Words by Rosalind Thacker
Despite steps forward with this year’s winners, the Recording Academy still has a long way to go in its work to diversify its membership, organisation and nominees.
The fallout from The Weeknd’s Grammy Award snub continues; the artist came out and said he will no longer be submitting his music to the Grammys in an attempt to boycott the awards entirely.
Following the success of his album After Hours and record-breaking single “Blinding Lights”, many of us expected The Weeknd to be sweeping the floor with his nominations at this year’s Grammy Awards – but instead he was completely ignored. When it was announced that The Weeknd had zero nominations back in November, the artist furiously took to Twitter, accusing the Grammy’s of being “corrupt”, with big names such as Drake and Zayn Malik standing in solidarity alongside him. Sadly, it isn’t the first time the Grammys have been called out for their lack of diversity.
The Weeknd gave a statement to The New York Times that said, “I will no longer allow my label to submit my music to the Grammys.” He has decided to remain absent from the event until the Recording Academy gets rid of the “secret committees” that decide many of the nominations. These “secret committees” are a reference to ousted Recording Academy CEO Deborah Dugan’s accusations of corruption in the Grammy nomination process, accusations which suggested certain board members on “secret committees” have relationships with nominated artists – and therefore use their positions on the committee to push those artists forward. Organisers would dispute these allegations, but many artists remain suspicious.
Former One Direction star Zayn Malik criticised the “lack of transparency in the [Grammys] nomination process,” saying the current system “allows favouritism, racism and networking politics to influence the voting.” Zayn has also never been nominated, neither as a solo act nor with One Direction. The Weeknd is also not the only artist to take action – in 2018, Drake retracted the submission of his album More Life, while Frank Ocean chose not to participate in 2017.
In response to The Weeknd’s statement, the Recording Academy’s acting chief executive Harvey Mason Jr told The New York Times: “We’re all disappointed when anyone is upset. But I will say that we are constantly evolving. And this year, as in past years, we are going to take a hard look at how to improve our awards process, including the nomination review committees.”
The Grammys took place on Sunday, and towards the end of the night, Harvey Mason Jr appeared in a video message acknowledging the criticisms. In the message, he explained that there needs to be more diversity, representation and transparency, but that he wants the artists and industry to “work with us, not against us” to build something “we can all be proud of.”
The Grammys have been called out on multiple occasions – and for a variety of reasons – in the past, and time and time again they don’t live up to their promises, often favouring empty words over substantial changes. If you were to judge the event solely on its performers, you wouldn’t necessarily think the Grammys had a diversity problem. But when you learn that Mickey Guyton was the first Black female solo country singer to perform at the show, that should put things into perspective. All in all, the Academy still has a long way to go in its work to diversify its membership, organization and nominees. However, the winners and performers themselves were a diverse group, suggesting that they’re at least on the right path to producing long-term, sustainable inclusivity.
Read why one of the night’s winners, Burna Boy, represents a change in the tide for the industry.