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The 63rd Grammy Awards has caused controversy for the nominations, long before it is presented.
While The Weeknd accused The Recording Academy of being corrupt, Justin Bieber objected to the Grammy nomination that put his R&B album ‘Changes‘ into the pop vocal album category and criticized the genre categorization through an Instagram post.
Canadian singer, who received four Grammy nominations this year for Best Pop Solo Performance (for ‘Yummy’ from ‘Changes’), Best Pop Duo/Group Performance (for ‘Intentions’ ft. Quavo), Best Pop Vocal Album and Best Country Duo/Group Performance (for ‘10,000 Hours’ with Dan + Shay), took to his verified Instagram shortly after the nominations had been officially announced, and expressed his dissatisfaction regarding that ‘Changes’ is being recognized as a pop album.
The ‘Holy’ singer posted a screenshot of the statement written on Notes App; he began his message as follows:
“To the Grammys, I am flattered to be acknowledged and appreciated for my artistry. 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.”
Then the singer, who grew up admiring R&B music and desired to make a project which includes that sound, added that ‘Changes’ is not being acknowledged as an R&B album which is very strange to him.
“For this not to be put in that category feels weird considering from the chords to the melodies to the vocal style all the way down to the hip hop drums that were chosen, it is undeniably, unmistakably an R&B album!”
Even though Bieber loves pop music, that kind of nomination/recognition wasn’t what he set out to make.
“My gratitude for feeling respected for my work remains and I am honored to be nominated either way.”
Bieber’s fifth studio album, ‘Changes,’ which was released on February 14, 2020, launched as “an R&B and electro-R&B album with trap elements.” Rolling Stone‘s Brittany Spanos described the album, featuring R&B and Hip-Hop stars including Quavo, Post Malone, Clever, Lil Dicky, Travis Scott, Kehlani, and Summer Walker, as the “honeymoon phase in R&Bieber form.”
See below to view Bieber’s Instagram post.