Grammys respond to Justin Bieber’s complaint about Pop category nominations

‘We always want to respect the artist’s wishes,’ said the head of the Recording Academy

The Recording Academy has issued a response to Justin Bieber’s complaint that his album was nominated in the wrong category at the 2021 Grammy Awards.

Bieber received four nominations earlier this week, three of which were in Pop categories: Best Pop Vocal Album for Changes, Best Pop Solo Performance, and Best Pop Duo/Group Performance.

His other nomination was for Best Country Duo/Group Performance.

The singer-songwriter described the categorisation of his music as “strange” and “weird” in an Instagram post.

Though he thanked the Grammys for “appreciating his artistry”, Bieber claimed: “I set out to make an R&B album. Changes was and is an R&B album. It is not being acknowledged as an R&B album, which is very strange to me.”

In an interview with Pitchfork, Recording Academy Chair and Interim President/CEO Harvey Mason Jr addressed Bieber’s complaints.

“We always want to respect the artist’s wishes,” he said. “Art’s a funny thing because it’s so subjective, and at the Academy our goal is to honour excellence.

“At some point, decisions have to be made as to how to compare different things, and it is a very tough process and one I don’t think we get right every time. We use our best efforts to get people where they wanna be and where they should be and try to evaluate them as best as we can. If he felt that was that type of a record, then, you know… I’ll just leave it at that.”