GRAMMYs: The Weeknd, Ariana Grande & Nicki Minaj's Snubs, Feuds & Fights With Recording Academy

10 March 2021, 14:23 | Updated: 18 August 2022, 15:51

Dua Lipa reacts to her six Grammy nominations

The 2021 GRAMMY nominations brought tears of joy, angry tweets and accusations of politics and 'snubbing', which is no different to any other year as huge artists including Nicki Minaj and Ariana Grande have fallen out with the Recording Academy in the past.

The GRAMMY 2021 nominations are all anyone can talk about, with BTS snagging their first ever nomination and The Weeknd, who had one of the biggest albums of the year with 'After Hours', and the biggest song of 2020 with 'Blinding Lights' being completely left out of the pool.

The Weeknd, real name Abel Tesfaye has openly slammed the GRAMMYs' decision to leave him out of nominations as accusations of favouritism and bribery are thrown around.

So, let's take a look at other artists who have put them on blast throughout the years...

Harry Styles' Grammy Nominations For 2021

The controversial nominations have lead to intense criticism, accusations of politics and 'snubs' and it isn't the first time the Recording Academy has come under fire from some of the biggest names in the industry.

Ariana Grande's 2018 no-show and Twitter name-and-shame along with Nicki Minaj's detailed exposé are just a few other names who have fallen out with the prestigious award body.

The Weeknd

'After Hours' arrived in March 2020 and gave us tracks including 'Blinding Lights', 'In Your Eyes' and 'Heartless' and The Weeknd was widely predicted to be nominated for multiple GRAMMYs, including the biggest categories including Album of the Year and Record of the Year.

Blinding Lights has officially been named the biggest song of 2020, topping charts for a whole year and becoming one of his biggest hits of all time.

However, as the nominations were announced, his name was no where to be seen, much to the surprise of everyone who wondered just why he hadn't been recognised.

Enter Abel.

The singer soon broke his silence, taking to social media, calling the GRAMMYs corrupt.

He wrote: "The Grammys remain corrupt. You owe me, my fans and the industry transparency."

Just days before the GRAMMY nominations, the 30-year-old was announced as the Super Bowl halftime performer, one of the most coveted performance slots there is and many have suggested the 'Heartless' singer was given an ultimatum- perform at the GRAMMYs or the Super Bowl.

Having clearly made his decision, fans say he was purposefully snubbed from being nominated as some kind of 'punishment' for not agreeing to do as they asked.

As the big night approaches, everyone is keeping an eye on his socials to see if he will post anything shady to mark the occasion.

Zayn

'Better' singer Zayn has joined the likes of Abel in slamming the GRAMMYs, naming and shaming them in a expletive filled rant, saying he will send them a gift basket next year in order to get his music recognised.

He wrote: "F*** the grammys and everyone associated. Unless you shake hands and send gifts, there’s no nomination considerations."

"Next year I’ll send you a basket of confectionary."

He continued on to clarify he is talking about needing to create a space that doesn't include favourite, racism or networking.

Nicki Minaj

Nicki, clearly angered by yesterday's nominations, resurfaced her feud with the Recording Academy, writing on Twitter:

"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."

This is by no means the first time the 'Superbass' rapper has spoken openly about her experience with the award show, saying back in 2019 she was 'bullied' and has kept quiet for 'seven years' but eventually told her story.

Nicki claims the show tried to pull her 2012 performance at short notice, but she refused and went ahead with it, leading to her being 'blackballed' by the Academy ever since.

Nicki remains a seven time GRAMMY nominee and has not won any of them.

Ariana Grande

One of the most highly publicised feuds with the GRAMMYs was Ariana Grande's back in 2018 after she pulled out of performing after a disagreement about the song choice.

GRAMMY producer, Ken Ehrlich went onto give a statement saying the reason for her absence was a 'lack of time' for the singer to prepare- which pushed Ari over the edge and led to her putting him on blast for millions of people to see.

She wrote: "I’ve kept my mouth shut but now you’re lying about me."

"I can pull together a performance over night and you know that, Ken."

"It was when my creativity & self expression was stifled by you, that i decided not to attend. i hope the show is exactly what you want it to be and more."

Ari went on to rock her bespoke Zac Posen gown from her New York home and skipped the award show altogether.

However, it appears she made up with them as she turned up the following year to claim her award for Pop Vocal Album and put on an epic performance.

> Download Our App For All The Latest Music News