Awards
Recording Academy Chief Harvey Mason Jr. Responds to The Weeknd’s ‘The Grammys Remain Corrupt’ Tweet
That’s pretty blunt, but it’s nothing compared to a tweet from The Weeknd himself: “The Grammys remain corrupt. You owe me, my fans and the industry transparency.” Asked for a response, Harvey Mason Jr., the Recording Academy’s chair and interim president/CEO, supplied a statement to Billboard that read in part, “We understand that The Weeknd is disappointed at not being nominated. I was surprised and can empathize with what he’s feeling. His music this year was excellent…We were thrilled when we found out he would be performing at the upcoming Super Bowl and we would have loved to have him also perform on the Grammy stage the weekend before …To be clear, voting in all categories ended well before The Weeknd’s performance at the Super Bowl was announced, so in no way could it have aff...
Leeds, Liverpool managers shortlisted for FIFA men’s coach of the year
Leeds United manager Marcelo Bielsa and Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp have been named on the five-man shortlist for FIFA men’s coach of the year. World football’s governing body has released the shortlist for its seven individual awards to be presented at The Best FIFA Football Awards on December 17. Bielsa was an eye-catching inclusion on the five-strong shortlist for Best FIFA Men’s Coach, with the Championship-winning manager named alongside Hansi Flick, Julen Lopetegui, Zinedine Zidane and Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp. Future England manager Sarina Wiegman has been shortlisted for the women’s coach award along with Emma Hayes, who has three of her Chelsea players shortlisted for women’s player of the year. Ji So-yun, Sam Kerr and Pernille Harder are joined on the shortlist by Manchester C...
Kid Cudi, Scooter Braun, Tinashe & More Express Frustration Over The Weeknd’s 2021 Grammys Snub
A number of the singer’s peers agreed with his frustration. Kid Cudi wrote, “Abel was robbed man this sh–s weak,” following the Recording Academy’s announcement, while Tinashe replied with a line of trash can emojis under a tweet about The Weeknd’s zero nominations. Even though his own artist Justin Bieber fared well in the nominations, Scooter Braun weighed in, writing that The Weeknd and his manager Wassim “Sal” Slaiby “deserved to be there as well and deserved better. Brilliant artist and brilliant album.” Canadian producer Boi-1da, who’s not credited on After Hours, said the album was “criminally robbed,” as “ROBBED,” “abel” and “weeknd” all began trending on Twitter i...
Noah Cyrus on Scoring Best New Artist Grammy Nomination: ‘I’ve Idolized the Show Since I Was Little’
Cyrus says the news felt even more special coming from her mom, who has always been her biggest fan; at the beginning of the year, Tish even wrote in her intentions book that Noah would win a Grammy. Cyrus immediately after called her dad and the rest of the family, wiping away tears each time she relived the news. “I’ve watched the show since I was a little girl and I’ve idolized the show since I was a little girl,” she says. “I’ve always known the importance, the weight and the honor that it holds to be nominated for or to receive a Grammy. This is something I’ve talked about since the day that I started as an artist. I remember being 15 in my manager’s office talking about the Grammys and everybody being like, ‘That’s so far away.’” Cyrus, now 20 and with over 940 million on-demand care...
Justin Bieber Says ‘Changes’ Getting Pop Grammy Nod Instead of R&B ‘Feels Weird’
Justin Bieber is setting the record straight on which genre Changes belongs to after his fifth album received a Grammy nomination Tuesday (Nov. 24) for best pop vocal album. He wrote a short letter to the Recording Academy on Instagram the day nominations for the 2021 Grammys were revealed, stating how his mission to make an R&B album was not honored properly by being placed in this category. “To the Grammys I am flattered to be acknowledged and appreciated for my artistry. I am very meticulous and intentional about my music. With that being said I set out to make an R&B album. Changes was and is an R&B album,” he started. “It is not being acknowledged as an R&B album which is very strange to me. I grew up admiring R&B music and wis...
Recording Academy Halts ‘Grammy Nominees’ CD Series After 26 Years
The Recording Academy has called a halt to its annual Grammy Nominees CD series. The franchise was a major hit for many years, but has faltered in recent years as CD sales have dwindled. “It ended up costing us quite a bit of money to do it and it was not selling [in big numbers anymore]” Harvey Mason Jr., the Recording Academy’s chair and interim president/CEO, told Billboard. An Academy spokesperson injected a hopeful note: “The CD is taking a year off and conversations will be had next year on how to proceed in this new music consumption world.” Fifteen volumes in the annual series, which was produced by Leslie Lewis, made the top 10 on the Billboard 200. Two volumes—in 2013 and 2014—climbed as high as No. 2. {“nid”:”5885267″,”type”:”post”...
