Former One Direction member and solo pop star Zayn Malik lashed out at the Recording Academy on Tuesday (March 9) days before the Grammy Awards take place on Sunday March 14.
Zayn is frustrated with a voting process that he feels is unfair and left him out of the running.
2021 Grammy Awards Full List of Nominees – Harry Styles, Mickey Guyton
“F— the grammys and everyone associated. Unless you shake hands and send gifts, there’s no nomination considerations,” he tweeted. “Next year I’ll send you a basket of confectionary.”
However, according to Billboard, Zayn isn’t eligible this year.
The eligibility period for the 2021 Grammys began on Sept. 1, 2019, and ended on Aug. 31, 2020. Zayn’s third studio effort, Nobody Is Listening, could not have received any Grammy nominations since it was released on Jan. 15, 2021. Not even its first single, “Better,” would have qualified since it came out on Sept. 25, 2020, one month after the Grammys eligibility period ended.
As far as being nominated in the Best New Artist category, he could have been nominated in 2017. But the Academy passed him over due to his former success with the massively popular One Direction.
“This was actually pretty clear cut given the international success of One Direction. It’s been a few years since Zayn Malik came to prominence as a member of that group, making him ineligible for the best new artist category this year,” Bill Freimuth, former senior vice president of awards and current chief awards officer at the Recording Academy, said at the time.
Speaking of One Direction, Zayn’s former bandmate, Harry Styles is up for a slew of awards this year. He’s nominated in three categories: best pop solo performance for his first Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 hit “Watermelon Sugar,” best pop vocal album for his sophomore album Fine Line, and best music video for “Adore You.”
The 63rd annual Grammy Awards will air live on Sunday (Mar. 14) at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT on CBS, Paramount+ and Grammy.com.
