Halsey’s latest album Manic debuted earlier this year in the No. 2 slot on the Billboard charts and received largely positive reviews from critics, but her name was absent from the list of 2021 Grammy nominations when they were released by the Recording Academy on Tuesday (November 24).
The snub surprised fans of the singer, who previously received a nomination for her featured role on the Chainsmokers’ 2017 hit “Closer” and has been steadily carving out a reputation as a pop icon ever since.
Over the weekend, she addressed the snub in a statement that accused the Grammys of allegedly determining nominees through personal connections, bribes, and strategic placement to secure “exclusive TV performances.”
“It’s not always about the music or quality or culture,” she wrote on Instagram Stories.
“I’ve been thinking and wanted to choose my words carefully because a lot of people have extended sympathy and apology to me since the Grammy nominations,” she began.
She called the nomination decisions “an elusive process” that can “often be about behind-the-scenes private performances, knowing the right people, campaigning through the grapevine, with the right handshakes and ‘bribes’ that can be just ambiguous enough to pass as ‘not-bribes.’”
The singer also alleged that the Academy strategically nominations certain in order to secure “exclusive TV performances” and “make their millions in advertising on the night of the show.” She then said that the Weeknd, who was also snubbed, and her album Manic “deserved better.”
“Perhaps it’s unbecoming of me to say so but I don’t care anymore,” she concluded. “While I am THRILLED for my talented friends who were recognized this year, I am hoping for more transparency or reform. But I’m sure this post will blacklist me anyway.”
Her statement follows the controversy surrounding the Weeknd’s Grammys shut-out, which was stoked by reports from Variety and Rolling Stone that the Toronto singer was given an “ultimatum” over whether he could perform at both the Super Bowl halftime show and the 2021 Grammys ceremony.
After the nominations came out last week, he took to Twitter to criticize the Academy. “The Grammys remain corrupt,” he wrote. “You owe me, my fans and the industry transparency…”
Halsey and the Weeknd are certainly not the first artists to blast the Grammys for their nomination process. Frank Ocean famously boycotted the Grammys by purposely not submitting his new 2016 albums Blonde and Endless for consideration. In a rare 2017 interview, the singer conceded that the Grammys institution “certainly has nostalgic importance,” but that it “just doesn’t seem to be representing very well for people who come from where I come from, and hold down what I hold down.”
He went on to clarify, “I think the infrastructure of the awarding system and the nomination system and screening system is dated. I’d rather this be my Colin Kaepernick moment for the Grammys than sit there in the audience.”
Ahead of this year’s nominations, the Recording Academy announced that they had made some reforms to the voting process and some category labels traditionally used to market artists of color. But considering the continued criticism they’ve been getting from big-name artists, it’s possible that they have much more tweaking to do.
Get the best of what’s queer. Sign up for them.’s weekly newsletter here.
