Drake withdraws his Grammy nominations after suggesting the show 'may no longer matter'

Drake won't be up for two Grammys this year after all, as the rapper is taking himself out of consideration.

Drake has withdrawn his two Grammy nominations, the Recording Academy confirmed to Variety. The nominations were already announced on Nov. 23, and Drake's "Way 2 Sexy" was nominated for Best Rap Performance, while his album Certified Lover Boy was nominated for Best Rap Album.

But the Grammys website showed that both of these nominations have been removed, and those categories will now only have four nominees. According to Variety, Drake and his management made the decision to withdraw the nominations, though it wasn't immediately clear why. The news comes after voting for the Grammys began.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

While Drake didn't comment on his decision to withdraw his nominations, he slammed the Grammys last year after the Weeknd was snubbed, writing on Instagram, "I think we should stop allowing ourselves to be shocked every year by the disconnect between impactful music and these awards and just accept that what once was the highest form of recognition may no longer matter to the artists that exist now and the ones that come after. It's like a relative you keep expecting to fix up but they just can't change their ways."

The Grammys instituted a number of changes for this year's ceremony, including eliminating "secret" nomination committees. But the Weeknd, who had taken issue with these nomination committees, said he would still boycott the show, telling Variety in May, "The trust has been broken for so long between the Grammy organization and artists that it would be unwise to raise a victory flag."