Der kanadische R&B-Popstar The Weeknd ging bei den Nominierungen für die diesjährigen Grammy-Preise komplett leer aus.
© Reuters/ Stefan Wermuth
Los Angeles – Canadian R&B pop star The Weeknd has announced that it will boycott the world’s most important music awards in the future. “Due to the secret committee, I will no longer allow my label to submit my music to the Grammys,” said the singer and rapper – real name Abel Makkonen Tesfaye (31) – the New York Times With.
When it came to nominations for this year’s Grammy Awards, the Canadian went completely empty-handed – even though he delivered the internationally most successful song of the past year with “Blinding Lights”. The synthpop song was number one on the charts in dozen countries and was streamed more than 1.6 billion times on Spotify alone.
“The Grammys Remain Corrupt”
When the nominations were announced at the end of November, The Weeknd was angry about his disregard. “The Grammys remain corrupt. You owe me, my fans and the industry transparency,” he wrote on Twitter. The Weeknd had won several Grammys in recent years, most recently in 2018.
The world’s most coveted music prizes are awarded in around 80 categories, with around 13,000 members of the Recording Academy deciding on the winners. The lack of transparency in the award process has also been criticized by other musicians, such as Zayn Malik, who was also not nominated this year: “If you don’t shake hands and send gifts, you won’t be considered in the nominations. Next year I’ll send you a basket of sweets.”
However, it is not just a lack of transparency that causes displeasure among musicians and fans. The question of the extent to which the Grammys do justice to the increasing diversity in the music scene has also been publicly discussed for years. The recording academy responsible had recently undertaken a number of improvements. (APA / dpa)