Zayn slams Grammys moments before 2021 awards: ‘End the secret committees’

Zayn Malik has slammed the Grammys once again, this time moments before the 2021 ceremony was set to kick off.

“@recordingacad are moving in inches and we need to move in miles,” the singer wrote. “I’m keeping the pressure on & fighting for transparency & inclusion. We need to make sure we are honoring and celebrating ‘creative excellence’ of ALL. End the secret committees. Until then ... #f**kthegrammys.”

The Sunday (14 March) tweet followed another social media post Zayn wrote last Tuesday:

The singer and songwriter tweeted on Tuesday: “F*** the Grammys and everyone associated. Unless you shake hands and send gifts, there’s no nomination considerations. Next year I’ll send you a basket of confectionary.”

Malik has never been personally been nominated for a Grammy, although the song “I Don't Wanna Live Forever”, which he recorded with Taylor Swift for the Fifty Shades Darker soundtrack, was nominated for Best Song Written for Visual Media during the 2018 ceremony.

His most recent solo album, Nobody Is Listening, was released in January 2021.

READ MORE: Grammys 2021 - live: Red carpet and winners as they’re announced

The former One Direction member joins in a chorus of other artists calling for change and transparency at the Grammys. A few days ago, The Weeknd gave a statement to The New York Times saying that he would boycott the awards from now on. “Because of the secret committees,” The Weeknd said, “I will no longer allow my label to submit my music to the Grammys.”

The day of the nominations, 23 November, The Weeknd reacted to his lack of nominations, despite having released one of the biggest and most commercially successful albums of 2020.

Other artists who have spoken out against the Grammys include Frank Ocean, who boycotted the 2017 ceremony over representation concerns.

More recently, Nicki Minaj tweeted on 24 November – one day after the 2021 nominations were announced – that she had been snubbed for 2012’s best new artist award.

“Never forget the Grammys didn’t give me my best new artist award when I had 7 songs simultaneously charting on billboard & bigger first week than any female rapper in the last decade- went on to inspire a generation,” she wrote. “They gave it to the white man Bon Iver.”

That same day, Teyana Taylor also called out the Recording Academy for having an all-male nominee list for best r&b album. “Y’all was better off just saying best MALE R&B ALBUM cause all I see is d*** in this category,” she wrote.

According to the Recording Academy’s website, the Grammy Awards are “voted on by the Recording Academy's voting membership, which is comprised of music creators, including artists, producers, songwriters, and engineers”.

Speaking to the future of the Recording Academy’s secret committees, interim president and CEO Harvey Mason Jr recently told Variety, “As our membership grows and improves, I think it will affect whether certain categories need nomination committees. The committees were put in place because we felt things were getting lost in the shuffle, a lot of really good music that came out late in the eligibility period was getting overlooked. The other thing we were finding was that some big names were using their popularity and influence to [attain nominations] in other categories that they’re not normally in, and be able to win based on name recognition.

“We always want to be sure we honoring excellence in every category, so that’s kind of the genesis of how those categories began. And as we start to get more refined and more diverse and reflective in our membership, I think we can see a time when the membership can ultimately have a bigger hand in choosing the nominees.”