Entertainment
Grammys boss reacts to Beyoncé choosing not to perform at 2021 awards despite leading nominations: ‘It’s unfortunate’
Beyoncé may be the most-nominated artist at this year’s Grammy Awards, but she’s decided against performing on stage during this year’s virtual event.
It’s not unusual for the most-nominated star not to perform, with Kendrick Lamar and Beyoncé’s husband Jay-Z both doing the same in years past, but that doesn’t mean that execs aren’t disappointed that Bey won’t be storming the stage.
Speaking about this year’s awards which will take place in LA on Sunday night, the Recording Academy’s CEO Harvey Mason Jr ruled out rumours of a surprise performance from Beyoncé.
Commenting on her absence, he said it was ‘unfortunate’ that the Love On Top hit-maker – who has been nominated for a huge nine awards – won’t be there.
‘It’s unfortunate because she’s such a big part of the Recording Academy,’ he told The LA Times.
‘We absolutely wish we had on stage.’
Grammys producer Ben Winston teased that another female artist turned down the chance to perform at the ceremony this year and said it was because they were still ‘annoyed’ about being ‘snubbed’ from the awards three years earlier.
He recalled: ‘She was like, “I got snubbed three years ago and I’m still annoyed about it.” I told her, “Right, but you know that’s nothing to do with me?” and she said, “I don’t know – it sort of is, isn’t it?”‘
This year, The Weeknd was seen calling out the Grammys after his nominations snub and accused the awards of ‘corruption’.
He failed to secure a single nod despite his track Blinding Lights being one of the biggest songs of 2020 and his album After Hours debuting at number one in both the UK and the US.
He was due to perform at the Grammys, but it was later claimed there was tensions with bosses after he signed up to perform the Super Bowl half-time show and he was advised to choose between them. Sources claimed that the dispute could have led to the singer’s lack of nominations, but Grammys execs denied that was the case.
CEO Mason Jr said in response: ‘We understand that The Weeknd is disappointed at not being nominated. I was surprised and can empathise 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 affected the nomination process.’
Beyoncé leads this year’s nominations, with her song Black Parade up for both record of the year and song of the year, while Dua Lipa, Taylor Swift and Megan Thee Stallion also received nods.
K-pop boyband BTS made history as they landed their first ever nod for their track Dynamite.
The Grammy Awards will air live on CBS from Staples Corner and the LA Convention Centre at 8pm ET (1am in the UK) on Sunday March 14.
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