The Recording Academy

The Weeknd Is Still Boycotting The Grammys Despite Their Recent Changes

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The Weeknd may never be nominated for another Grammy, but not because the quality of his work is about to drop off: After somehow being completely snubbed at the 2021 Grammys, the artist declared that he is boycotting the awards and will no longer submit his music for consideration. The Recording Academy has faced a ton of criticism over the past year-plus, but a few days ago, they announced “significant changes” to their voting process, including the elimination of “secret committees.” While The Weeknd thinks that’s cool, he says he’s still going to stick to his boycott.

In a statement to The New York Times, The Weeknd said, “Even though I won’t be submitting my music, the Grammys’ recent admission of corruption will hopefully be a positive move for the future of this plagued award and give the artist community the respect it deserves with a transparent voting process.”

Interim Recording Academy president/CEO Harvey Mason Jr. also offered a statement, saying the changes come as part of “a year of unprecedented, transformational change,” adding, “This is a new academy, one that is driven to action and that has doubled down on the commitment to meeting the needs of the music community.”

Meanwhile, The Weeknd doesn’t need the Grammys to lock down award nods: A few days ago, he racked up an impressive 16 Billboard Music Awards nominations.

The Grammys Opt To Eliminate ‘Secret Committees’ And Make ‘Significant Changes’ To Their Voting Process

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Last fall, the Grammys were dealt a heavy dose of criticism about their nominations. Many were upset with some of The Recording Academy’s choices, or lack thereof, such as failing to nominate The Weeknd in any category despite having the acclaimed album After Hours. Months later, the Grammys announced they’re making “significant changes” to their voting process according to Billboard. This includes the elimination of “secret committees,” who were originally tasked with reviewing nominations in the general and genre-specific categories.

With this removal, nominations in these categories will now be selected by a majority, peer-to-peer vote from The Academy’s members. They also chose to reduce the number of categories voters can make selections in from 15 to 10. The Grammys created two new categories for the award show, Best Global Music Performance and Best Música Urbana Album, and added an extra month to the eligibility period for next year’s award show. The time frame of eligibility is now September 1, 2020 to September 30, 2021. The changes will go into effect immediately for next year’s show, which is set for January 31, 2022.

“It’s been a year of unprecedented, transformational change for the Recording Academy, and I’m immensely proud to be able to continue our journey of growth with these latest updates to our Awards process,” Harvey Mason Jr., chair and interim president/CEO of the Recording Academy, said. “This is a new Academy, one that is driven to action and that has doubled down on the commitment to meeting the needs of the music community.”

The 2021 Grammys Had Less Than Half As Many Viewers As Last Year’s Ceremony

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Between the pandemic and the barrage of artists criticizing them, the past few months have presented challenges to the Recording Academy. Despite all the hurdles they faced, though, they managed to put on a Grammys broadcast this year that was imperfect but still quite entertaining and about as good as could be done given the circumstances.

As was probably expected, the broadcast had fewer viewers than usual, as has been typical with big events during the pandemic; This year’s Super Bowl had its lowest ratings in over a decade. The Grammys also experienced a drop-off and it was significant.

Variety reports that per Nielsen Live+Same Day fast-affiliate numbers, the show had an average of 7.88 million viewers, earning a 1.9 rating with adults 18 to 49. That makes this year’s show the lowest-rated in Grammy history. For reference, last year’s Grammys managed to draw 18.7 million viewers and achieve a 5.4 rating in the aforementioned demographic.

The publication also notes that these numbers are not final and that final figures that take into account live West Coast viewing will be available soon. With that in mind, the final figure is expected to rise by about 15 to 20 percent in the official national ratings. That said, even if the 7.88 million viewer count rises by 20 percent (the generous end of the estimate), that would elevate it to about 9.46 million viewers, which is still around half of the count of 2020 Grammy viewers.