Who Should Be Nominated for Album of the Year at the 2021 Grammys? Vote!
Nominations for the 2021 Grammys are officially being announced on Tuesday, and Billboard has some big bets for who could be up for album of the year. Luke Combs won the accolade at both the ACM and CMA Awards this year for What You See Is What You Get and Roddy Ricch won album of the year at this year’s BET Awards for Please Excuse Me for Being Antisocial. So Billboard awards editor Paul Grein thinks the two have a shot of winning the award again if nominated at yet another awards show. Former best new artist nominee Fiona Apple (in 1997) and winner Dua Lipa (in 2019) would earn their first nods in this Big Four category for Fetch the Bolt Cutters and Future Nostalgia, respectively. Meanwhile, Taylor Swift has a shot at gaining her fourth album of the year nod with Folklore, while P...
The Weeknd, J.Lo and All the Hot Takes From the 2020 AMAs
The American Music Awards are now in the books, but fans watching on at home are still feeling the vibes. Taylor Swift, BTS and Doja Cat were big winners at the ceremony Sunday night (Nov. 22), and they were hot talking points on social media for hours stretching into the new week. {“nid”:”9488301″,”type”:”post”,”title”:”18 Things You Didn't See on TV at the 2020 AMAs”,”relative_path”:”\/articles\/news\/awards\/9488301\/2020-amas-didnt-see-on-tv\/”,”media”:{“width”:1548,”height”:1024,”extension”:”jpg”,”mime_type”:”image\/jpeg”,”type”:”image”,”path”:”https:\/\/static....
Taylor Swift, Justin Bieber & All the Record Setters at the 2020 AMAs
Justin Bieber, Dan + Shay, Taylor Swift and The Weeknd were the top winners at the Americn Music Awards on Sunday (Nov. 22), winning three awards each. Swift extended her lead as the artist with the most awards in the show’s 47-year history. She has now won 32 AMAs, eight more than runner-up Michael Jackson. Bieber has now won 18 awards, which puts him in sixth place on the all-time winners list. Taraji P. Henson hosted the show, which was broadcast from the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles. Swift won artist of the year for the sixth time, extending her record in that category; favorite female artist—pop/rock for the fifth time, setting a new record in that category; and favorite video for the second year in a row. In the female pop/rock vocalist category, Swift pushed past Whitney Houston...
2020 Latin Grammys: Kany García, Mike Bahía, Carlos Vives and More Inspiring Speeches
From Mike Bahía’s sweet message after accepting the best new artist award to Kany García’s purposeful best singer-songwriter album acceptance speech, here are their most memorable speeches of the 21st annual Latin Grammys. Kany García, best singer-songwriter album (Mesa Para Dos): “What a beauty. From the bottom of my heart, thank you to Sony Music and Afo Verde who have always allowed me to do music that is born from my heart. Thanks to my love, Puerto Rico. Sending you all a big hug. And thanks to all these songwriters who not only make music to entertain but also music with purpose. And we have to keep writing songs like those because there is a lot happening in Puerto Rico. I’m sending a hug to those 41 victims of gender-based violence and let’s keep pushi...
Doja Cat, Bebe Rexha, Dan + Shay, The Weeknd & More Join 2020 American Music Awards Performer List
The final list of performers for the 2020 American Music Awards includes Bebe Rexha & Doja Cat, Dan + Shay, Lewis Capaldi, MGK and The Weeknd featuring Kenny G. The show, hosted by Taraji P. Henson, will air live on Nov. 22 at 8:00 p.m. ET/PT on ABC from Los Angeles’ Microsoft Theatre. According to dick clark productions and ABC, the new additions will include Rexha joining multiple AMA nominee Doja Cat for a “funky and fierce performance,” while triple-nominees country duo Dan + Shay and singer Capaldi will make their performance debuts on the show, as will rapper Machine Gun Kelly. Top 2020 nominee the Weekend — who has eight nods — will rock “In Your Eyes” with sax machine Kenny G and roll out the televised debut of “Save Your Tears.&#...
Here Are the 8 Likeliest Grammy Nominees in Each of the Big Four Categories
Look for Post Malone, Harry Styles and The Weeknd to do very well in the 63rd annual Grammy nominations, which will be announced on Tuesday (Nov. 24). All three artists could wind up with nominations for album, record and song of the year. Billie Eilish, Megan Thee Stallion, Maren Morris and Taylor Swift could each wind up with nominations in two of the so-called Big Four categories: album, record and song of the year, plus best new artist. For the third year, there will be eight nominees in each of the Big Four categories, up from five. {“nid”:”9399117″,”type”:”post”,”title”:”Recording Academy Announces 9 Rule Changes to Its Grammy Awards & Nominations Process”,”relative_path”:”\/articles\/news\/...
