Drake, Kanye West and Justin Bieber are following in the footsteps of Frank Ocean as the most recent musicians to question the the relevance and role of the Grammys. TMZ has reported that all three superstars are planning on skipping this year’s awards because they don’t find them “relevant or representative” of the industry today.
Allegedly, Kanye isn’t planning on participating this year because despite winning 21 Grammys in his career, he’s never taken an award home when going head-to-head with a white performer. Drake and Bieber’s approach is more inline with Ocean’s: they feel the awards aren’t relevant for young artists, and don’t celebrate the music fans are actually playing. Interesting, Kanye shared similar thoughts on Twitter last February, writing “I feel the Grammy awarding system is way off and completely out of touch.”
At the end of last year, Frank Ocean chose not to submit Blonde for consideration, stating “the infrastructure of the awarding system and the nomination system and screening system is dated.” While he may not be nominated, Drake is up for eight awards, Kanye for five, and Bieber for four. Drake and Bieber are also both facing off against Beyoncé, Adele, and Sturgill Simpson for Album of the Year. No word yet on whether they’d accept any awards that come their way.
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Text Wendy Syfret