{"id":84459,"date":"2021-03-17T18:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-03-17T18:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/routenote.com\/blog\/?p=84459"},"modified":"2021-03-17T16:45:15","modified_gmt":"2021-03-17T16:45:15","slug":"the-weeknd-boycotts-grammys-is-time-up-for-the-awards-ceremony","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/routenote.com\/blog\/the-weeknd-boycotts-grammys-is-time-up-for-the-awards-ceremony\/","title":{"rendered":"The Weeknd boycotts GRAMMYs, is time up for the awards ceremony?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Young people aren’t engaging with awards ceremonies, more and more artists are snubbing them, and they’re repeatedly called out of touch. Is this the end for the GRAMMYs?<\/span><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

The 63rd annual GRAMMY awards show<\/a> just passed last weekend. The prestigious awards ceremony has been running annually since 1959, and so it’s probably younger than the mean age of the academy’s committee! (that’s a joke, don’t shoot me with facts) <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Having run for such a long time, it has built a reputation for being one of the highest accolades any artist can achieve for their music. But in recent years, its long-running existence and archaic structure – despite recent attempts to bring it up to date<\/a> – has disenfranchised viewers and artists alike to the point where a GRAMMY may not actually mean anything to many anymore.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Artists like The Weeknd have had enough<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

The Weeknd deliberately didn’t appear at the 63rd show last weekend, in spirit nor in nomination. It is his lack of nomination that has led to his snubbing of the awards ceremony. The Weeknd broke chart records with Blinding Lights which spent a year in the Billboard Hot 100<\/a>. Not just listeners, but critics loved it too. So why didn’t The Weeknd receive a nomination?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It’s not entirely clear why The Weeknd wasn’t selected despite his huge musical accolades in the last year. For the artist himself, he says he will now be boycotting the awards “because of the secret committees,” referring to the anonymous groups of people who review the nomination choices by the Recording Academy’s membership. The committee is kept secret to avoid lobbying from major influences, though many artists feel it simply makes the selection process shady.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Weeknd said: “I will no longer allow my label to submit my music to the GRAMMYs.” He joins a long list of major artists including Drake, Kanye West, and Frank Ocean have snubbed the awards ceremony. It plays into a larger conversation being had that the GRAMMYs don’t recognise black artists in the way that they should. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whilst they made an effort to re-name their ‘Urban Contemporary’ category as ‘Best Progressive R&B Album’ last year<\/a>, it doesn’t change the lack of representation in the highest awards. The last Black woman to receive the album of the year was over 2 decades ago in 1999. The last Black man was Herbie Hancock over a decade ago in 2008.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Recent years have seen criticism of GRAMMY’s perceived racial bias grow. There is a strong argument that Black artists don’t end up winning the top accolades like Album, Record, or Song of the year because they’re placed into Rap or R&B or “Urban” categories and not considered for awards beyond these categories which have been stereotyped as becoming Black categories.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the 59th Annual Grammy Awards, Adele won Album of the Year with ’25’ over Beyonc\u00e9’s ‘Lemonade’. Adele said in her acceptance speech that she didn’t feel deserving of the award and felt that it should have been Beyonc\u00e9 receiving it for the ‘monumental’ and ‘beautiful’ Lemonade.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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