Fans shouldn’t expect seeing Drake and The Weeknd’s names on the list of Grammy nominees for next year.
Pitchfork reports that the two are once again abstaining from the awards ceremony and have not submitted their individual albums for consideration this year. The Weeknd’s Dawn FM and Drake’s Honestly, Nevermind were not included in today’s ballots, although the Toronto natives are still listed as guests on other tracks. Their top album singles “Sticky” and “Sacrifice” were also left off of the ballots.
Since he won two awards in 2017 that he claimed he didn’t want, Drizzy has been at differences with the Grammys and the Recording Academy. In addition, he criticized the academy for classifying “Hotline Bling” as rap rather than pop. He withdrawn his songs from consideration last year after they had already been submitted, and since he had been nominated for Certified Lover Boy and “Way 2 Sexy,” there was a vacancy in both categories.
Abel Tesfaye and the academy have had some issues since he criticised the Grammys last year for failing to submit After Hours and the popular album single “Blinding Lights,” claiming he was completely rejected and vowing to boycott the awards show going forward.
“Because of the secret committees, I will no longer allow my label to submit my music to the Grammys,” he said. However, he still won an award for Best Melodic Rap Performance for Kanye West’s “Hurricane.”