British supermodel and actress, Naomi Campbell has called out the Recording Academy after Nigerian afrobeats star, Wizkid, lost two of his nominations at the 2022 Grammy Awards.
KanyiDaily had reported Wizkid was nominated in the Best Global Music Performance category, recognizing new vocal or instrumental Global music recordings.
He also received a second nomination in the Best Global Music Album category for albums containing at least 51% playing time of new vocal or instrumental Global Music recordings.
However, the Nigerian singer lost both nominations as the Best Global Music Performance award was won by Arooj Aftab, Mohabbat, while Angelique Kidjo, Mother Nature, won the Best Global Music Album category.
Wizkid’s loss comes as a surprise to many people who had predicted a double win for the singer in both categories following the success of his hit single “Essence” and album “Made In Lagos”.
Naomi Campbell Calls Out Grammys
In a post shared on her Instagram page, the model accused Grammy of being “tone-deaf”, claiming they always find new ways to misrepresent and neglect the categorization of Afrobeats.
According to her, the ‘Made In Lagos’ album and the hit song ‘Essence’ were placed in the wrong categories because Grammys have refused to give “Afrobeats the representation it deserves.”
Campbell, who described Wizkid as the “king of the people”, said that ‘Made In Lagos’ was a “phenomenal album”, adding that the ‘Essence’ crooner is a winner regardless of what played out at the Grammys.
She wrote, “To my brother @wizkidayo, #MadeinLagos was beyond a phenomenal album!! WINNER WITHOUT DOUBT!.
“You are the KING of the people that have brought AFROBEATS mainstream. That means more than any academy of any sort.
“@recordingacademy, once again you’ve chosen to be tone deaf to what is going on in the universe. Changing World to Global is not not enough.
“Get up to speed on the state of all popular music and include Afrobeats Artist of the year, Song of the year, Album of the year and all the subcategories that this genre so deserves.
“Just as any other respected and recognized musical genre. #MadeinLagos album and song Essence, was clearly in the wrong category.
“How can you ignore the song Essence, the song by Wizkid and Tems that was covered and remixed by Justin Bieber? You seem to isolate it under global when it should have been in Song of the Year category.
“This is a misrepresentation and a neglectful categorization of music once again. Give Afrobeats the representation it deserves.
“You are ignoring 1.3 billion people, it will only make us rise!! Afrobeats in our hearts, Afrobeats to the world.”
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KanyiDaily recalls that two years ago, Naomi Campbell had also called out Grammy organizers after Burna Boy lost to Angelique Kidjo at the 2020 edition of the prestigious awards.
