After the 53 annual Grammy Awards nominations were announced Tuesday, the singer took to Twitter to express his feelings about it.
CNN has reached out for comment from the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, the organization behind the Grammys.
It had been a big year for the Canadian, whose “After Hours” album was both a critical and commercial success. Many industry observers considered his single, “Blinding Lights,” a frontrunner for song of the year.
So, there was some confusion when The Weeknd was completely shut out.
“I was surprised and can empathize with what he’s feeling. His music this year was excellent…,” his statement read. “We were thrilled when we found out he would be performing at the upcoming Super Bowl and we would have loved to have him also perform on the Grammy stage the weekend before …To be clear, voting in all categories ended well before The Weeknd’s performance at the Super Bowl was announced, so in no way could it have affected the nomination process.”
The Recording Academy has always long been plagued with criticism that it is out of step with the preferences of the consumers.