This week the Grammys are upon us once again. Postponed from January 31st due to the pandemic, there is already controversy surrounding the annual award show. The ceremony will be hosted by “The Daily Show” host Trevor Noah. It will be conducted half virtual and half in-person, similar to the Golden Globes and the Emmys. The live segment will be broadcast from Los Angeles.

Fans are particularly opinionated about this year’s award show because of outbursts from Super Bowl Halftime performer, The Weeknd and ex-One Directioner, Zayn Malik. After being reportedly snubbed of a nomination for his album After Hours by the Recording Academy, the Weeknd had tweeted “The Grammys remain corrupt. You owe me, my fans, and the industry transparency.” Malik also took to Twitter writing “F–k 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 confectionery.” Obviously, there is scandal surrounding the show and in the words of singer Halsey, there are bribes ambiguous enough to be considered “not bribes”  to earn a nomination or a win. 

This is not the first time the Recording Academy has been reprimanded for their choice in nominees and winners. Back in 2013, Taylor Swift fans were outraged after Swift had lost the title of Album of the Year for her album Red to Random Access Memories by Daft Punk. Although Red had sold 1.21 million copies in the first week compared to Daft Punk’s 339,000 copies, statistics are clearly not a factor in Grammy voting.   

The competitive categories in this year’s show remain the “big” ones. These include Album of the Year, Record of the Year, Song of the Year, and Best New Artist. The categories feature a range of genres in their nominees from rap artists to country artists. There is high anticipation for Taylor Swift’s Folklore to win the six nominations it is up for in return for her second corrupt loss in 2018 with reputation. There is definitely bound to be some controversy among fans and voters. 

The 2021 Grammy’s will be giving out several lifetime achievement awards and a posthumous award to Selena Quintanilla following her popular Netflix biopic. There will be performances live and virtual from Mickey Guyton, Billie Eilish, Taylor Swift, Harry Styles,  and many more. You can watch these performances along with other Grammy controversy on March 14th at 8 pm EST on CBS.