On July 29, K-pop group BTS announced through their individual Instagram Stories that they will not submit their music for consideration at the Grammy Awards this year. The decision came after the Recording Academy announced five new categories for the ceremony, one of which is Best Asian Pop Music Performance. The members posted the same statement on their respective Instagram accounts, saying that they “hope music can be heard and loved as music itself, rather than being divided by region or language.”
The Grammys’ CEO Harvey Mason Jr. released a statement regarding BTS’ decision not to participate in the Grammy Awards process, saying that “as a music creator, I understand and respect their decision.” He clarified that submitting music in a genre category does not exclude an artist from also submitting and being considered in other categories.
This isn’t the first time that the Recording Academy has encountered controversy. Over the decades, the Grammys have faced criticism from artists over issues such as placing musicians into specific categories, inconsistent rule changes in the nomination process, and repeated snubs. These issues have affected the Grammys’ credibility over the years.
Jay-Z
Rapper Jay-Z was among the many artists who took jabs at the awards ceremony. While accepting the Dr. Dre Global Impact Award at the 2024 Grammy Awards, Jay-Z criticized the Recording Academy for never awarding his wife, Beyoncé, Album of the Year despite her multiple Grammy wins and nominations over the years.
“I don’t want to embarrass this young lady but she has more Grammys than everyone and never won Album of the Year. So even by your own metrics, that doesn’t work. Think about that. The most Grammys, never won Album of the Year,” he said.
A year after the callout, Beyoncé won Album of the Year for Cowboy Carter at the 67th Grammy Awards.
Fiona Apple
Singer-songwriter Fiona Apple has never hidden her qualms with the Recording Academy. In an interview with The Guardian, Apple, who was nominated for three awards at the 2021 ceremony, brought up Lukasz “Dr. Luke” Gottwald’s Record of the Year nomination under the pseudonym Tyson Trax for his work on Doja Cat’s “Say So.” Apple then mentioned how the Grammys had the gall to invite Dr. Luke while Kesha is performing in the same ceremony. Back in 2014, pop star Kesha filed a lawsuit against Dr. Luke for subjecting her to years of physical, emotional, and sexual abuse.
“I keep going back to the [Recording Academy for] putting Kesha on stage like, ‘We believe you’ — and I believe her — then two years later, fucking Tyson Trax. Not to go back to that word, but it’s bullshit.”
Apple said she once envisioned walking onstage with a sledgehammer, smashing her Grammy into pieces, and inviting female artists to boycott the ceremony over Dr. Luke’s nomination.
The Weeknd
R&B singer The Weeknd publicly criticized the Recording Academy after his hit single “Blinding Lights” was shut out of the 2021 Grammy nominations despite its commercial success and critical acclaim. Following the snub, he called the Recording Academy “corrupt” and criticized its “secret committees.” In response, the Recording Academy announced changes to its nomination process for the 2022 Grammy Awards.
According to the Recording Academy, nominations would no longer be finalized by committees of 15 to 30 music industry “peers” representing their “genre communities.” Instead, nominees for nearly all Grammy categories would be determined by a majority vote of Academy voting members. According to the New York Times in 2021, The Weeknd has remained firm in not submitting his music for consideration.
“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.”
Tyler, The Creator
Rapper Tyler, the Creator expressed his criticism backstage at the 2020 Grammy Awards. After winning Best Rap Album for IGOR, Tyler told reporters that he wanted to break out of the rap or urban categories and be recognized on a broader level.
“On one side, I’m very grateful that what I made could just be acknowledged in a world like this. But also, it sucks that whenever we, and I mean guys that look like me, do anything that’s genre-bending, they always put it in a ‘rap’ or ‘urban’ category. … I don’t like that ‘urban’ word. To me, it’s just a politically correct way to say the N-word. Why can’t we just be in pop?”
Tyler added that being nominated in the rap category felt like a backhanded compliment.
Frequently Asked Questions
BTS, Jay-Z, Fiona Apple, The Weeknd, and Tyler, the Creator publicly criticized the Recording Academy over its categories, nomination process, or award decisions.
Jay-Z criticized the Recording Academy during the 2024 Grammy Awards for never awarding Beyoncé Album of the Year despite her record number of Grammy wins and nominations at the time.
The Weeknd criticized the Recording Academy after “Blinding Lights” received no Grammy nominations in 2021. Despite later changes to the nomination process, he has continued to refrain from submitting his music.
Fiona Apple criticized the Recording Academy over Dr. Luke’s Record of the Year nomination under the pseudonym Tyson Trax. She later said she had imagined smashing her Grammy onstage and encouraging female artists to boycott the ceremony.
After winning Best Rap Album for IGOR in 2020, Tyler said he disliked being placed in rap or urban categories despite making genre-bending music, calling the classification a “backhanded compliment.”
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