'Not always about the music': Singer Halsey slams Grammys for snubbing her

Singer Halsey has called out the Recording Academy for its unfair practices, days after she was snubbed during the nominations for 63rd Grammy Awards. The singer did not receive a single nomination for her 2020 album 'Manic', which included the chart-topping single "Without Me".

Taking to Instagram Stories on Sunday, the 26-year-old singer said, "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."

Halsey slammed the Recording Academy for its "elusive process" in which artists are nominated. "It 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 as ambiguous enough to pass as ''non-bribes''," she added.

Halsey further said that "committing to exclusive TV performances" is the only way artistes could secure Grammy nominations, more than the music itself. "It''s not always about the music or quality or culture," she wrote.

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The singer also lent support to The Weeknd, who was also snubbed despite having released a popular album in "After Hours". "Just wanted to get that off my chest," her statement concludes. "The Weeknd deserves better, and ''Manic'' did too. Perhaps it''s unbecoming of me to say so but I can't care anymore.

"While I am THRILLED for my talented friends who were recognised this year, I am hoping for more transparency or reform. But I''m sure this post will blacklist me anyway," Halsey concluded. Earlier, The Weeknd, who was expected to rule the main categories, after picking up multiple awards at both the MTV VMAs and American Music Awards 2020, had called out the Recording Academy for ignoring him in the nominations.

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"The Grammys remain corrupt. You owe me, my fans and the industry transparency," the singer, whose real name is Abel Makkonen Tesfaye, had tweeted after the nomination announcement on November 24. Responding to the singer''s accusation, Grammy chief Harvey Mason said though he too was surprised that The Weeknd did not receive any nominations, every year the number of artists vying for recognition at the "only peer-voted music awards" is much more than the nominations.

The Grammy nominations are multi-step process in which committees, which include veteran music professionals, make their decisions based on a shortlist handed down from a screening committee that considers thousands of submissions.