Grammy nominations

Lol at The Weeknd getting 0 noms because he’d rather perform at the Superbowl than at the fucking Grammys.

FWIW, the Recording Academy head denies that is the reason (“voting in all categories ended well before The Weeknd’s performance at the Super Bowl was announced, so in no way could it have affected the nomination process.”)

It’s rumors at this point, but there’s definitely something fishy going on.

Meanwhile...
no black artists in any of the major categories

last year, three of 2019’s eight album of the year nominees were recorded by Black talent. The previous year, the number was five. Why are they going even farther in the wrong direction? The last Black artist to win album of the year was Herbie Hancock for “River: The Joni Letters” in 2008.

I’m still not over Macklemore winning rap album of the year against Kendrick Lamar.

Is the absence of "WAP" (the WAPsence?) a big deal, or was that inventible?

iirc it was not submitted

Correct

Was the Weeknd expected to be nominated? I don't understand how he was "snubbed" any more than anyone else.

The Weeknd was probably a frontrunner for the major awards, so it's very surprising he got ZERO nominations. For a second I thought there may be a technicality involved, but nope.

There's more analysis here and here (sorry for all the Variety links, I don't work there or anything).

Also an update on the Grammys vs. Super Bowl performance thing.

considering how bad his very popular music is i am shocked he didn't get more grammy nominations

"blinding lights" getting no noms is pretty shocking given that it was easily the biggest multiformat radio hit of the year and is i guess generally considered a good song by serious folks. it's rare that major hits that are even somewhat critically respected fail to receive a nomination in any category.

if the 'r&b ppl thought he was pop and pop ppl thought he was r&b' scenario that variety posits is even somewhat true then wow the racist buffoons populating the industry are even worse than i previously imagined. then again i shouldn't be that surprised considering billboard is still listing "blinding lights" on its 'hot r&b songs' chart, where it's now been #1 for 36 weeks (lol)

is "Blinding Lights" that song that goes like bah-da-da-da-duh, da-da-da-da-duuuuhhhh

Probably

yes