Image Source: Getty / Kevin Mazur / MTV VMAs 2020
The Grammy nominations for 2021 were officially announced on November 24th, and The Weeknd was noticeably missing from the list. Despite a name of Times most influential people this year and After business hours The 30-year-old singer became the most streamed R&B album of all time and was grossly abused by the Recording Academy.
The Grammys have a long history of ignoring great music and not appreciating where it is due – see Adele's 2017 Victory for Album of the Year for 25th about Beyonce lemonade – but I just need someone to explain to me what the hell happened? "Blinding Lights" was ubiquitous this year, appearing in commercials and at almost every award ceremony. The Weeknd practically led the nominations for the American Music Awards and the MTV Video Music Awards. Not to mention, he has just been announced as the headliner for the Super Bowl and its Super Bowl next year After business hours The album is currently the third largest album of the year in terms of total sales. Still, he wasn't nominated for a single Grammy – none!
At first I thought it might be because the album didn't qualify for the eligibility period, but no, I checked and it was. The Recording Academy has never had a problem nominating him – The Weeknd is a three-time Grammy winner, thank you – so there are only two logical explanations for what happened. According to diversityTo be considered, a recording must be submitted for review, so its label Republic Records may not have submitted anything. However, this seems very unlikely as it also deals with Taylor Swift, who snapped six nods. Another possibility is that the academy may have been confused as to whether The Weeknd is viewed as a pop or R&B act, so he was simply left out of those categories entirely, although this always is his absence from the album and recording of the year categories not yet explained.
Of course, I'm not the only one who thinks The Weeknd got caught. Shortly after the nominations were announced, the hashtag #ROBBED started trending on Twitter, and fans expressed their anger over leaving The Weeknd – even Kid Cudi stepped in and wrote, "Abel got robbed, man that is weak." No shadow for Justin Bieber or Cats, but how come "Yummy" is nominated for best pop solo performance and "Beautiful Ghosts" is nominated for best song for visual media? I'm confused.
Abel was robbed man this shit weak
– The Chosen One (@KidCudi) November 24, 2020
According to Kanye West, The Weeknd had one of the best albums of all time and the Grammys are having to reevaluate their nomination process as it clearly isn't working.
