Beyonce leads, The Weeknd snubbed
Pop diva Beyonce swept the 63rd Grammy Awards nominations by receiving nine nods, with Taylor Swift and Dua Lipa following close with six each. The nominations for the 63rd Grammy Awards were announced on November 24, according to the Recording Academy's official website.
Out of nine, Beyonce earned four nominations - record of the year, song of the year, best R&B performance and best R&B song - for 'Black Parade', a protest anthem released at the peak of the Black Lives Matter protests earlier this year. These nods have made her Grammys' most-nominated female artist ever. She is now at a tie with Beatles legend Paul McCartney with 79 nominations for the second-most nominations of all time.
Beyonce is one shy of equalling the maximum nominations record of 80, currently held by veteran producer Quincy Jones, and her husband, rapper Jay-Z.
In a major surprise snub, R&B star The Weeknd received no nominations, despite having the biggest-selling album this year with 'After Hours'. The singer, who was expected to rule the main categories, after picking up multiple awards at both the 'MTV VMAs' and the 'American Music Awards 2020' called out the 'Recording Academy' for ignoring him in the nominations.
"The Grammys remain corrupt. You owe me, my fans and the industry transparency," The Weeknd, whose real name is Abel Makkonen Tesfaye, tweeted after the nomination announcement.
Grammy chief Harvey Mason Jr responded to his claims of 'corruption' and said that though he too was surprised that the singer 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.
South Korean sensation BTS claimed their first music nod with the chartbuster track 'Dynamite', their first full-fledged English song, in the best pop duo/group performance category. 'Dynamite', which released on August 21, is the group's first full-fledged English language single and their career's first Billboard Hot 100 No 1 hit.
Another interesting thing is to see that the 2021 Grammy Awards nominations are all about women power with Taylor Swift and Dua Lipa also leading the nominations' list.
Swift is expected to win album of the year for a third time with her chartbuster lockdown album 'Folklore'. She also bagged one for 'Beautiful Ghosts', her song from the critically-panned film 'Cats'.
Lipa, who won the Grammy for best new artist two years ago, has been nominated for her disco-esque album 'Future Nostalgia'.
Megan Thee Stallion, whose real name is Megan Pete, earned a best new artist nod. Billie Eilish bagged several nods for her single 'Everything I Wanted' along with her Bond theme song 'No Time to Die'.
Another recognition for the Black Lives Matter movement came with singer-songwriter HER aka Gabriella Wilson's ballad, 'I Can't Breathe' being nominated for song of the year.
The 2021 Grammy Awards will be hosted by 'The Daily Show' presenter Trevor Noah and it will air live in India on the VH1 channel on January 31.
