Halsey Commented On Being Shut Out Of The Grammys

Following the 2021 Grammy nominations, the big topic of the night was the across-the-board snub for The Weeknd, who was long considered a frontrunner in both the Album of the Year and Song of the Year categories. In the aftermath, the Canadian artist wasted no time making his disappointment clear, calling out The Recording Academy for their "corruption" and lack of "transparency" before confirming that he would not be performing at the ceremony, as was once planned. Well, apparently, The Weeknd wasn't the only artist who was upset over his lack of nominations. Over the weekend, former NYLON cover star Halsey called out The Recording Academy, too, citing its "elusive process" and accusing its members of accepting "not-bribes."

On Saturday, just four days after Grammy nominations came out, when most Americans were still stuffing their faces with Thanksgiving leftovers, Halsey took to Instagram Stories to air her grievances about the dearth of nominations for her critically-acclaimed album Manic, which she released earlier this year in January. "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," she began.

She later dove into specific accusations against The Recording Academy. Like The Weeknd, Halsey also clearly thinks the institution is corrupt. "The Grammys are an elusive process," she said. "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 ambiguous enough to pass as 'not-bribes'. And if you get that far, it's about committing to exclusive TV performances and making sure you help the Academy make their millions in advertising on the night of the show."

"Perhaps sometimes it is (!!) but it's not always about the music or quality or culture. Just wanted to get that off my chest," she continued before signing off with an expression of solidarity with The Weeknd. "[The Weeknd] deserves better, and Manic did too. Perhaps it's unbecoming of me to say so but I don't care anymore. While I am THRILLED for my talented friends who were recognized this year, I am hoping for more transparency or reform. But I'm sure this post will blacklist me anyway."

Whether Halsey's post will, indeed, blacklist her from The Recording Academy's biggest night in the future is, of course, yet to be determined. After all, following The Weeknd's callout, The Recording Academy Chief Harvey Mason Jr. responded with "empathy" for Tesfaye's discontentment and ensured that "as the only peer-voted music award, [The Recording Academy] will continue to recognize and celebrate excellence in music while shining a light on the many amazing artists that make up our global community.”

We shall see in 2022.

Check out Halsey's post below, courtesy of Twitter's favorite news source @PopCrave.