Justin Bieber complains about being nominated in pop categories for ‘Changes’ instead of R&B at 2021 Grammys, receives backlash from netizens

By Bollywood Hungama News Network -

November 25, 2020 - 5:13 PM IST

The 2021 Grammys nominations were announced on Tuesday, November 24. The eligibility period for award recognition was between September 1, 2019, to August 31, 2020. While big names like Taylor Swift, Beyonce, Dua Lipa, Roddy Ricch, BTS, Justin Bieber, and more received nods, many huge names were snubbed including The Weeknd and Halsey who had the biggest years with their albums 'After Hours' and 'Manic', respectively. Justin Bieber was grateful for the recognition but he wondered how his album was nominated in pop categories when 'Changes' was an R&B album.

Justin Bieber complains about being nominated in pop categories for ‘Changes’ instead of R&B at 2021 Grammys, receives backlash from netizens

Justin Bieber received four nominations including Best Pop Solo Performance for 'Yummy', Best Pop Duo/Group Performance 'Intentions' featuring Quavo, Best Pop Vocal Album, and Best Country Duo/Group Performance for his collaboration with Dan + Shay’s on '10,000 Hours'.

“To the Grammys,” he wrote on Instagram on Tuesday. “I am flattered to be acknowledged and appreciated for my artistry. I am very meticulous and intentional about my music. With that being said, 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. I grew up admiring R&B music and wished to make a project that would embody that sound. For this not to be put into that category feels weird, considering from the chords to the melodies to the vocal style, all the way down to the hip-hop drums that were chosen, it is undeniably, unmistakably an R&B album!"

“To be clear,” he further added, “I absolutely love Pop music, it was just wasn’t what I set out to make this time around. My gratitude for feeling respected for my work remains and I am honored to be nominated either way.”

He captioned his post, “Please don’t mistake this as me being ungrateful, these are just my thoughts take em or leave em. Thank you to the people who fought for me to even have any noms.”

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Justin Bieber (@justinbieber)

While many big names were shut out, Justin Bieber's statement did not get down well with netizens who slammed him. One section said that 'Changes' shouldn't have been nominated in main categories, whereas many said he was being ungrateful.