For the second year in a row, GRAMMY season is upon use with a host of complications and artists who are just not taking it seriously. This year, some of music’s biggest names – Drake, Kanye West and Justin Bieber – agree that the awards are simply out of touch with the current state of the industry, despite their own multiple nominations.
Justin Beiber, 22, who is currently up for four awards, believes the awards show isn’t relevant anymore and doesn’t accurately credit the best artists when it comes to young musicians, according to TMZ. Beiber performed two of his hits at the show last year and won his first GRAMMY for Best Dance Recording for Where Are Ü Now.
Drake is currently in Europe on his Boy Meets World Tour, while also possibly dating Jennifer Lopez (emoji eyes).
Kayne West, who is currently up for eight awards, has expressed a lot of frustration regarding the awards show and its lack of diversity. He is reportedly upset that he has received 21 GRAMMYs but never when he was head-to-head against a white singer, according to The Guardian.
Additionally, he announced in October 2016 during a mid-concert rant that he would boycott the GRAMMY awards show if Frank Ocean wasn’t nominated for his recent albums.
Ocean’s recent work, Blonde and Endless, seem to be two of Kanye’s favorites this year, getting a massive amount of playtime from him, amongst his compilation of music albums.
“I’ll tell you this right now: If his album is not nominated in no categories, I’m not showing up to the GRAMMYs. As artists, we’ve got to come together to fight the bulls–t.”
Ocean didn’t earn a nomination this year because his label reportedly didn’t submit his work for consideration.
In an interview with The New York Times in November, he revealed that the GRAMMY awards show have a “nostalgic importance,” and considers the ceremony to be out of touch with music, especially when it comes to honoring musicians of color.
“It just doesn’t seem to be representing very well for people who come from where I come from, and hold down what I hold down,” he said. “I think the infrastructure of the awarding system and the nomination system and screening system is dated … I’d rather this be my Colin Kaepernick moment for the GRAMMYs than sit there in the audience.”
These complaints by artists are not unique. Similar to the Oscar awards and the movie industry, the music industry has long been accused of not doing right by artists of color.
Last year, Billboard.com published a piece titled “Confessions of a GRAMMY Voter” where they proved that lack of diversity is a huge issue in the GRAMMY awards. Nearly 30-something artists and producers complained, “The voting bloc is still too white, too old and too male.”
Billboard wrote about the industry heavyweights who shared their predictions and complaints. Kendrick Lamar said, “I do see a significant difference from (what it was) three or four years ago — the voters are becoming more diverse in terms of minorities, females and younger ages — but there’s still a long way to go.”
Written By: Taylor Bennett