Drake and The Weekend not going to this yr’s Grammys

No new Grammys.

Drake and The Weeknd have elected to sit down out the 2023 Grammy Awards, marking the second yr in a row that each Canadian artists have declined to take part, per Vibe.

The two musicians — additionally collaborators going again greater than a decade — have on separate events previously expressed frustration with the behind-the-scenes workings of the Recording Academy, the group behind the awards, considered by many as the best honor within the music business.

Back in 2021, The Weeknd introduced his determination to boycott future Grammys following the snub of his mega-popular and critically lauded hit 2020 album “After Hours” — which featured the record-setting chart-topper “Blinding Lights.”

In a March 2021 assertion to the New York Times, the “Save Your Tears” crooner declared, “Because of the key committees, I’ll now not permit my label to submit my music to the Grammys,” apparently taking purpose on the Recording Academy’s arcane voting course of in figuring out nominees and winners.

The Weeknd, whose actual title is Abel Makkonen Tesfaye, had additionally vented to Billboard in an interview revealed earlier that yr, in January 2021.

“Look, I personally don’t care anymore. I’ve three Grammys, which imply nothing to me now, clearly,” he informed the music magazine. “I suck at giving speeches in any case. Forget awards exhibits.”

Of his preliminary shock on the snub, the 32-year-old musician added, “I take advantage of a sucker punch as an analogy. Because it simply sort of hit me out of nowhere. I positively felt … I felt issues. I don’t know if it was unhappiness or anger. I feel it was simply confusion. I simply needed solutions. Like, ‘What occurred?’”

Meanwhile, Drake’s beef with the Grammys dates again to the 2017 ceremony, at which the previous “Degrassi” actor couldn’t assist however discover how his catchy pop/R&B hit “Hotline Bling” had solely obtained nods for Best Rap/Sung Performance and Best Rap Song.

Despite successful each classes, the 35-year-old expressed ambivalence about how the Grammys had seemingly pigeonholed the one. “Even although ‘Hotline Bling’ isn’t a rap music … the one class they’ll handle to suit me in is a rap class,” the “God’s Plan” crooner defined on the OVO Sound radio present the day after the 2017 ceremony. “Maybe as a result of I’ve rapped previously or as a result of I’m black, I can’t work out why.”

“I like the rap world and I like the rap neighborhood, however you’re proper. I write pop songs for a purpose,” he continued. “I wanna be like Michael Jackson. I wanna be like artists that I’ve seemed as much as. Those are pop songs, however I by no means get any credit score for that…I gained two awards final night time, however I don’t even need them, as a result of it feels bizarre for some purpose.”

Drake’s criticisms of the Recording Academy’s preeminent music business award appeared to resonate with a lot of his fellow global-superstar performers — and by the 2019 iteration of the Grammys, the likes of Childish Gambino and Kendrick Lamar, regardless of receiving a number of nominations, have been amongst those that declined to attend.