The Canadian singer The Weekend is officially boycotting the future Grammy, says the news reports by The New York Times.
The singer announced that he will no longer submit any of his songs for the label. After they declined to nominate his chartbuster single ‘Blinding Lights.’ Which garnered around 397 million views on Youtube and spent 52 weeks in the top 10 on the Billboard Hot 100 list.
The news came out after the organization faced criticism from other artists from the music industry. Over its secretive voting system and biases against black and female artists.
The Weekend revealed that the main issue with the most prestigious award of the music industry is the lack of transparency on the voting process. For a long time, nominations are elected by Recording Academy, a Santa Monica, California-based nonprofit. Whose membership is composed of industry artists, producers and executives, and other staffers.
But according to Billboard, for the past 25 years, a secret committee of the Academic members have been choosing some of the most coveted Grammy awards. Including Song of the Year, Album of the year, New Artist of the Year among many others.
The nomination process of the secret committee came under the light. After the critics noticed the absence of some prominent black artists. Like ‘The Weekend’ and ‘Kendrick Lamar’ from the so-called “Big Four” Grammy awards.
It’s shocking to know that only four black artists have won top Grammy over the last nine years. Even after giving so much to the music industry.
When the NYT asked Weekend, why he is boycotting the Grammy. He directly answered, “Because of the biases of the secret committee”. The pop-star is not the only artist calling out the Grammy when its 63rd annual show is about to be premiered on Sunday.
Zayn Malik also accused the Secret Committee of being biased:
British singer and songwriter Zayn Malik also accused the Secret Committee of being biased. After they declined to nominate his mind-boggling song “Nobody is Listening” from the third studio album of his solo career.
“F– the Grammys and everyone associated,” Malik wrote. “Unless you shake hands and send gifts. There’s no nomination considerations. Next year I’ll send you a basket of confectionary.”
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