Zayn Malik Claims Grammy Awards Are Rigged in Tweets — ‘F**k the Grammys’
The 2021 Grammy Awards will be held on March 14. While the music awards show is renowned for its prestige, it has also been accused of being dishonorable and racist when it comes to nominations and awards. On March 9, singer-songwriter Zayn Malik shared his dislike of the Grammy Awards in a series of tweets and claimed the awards show is rigged.
Zayn Malik claimed the Grammy Awards are rigged
Malik rose to fame as a member of the boy band One Direction. He left the band in 2015 and began a solo career. Malik released his third studio album Nobody Is Listening on Jan. 15.
While Nobody Is Listening was not eligible to be nominated for the 2021 Grammy Awards, Malik’s 2016 collaboration track with Taylor Swift, “I Don’t Wanna Live Forever,” was nominated for a 2018 Grammy Award for Best Song Written for Visual Media.
On March 9, Malik called out the Recording Academy and Grammy Awards on Twitter. The singer alluded to the idea that the awards show is rigged.
“F**k 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 tweeted.
In a follow-up tweet, Malik clarified that his disapproval of the Grammy Awards was not related to his music or the eligibility of Nobody Is Listening.
“My tweet was not personal or about eligibility but was about the need for inclusion and the lack of transparency of the nomination process and the space that creates and allows favoritism, racism, and netwokring politics to influence the voting process,” Malik tweeted.
Zayn Malik is not the only singer who called out the Grammy Awards
The Recording Academy announced the nominations for the 2021 Grammy Awards on Nov. 24, 2020. After her album Manic was snubbed, Halsey wrote about how nominations for the Grammy Awards work in an Instagram story.
Like Malik, Halsey alleged that being nominated often takes behind-the-scenes agreements.
“The Grammys are an elusive process. It can often be about behind the scenes private performances, knowing the right people, campaigning through the grapevine, with the right handshakes and ‘bribes’ that can be just ambiguous enough to pass as ‘not-bribes,'” Halsey wrote.
She continued, “And if you get that far, it’s about committing to exclusive TV performances and making sure you help the Academy make their millions in advertising on the night of the show.”
Out of the 2021 Grammy nominations, the most shocking snub was The Weeknd’s album After Hours. The album debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and his single “Blinding Lights” proved to have longevity with streams, radio play, and chart positioning.
After he was snubbed, The Weeknd tweeted, “The Grammys remain corrupt. You owe me, my fans and the industry transparency…,”
These are not the first accusations against the Recording Academy
While Malik’s tweets may appear out of the blue to some, this type of controversy around the Grammy Awards is nothing new. In 2020, former Recording Academy CEO Deborah Dugan claimed the voting process for the Grammy Awards is rigged.
The Recording Academy Diversity & Inclusion Task Force was formed in 2018 to examine the lack of diversity in the Recording Academy and the music industry.
The Task Force reported its findings in 2019 and found a lack of gender and racial diversity. To change this, the Recording Academy established a Black Music Collective in 2020.
