At one time in life, winning a GRAMMY award was one of the greatest achievements an artist could be given.
It begs the question therefore as to why increased numbers of well-renowned successful artists are calling out the GRAMMYs as of late? Could there be another #oscarssowhite trend, emerging through the cracks of the awards ceremony?
Although the shady politics have often been a topic of conversation for most artists, this year they seemed to have peaked.
For a start, fans of the K-Pop boyband sensation BTS, were pained after losing out on their GRAMMY nomination to Lady Gaga and Ariana Grande for best pop duo/group performance.
Hip-Hop icon (and hero) NAS, won his first ever GRAMMY last night, despite been in the rap game for almost 30 years, and being nominated 14 times previously, for best hip-hop album.
Beyoncé Knowles also became the most awarded female in the history of the awards ceremony.
Although history was made on Sunday, it is no surprise that other artists are calling out the GRAMMYs on their biases towards nominees.
Whilst his former band mate picked up an award for best solo male last night, ZAYN took to Twitter and said the following about the awards ceremony:
My tweet was not personal or about eligibility but was about the need for inclusion and the lack of transparency of the nomination process and the space that creates and allows favoritism, racism, and netwokring politics to influence the voting process
— zayn (@zaynmalik) March 10, 2021
These views matched similar views of The Weeknd, who had no nominations, despite being one of the biggest selling artists last year. Abel tweeted the following after the nominations were released:
The Grammys remain corrupt. You owe me, my fans and the industry transparency…
— The Weeknd (@theweeknd) November 25, 2020
Again, not long after the nominations were released, Nicki Minaj said the following:
Never forget the Grammys didn’t give me my best new artist award when I had 7 songs simultaneously charting on billboard & bigger first week than any female rapper in the last decade- went on to inspire a generation. They gave it to the white man Bon Iver. #PinkFriday
— Nicki Minaj (@NICKIMINAJ) November 24, 2020
Finally, before The Weeknd expressed his views personally, Wiz Khalifa came out in his defence and again, expressed these cryptic views on the politics of the ceremony:
Yea that's a surprise but its politics. If you don't show up to their parties they don't throw your name around https://t.co/Y7jfv18GH8
— Wiz Khalifa (@wizkhalifa) November 24, 2020
It seems like some sort of super exclusive type of club, with serious illuminati secrecy vibes, given the tweets mentioned above.
The tweet on this subject that caught my eye the most, retweeted by jazz musician Robert Glasper (FYI: he’s amazingly talented), was by Cardi B, who said the following about the awards ceremony ahead of its commence.
How I feel bout the Grammies .Don’t forget to congratulate the small black artist that got nominated that got overshadowed again cause of the drama .It’s their moment finally ! pic.twitter.com/uoSJtG1aqi
— Cardi B (@iamcardib) March 13, 2021
Cardi bites back at those complaining earlier by stating the GRAMMYS have acknowledged the lesser known black artists in this year’s nominations and that we should be congratulating these artists who have put in the hard graft without the major publicity that those mentioned above have received.
Although Cardi’s list of artists aren’t lesser known in my eyes, even I have to disagree slightly with what they’re saying, for it seems that only now these artists are finally getting these major nominations. Is this down to the politics and tantrums thrown by other major artists? It is hard to say. What can be said though is that it seems progress is being made as more Indy artists are taking centre stage. I for one, congratulate them all on nominations and awards won, both past and present.
Those snubbing the awards ceremony, I think we should watch this space to see what happens. I reckon though, we might have a #boycottgrammys in 2022 if the politics mentioned by the other artists don’t change.
