The Weeknd Performs at Grammys After Boycotting Awards

Five years after boycotting the Grammys, the Canadian-singer, whose real name is Abel Tesfaye, returned to the stage for the 67th Annual Grammy Awards Sunday night.

Performing a medley of music from his new album, Hurry Up Tomorrow, The Weeknd had the Grammys crowd on their feet as they witnessed the monumental moment, with Taylor Swift, Alicia Keys and more giving the Starboy singer a standing ovation at the end of his set.

The performance was introed by Grammys chief, Harvey Mason Jr., who spoke about The Weeknd’s criticism of the organization, which began in 2020, when his smash single “Blinding Lights” — which was shattering streaming records all over the globe at the time, and still remains the most-streamed song in Spotify history — was nominated for zero awards that year.

Calling the Grammys corrupt, The Weeknd took to his Instagram to call out the organization.

“The Grammys remain corrupt,” he wrote at the time. “You owe me, my fans and the entire industry transparency.”

Scooter Braun echoed the musician’s disappointment on Twitter, tweeting out, “I agree. Congrats to all the nominees but @theweeknd and Sal you deserved to be there as well and deserved better. Brilliant artist and brilliant album.”

Justin Bieber, Teyana Taylor, Nicki Minaj and The Killers also voiced their frustrations with the Grammys at the time.

All the chatter prompted a response from Mason, who cited the growing competition in all genres, with an astounding 23,000 record entries per an interview with Variety for what many perceived as a lack of diversity amongst the 2020 nominees.

“We understand that The Weeknd is disappointed at not being nominated. I was surprised and can empathize with what he’s feeling,” Mason said at the time.

He went on to praise the artist, adding, “His music this year was excellent, and his contributions to the music community and broader world are worthy of everyone’s admiration.”

The shocking development not only led to The Weeknd’s boycott of the Grammys, but for Mason Jr. to overhaul the show’s awards department and process, creating a younger and more diverse voting body that is largely to credit for some of Sunday night’s nominees and winners.

Despite the changes, The Weeknd has declined to submit his music for the awards — but that will likely change now that at truce has been struck between him and the Grammys and he has a newly released album and tour on the way.

Hurry Up Tomorrow, the long-awaited third chapter of his After Hours trilogy, features Lana Del Rey, Travis Scott, Future, Florence + the Machine, Giorgio Moroder, Anitta and others.

The album, which was released Thursday, was originally scheduled to be released the week prior, but was delayed out of respect for the tragedy of the Los Angeles wildfires. Proceeds from the album track “Take Me Back To LA” will be donated to LA Regional Food Bank, who are providing emergency food assistance to those directly impacted by the LA wildfires.

Out of respect for those impacted by the crisis, The Weeknd also chose to cancel the planned album release concert at Pasadena’s Rose Bowl and donated 1 million dollars to LAFD Foundation, GoFundMe’s Wildfire Relief Fund, and LA Regional Food Bank instead.

The album will be followed in May by the film of the same name, starring the Weeknd with Jenna Ortega and Barry Keoghan.