performance at the Super Bowl was announced, so in no way could it have affected the nomination process.  All Grammy nominees are recognized by the voting body for their excellence, and we congratulate them all.”

 

In an interview for Rolling Stone’s special Grammy preview issue back in September, The Weeknd addressed the Grammys and how their categories limit artists, “It was peculiar.  Putting an album like Starboy and putting an album like Beauty Behind the Madness in the same category as some other artists, it’s not fair…. R&B and black music is such a wide variety. If they put us all into one category, I still think it’s not fair. We’ll see how it goes.”

 

 

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The Weeknd fired back with another Instagram post saying, “Collaboratively planning a performance for weeks to not be invited? In my opinion zero nominations = you’re not invited!”

 

 

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The Weeknd wasn’t the only artist who was snubbed at the 2021 Grammys, so was Lady Gaga, Harry Styles, and BTS.  See what the celebs had to say across the socials below.

 

 

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Filed under: 2021 Grammys, The Weeknd