Zayn Malik released his latest offering, ‘Nobody Is Listening’, in January. Image via Twitter @zaynmalik

‘F**k the Grammys’: Why Zayn Malik is SO over the Grammy Awards

English singer and songwriter Zayn Malik has launched a tirade against music’s Recording Academy just days before the annual Grammy Awards.

by Charlene Badasie

12-03-2021 11:02

in Entertainment

Zayn Malik released his latest offering, ‘Nobody Is Listening’, in January. Image via Twitter @zaynmalik

Zayn Malik has lashed out against music’s prestigious Recording Academy on social media, saying the voting process for Grammy Award nominations was rigged.

“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 confectionary,” he tweeted.

Fuck 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.
— zayn (@zaynmalik) March 9, 2021

Zayn Malik continually ignored by Grammy Awards

Due to Malik’s phenomenal success with One Direction (who never received a single Grammy nomination either), he didn’t make the cut for a Best New Artist nod in 2017.

And even though his I Don’t Wanna Live Forever duet with Taylor Swift won Best Song Written for Visual Media in 2018, the actual award went to the songwriters.This means Zayn Malik hasn’t received any recognition from the Recording Academy in his 11-year music career.

Zayn Malik’s ‘Nobody Is Listening’ also not eligible for this awards season

The 28-year-old’s grievances are understandable to an extent. However, a big difference between him and other disgruntled artists is that Zayn Malik’s latest release, Nobody Is Listening, was not eligible for consideration this awards season because it was only released in January.

The eligibility period for the Grammy Awards began on 1 September 2019, and ended on 31 August 2020.

This led the twitterverse to conclude his anger was either on behalf of other artists or he simply wasn’t aware of his ineligibility. But Malik cleared up any confusion in a follow-up tweet a few hours later.

“My tweet was not personal or about eligibility, but was about the need for inclusion and the lack of transparency of the nomination process.”

He also referred to “the space that creates and allows favouritism, racism and [networking] politics to influence the voting process”.

My tweet was not personal or about eligibility but was about the need for inclusion and the lack of transparency of the nomination process and the space that creates and allows favoritism, racism, and netwokring politics to influence the voting process
— zayn (@zaynmalik) March 10, 2021

How are Grammy winners determined? Watch here to find out:

The 63rd annual Grammy Awards will be broadcast on Sunday 14 March on CBS, with the event at 02:00 Monday South Africa time. The Grammys will also stream live on new service Paramount+ and will will be broadcast locally on DStv.