Celebrity Scoop – 11/25/2020

BEYONCE LEADS 2021 GRAMMY NOMINATIONS – (11/25/2020)

The 2021 Grammy nominations were announced yesterday (November 24th) and Beyonce scored the most nods with nine nominations.  The superstar is up for Record of The Year, Song of the Year, Best R&B Performance and Best R&B Song for “Black Parade.”  

In addition, she is also nominated for Best Music Video for “Brown Skin Girl” and Best Music Film for Black Is King. To top it all off, “Savage,” the singer’s collaboration with Megan Thee Stallion is also up for Record of the Year, Best Rap Performance and Best Rap Song.

According to Billboard, this gives Beyonce seven career record of the year nods — and she is now tied with Frank Sinatra for the most record of the year nods in Grammy history. She is now the top female artist in this category.  Beyonce is also the second artist to receive two record of the year nods in one year. 

Taylor Swift snagged six nominations including Album of the Year and Best Pop Vocal album for Folklore. She also snagged her fifth Song of the Year nod for “Cardigan.” Meanwhile, Dua Lipa is up for Album of the Year for Future Nostalgia and her single “Don’t Start Now” is nominated for both record and song of the year. 

JAY-Z MAKES HISTORY, THE WEEKND SNUBBED

Other nominees include Roddy Rich, who scored six nods, while Billie Eillish, Megan Thee Stallion and DaBaby all snagged four nominations. Jay-Z received three nods and he is now officially tied with Quincy Jones for the artist with the most Grammy nods, with 80 nominations. 

Surprisingly, The Weeknd was snubbed and didn’t receive a single nomination for his album After Hours. The singer-songwriter reacted to the news on Twitter, writing, “The Grammys remain corrupt. You owe me, my fans and the industry transparency…”

The 2021 Grammy Awards, which will be hosted by Trevor Noah, is set to air on January 31st. 

REPORT: THE GRAMMYS GAVE THE WEEKND AN ULTIMATUM BEFORE SNUB – (11/25/2020)

Reports say that the Grammys gave The Weeknd an ultimatum:  perform at the Grammys or the Super Bowl prior to the nomination snub. According to TMZ, sources say that the singer-songwriter’s team was in talks for weeks with the Grammys and both sides eventually came to an agreement where The Weeknd could do both shows but “not without negotiations getting very testy.”

Sources say that there is growing suspicion that The Weekend’s decision to perform at the SuperBowl cost him Grammy  nominations because the  “bitter back-and-forth talks p*ssed off Grammy honchos.”

As for why the Grammys were playing hardball in trying to book The Weeknd exclusively, the site reported that it may be due to duplicate performances and the fact that the awards show and the SuperBowl is one week apart. Sources say that The Weeknd and his team “feel the dispute might have something to do with his exclusion.” 

THE RECORDING ACADEMY SPEAKS ON THE WEEKND’S SNUB

Prior to The Weeknd’s tweet, the Recording Academy’s interim president and CEO Harvey Mason Jr.  addressed the snub, stating that the decision came down to the number of votes and limited slots in each category.

He told Billboard, “For The Weeknd, in every year you only have a certain amount of people you can nominate for each category. … We are excited about some of the other categories where he was nominated. It’s never easy to tell where people are going to land.”

He later told Variety, “… All the records get the fairest of fair shakes. We listen to all the music — even an album, you’re listening to almost the whole album, it takes I don’t know how many hours,” he said. “It’s a long, arduous process and people take pride in it. The people in that room care: there’s no agendas in there, there’s no ‘let’s snub this person’ or that person. It’s about. ‘Let’s try and find excellence.’ Also, you have to remember that committee can’t vote on something that’s not there.”

JUSTIN BIEBER SAYS ‘CHANGES’ IS NOT A POP ALBUM – (11/25/2020)

Justin Bieber may have received four Grammy nominations, but the singer is not happy.

The “Yummy” singer took to Instagram Tuesday (November 24th) to complain about being nominated in the Pop categories instead of R&B.

He wrote, “I am very meticulous and intentional about my music. With that being said, I set out to make an R&B album. Changes was and is an R&B album. It is not being acknowledged as an R&B album, which is very strange to me.”

Despite his concerns, he did conclude the post by expressing his gratitude, saying, “I am honored to be nominated either way.”

He is currently nominated for Best Pop Solo Performance (for “Yummy”), Best Pop Duo/Group Performance (“Intentions,” featuring Quavo), Best Pop Vocal Album (Changes), and Best Country Duo/Group Performance (for his feature on Dan + Shay’s “10,000 Hours”).

CARDI B GOES OFF ON WIZ KHALIFA FOR GRAMMY CRITICISM – (11/25/2020)

Please note the following story contains language that could be considered offensive.

Cardi B fired back at Wiz Khalifa yesterday (November 24th) after he responded to a comment about Cardi B winning a Grammy before Nicki Minaj. It all started when Nicki Minaj took to Twitter to criticize the Grammys, saying, “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. They gave it to the white man Bon Iver. #PinkFriday.”

In response, someone tweeted, “cardi winning a Grammy when nicki minaj didn’t is the biggest proof that they don’t know a sh*t bout music.” Wiz responded, “Most self made artists have this problem.” 

Cardi was offended and responded by posting a past DM from Wiz showing her love and support. She wrote, “This was N*kkas in my dms in 2016!They really support you when you grinding at the bottom then it’s a different story when you make it!”

She continued, “I don’t understand why n*ggas entertain tweets that pit successful women against each other? Ya not tired of that? Specially when ya was rooting hard when a b*tch was at the bottom.”

Cardi’s husband Offset reacted by tweeting, “N*ggas be h*es!! Smh.” Cardi’s collaborator Pardi also reacted, basically calling Wiz Khalifa salty.

Wiz responded to Cardi, saying, “I still support u. Nothings changed. Your self made in my book as well.” 

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