By Natalya Persons — October 17, 2022
Rapper Drake and singer The Weeknd have chosen to not participate in the 2023 Grammy Awards, making this the second consecutive year that both Canadians have rejected the opportunity to participate.
The two artists also collaborators over a decade ago and have both expressed their annoyance with the secret committee workings of the Recording Academy, the organization that is viewed by many as the highest honor in the music industry.
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Flashback to 2021, The Weeknd publicized his decision to boycott future Grammys following the their disregard of his popular 2020 hit album “After Hours” — which featured chart-topper single “Blinding Lights.”
Furthermore in March 2021 the Weeknd stated to the New York Times, the “Call Out My Name” singer declared, “Because of the secret committees, I will no longer allow my label to submit my music to the Grammys,” seemingly taking shots at the Recording Academy’s voting process in deciding on nominees and winners.
In January 2021 The Weeknd, whose real name is Abel Makkonen Tesfaye, also shared his thoughts about The Grammys to Billboard in an interview published earlier that year.
“Look, I personally don’t care anymore. I have three Grammys, which mean nothing to me now, obviously,” he revealed to the music magazine. “I suck at giving speeches anyways. Forget awards shows.”
Mike Marsland/WireImage
Of his first sign of shock at their disregard, the 32-year-old musician added, “I use a sucker punch as an analogy. Because it just kind of hit me out of nowhere. I definitely felt … I felt things. I don’t know if it was sadness or anger. I think it was just confusion. I just wanted answers. Like, ‘What happened?’”
Meantime, Drake’s disdain with the Grammys goes back 5 years to the 2017 Award show, at which the rapper couldn’t help but notice how his pop hit single “Hotline Bling” had only received nominations for Best Rap/Sung Performance and Best Rap Song.
In spite of winning both categories, Drake expressed hesitation about how the Grammys had allegedly labeled the single. “Even though ‘Hotline Bling’ is not a rap song … the only category they can manage to fit me in is a rap category,” the “Toosie Slide” singer shared more of his thoughts on the OVO Sound radio show the day after the 2017 ceremony. “Maybe because I’ve rapped in the past or because I’m black, I can’t figure out why.”
“I love the rap world and I love the rap community, but you’re right. I write pop songs for a reason,” he continued. “I wanna be like Michael Jackson. I wanna be like artists that I’ve looked up to. Those are pop songs, but I never get any credit for that…I won two awards last night, but I don’t even want them, because it feels weird for some reason.”
The rapper’s disapproval of the Recording Academy’s leading music industry award seemed to intertwine with many of his peers in the music industry. By the 2019 announcement of the Grammys, rappers such as Childish Gambino and Kendrick Lamar also pulled out of participating, despite receiving multiple nominations.
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