The Weeknd was not alone in his issue with how the Grammys picks nominees. Justin Bieber and Nicki Minaj threw shade at the awards show on social media for their own reasons on Tuesday.
Bieber, 26, who was nominated for four Grammy Awards, including Best Pop Vocal Album, voiced his issues with his album, Changes, being classified as a pop album and not a R&B record.
“Please don’t mistake this as me being ungrateful, these are just my thoughts take em or leave em. Thank you to the people who fought for me to even have any noms,” Bieber prefaced his Instagram message regarding his gripe with the academy.
Minaj, for her part, brought up a past Grammys issue after Bon Iver earned a nod for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance for his collaboration with Taylor Swift on “Exile.”
“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,” the “Tusa” rapper, 37, tweeted. “They gave it to the white man Bon Iver. #PinkFriday.”
Beyonce released just one new song and a “visual companion” film to last year’s “Lion King,” hopped on a remix with Megan Thee Stallion and walked away with the most nominations for the year with nine — as many as she earned in 2017, the year her last full album, “Lemonade,” was eligible.
The committees have shown no disinclination to nominate The Weeknd in the past, as he’s received ten nods over three different years and won three trophies. However, despite his 2020 success in the music industry, his total number of Grammy nominations for this year was zero.