The Weeknd still sounds a little sulky – quite rightly – about those highly controversial recent Grammy snubs.
The Canadian star was interviewed as part of this month’s Billboard cover story alongside his XO Records collaborators. He soon vented about the notorious Grammys snubs that left him without a single nomination following the release of his acclaimed album After Hours.
“An attack,” he said simply.
The Weeknd first showed his anger via Twitter when the nominations list was first announced, asking the Recording Academy for transparency, saying that the Grammys “remain corrupt.” If you’re going to go hard, go really hard.
The star, real name Abel Tesfaye, continued with an analogy: “I use a sucker punch as an analogy,” he said. “Because it just kind of hit me out of nowhere. I definitely felt … I felt things. I don’t know if it was sadness or anger. I think it was just confusion. I just wanted answers. Like, ‘What happened?’
We did everything right, I think. I’m not a cocky person. I’m not arrogant. People told me I was going to get nominated,” he added. “The world told me. Like, ‘This is it; this is your year.’ We were all very confused.”
The Weeknd wasn’t the only one irate when he missed out. Several big names showed their shock at the glaring omission, including Drake.
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He was also quick to stress that the Grammys he actually has – one in 2018 for Starboy and two in 2015 for ‘Earned It’ and Beauty Behind the Madness – “mean nothing to me.”
“Look, I personally don’t care anymore,” he explained. “I have three Grammys, which mean nothing to me now, obviously. It’s not like, ‘Oh, I want the Grammy!’ It’s just that this happened, and I’m down to get in front of the fire, as long as it never happens again.”
“I suck at giving speeches anyways,” he added. “Forget awards shows.”
Check out ‘Earned It’ by The Weeknd:
