Big scoop this afternoon from Variety:
Drake has withdrawn his two Grammy nominations. He doesn’t want them. They were for Rap Album of the Year and Rap Song of the Year.
The album is called “Certified Lover Boy.” I think now Drake is kind of a certified nut job.
The withdrawal is not a big deal. I don’t think many care whether he keeps the nominations or gives them back. He wasn’t going to come to the Grammys anyway.
Drake is probably pissed that “Certified Lover Boy” was nominated for Album of the Year in the General category. Hey– at least he was nominated. Kacey Musgraves won the Album of the Year in 2019 was totally snubbed this year in the General category, and in country!
I think Drake is taking all of this too seriously. He needs a sense of humor. It’s not like he doesn’t have millions of fans, millions of dollars, and millions of homes.
Another Grammy twist this week: the Recording Academy removed the names of Taylor Swift, Jack Antonoff and St. Vincent from a song called “deja vu” on the album, “Sour” by Olivia Rodrigo. Rodrigo sampled their songs in her song, so when her album was nominated for Album of the Year, the actual writers were included. But the Academy decided that since those three didn’t write for “Sour” directly, they shouldn’t get a Grammy nod.
Hey– I think that if you sample other peoples’ work, you shouldn’t be nominated at all. It’s not your work. But I’m an old coot who watched Paul McCartney write “Get Back” on video last week, himself, without sampling anyone and the song has lasted 50 years. These sampled constructions do not stand the test of time. PS Two songs called “Deja Vu” — one by Dionne Warwick, the other by Crosby Stills & Nash-– are infinitely better.
The Recording Academy said: “During the submission process, the Academy received credits from the label for the track ‘deja vu.’ Last week, we received the correct credits from the label, which recognize Annie Clark (St. Vincent), Jack Antonoff and Taylor Swift as songwriters of an interpolation on the track. In keeping with current Grammy guidelines, as songwriters of an interpolated track, Clark, Antonoff and Swift are not nominees in the Album of the Tear category for SOUR. Antonoff and Swift are nominated in the category for Swift’s album evermore.”
It doesn’t matter anyway. The Tony Bennett-Lady Gaga album, “Love for Sale,” is going to win Album of the Year. So move around the chairs on that Titanic.
As for Drake, lighten up, my friend. To paraphrase Seinfeld, “Everyone loves the Drake!”
