Drake weighs in on Grammy Award 2021 nominations controversy

In a new Instagram story, Drake has become the most recent high-profile artist to question the relevance of the Grammy Awards following much criticism of the 2021 nominations.

Announced on Monday, November 24, the Recording Academy announced major contenders with notable absences such as The Weeknd, Rina Sawayama and Lil Baby.

The likes of Billie Eilish, Taylor Swift, Beyoncé and Dua Lipa lead with the most nod and the nominees in the Best Rock Performance category are all female artists for the first time ever.

Three-time Grammy Award winning artist the Weeknd took to Twitter to share his frustration on not receiving a single nomination for his work on his latest album After Hours.

Calling the organisation “corrupt”, the Canadian artist said that they “owe me, my fans and the industry transparency” seeing as his hit single 'Blinding Lights' was the best-selling song of 2020.

In his post today, Drake said he thinks “we should stop allowing ourselves to be shocked every year by the disconnect between impactful music and these awards”.

He added, “The other day I said The Weeknd was a lock for either album or song of the year along with countless other reasonable assumptions and it just never goes that way.”

Drake then tagged other artists overlooked for a nomination, including Lil Baby, Pop Smoke and Popcaan, commenting that there are “too many missing names to even name.”

Nicki Minaj reposted Drake’s statement to her own Instagram story after she noted her 2012 Best New Artist loss to Bon Iver.

“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,” she said.

Sir Elton John offered support for The Weeknd, posting the official artwork for ‘Blinding Lights’ on Instagram. The caption expressed how he believes the song should be crowned both Song of the Year and Record of the Year.

50 Cent called the 2021 Grammy nominations “out of touch”, and Teyana Taylor later criticised the Recording Academy for failing to include any female artists in the Best R&B Album category.

Feature image: Instagram/@champagnepapi