The Grammy Awards will go through another bout of soul searching following The Weeknd's intention to boycott the event in the future.
The move is in response to the Canadian RnB singer lashing out at the competition for locking him out of the nominees list for Sunday's ceremony, despite his album After Hours and single Blinding Lights dominating the US charts over the last 12 months.
Harvey Mason Jr, the interim chief executive of the Recording Academy, which runs the award, said the organisation will launch a review into its processes.
"We're all disappointed when anyone is upset," Mason told The New York Times. "But I will say that we are constantly evolving. And this year, as in past years, we are going to take a hard look at how to improve our awards process, including the nomination review committees."
The same old song
While it's unclear what these changes entail, pleas to improve have become a familiar refrain from Grammy Awards organisers.
In the face of dwindling television ratings and mounting controversies, a number of leading artists have accused the ceremony of being non-inclusive and irrelevant.
A particular flash point is the award's alleged mistreatment of African-American artists and hip-hop and RnB genres over the years.
In the awards recent history, the trail of perceived slights includes the likes of stars and hot favourites Beyonce, Kanye West, Kendrick Lamar and Drake missing out on major awards such as Song of the Year and Album of the Year.
This eventually pushed RnB darling Frank Ocean to not submit his critically lauded album Blonde for Grammy consideration in 2016, labelling the event "dated."
While the Grammys eventually responded by expanding the diversity of its membership and setting up new and relevant award committees, the push back continued in 2019 with Drake criticising the award on stage and Childish Gambino not attending the ceremony where he became the first hip-hop artist to win Song of the Year for This Is America.
Who will the win?
Despite The Weeknd’s omission this year, the ceremony is full of tantalising prospects.
Held without an audience in Los Angeles and hosted by comedian Trevor Noah, the industry's biggest night is shaping up to be a pop music battle royale with Beyonce leading the list with nine nominations, followed by Dua Lipa, Taylor Swift and Roddy Ricch with six nominations each.
The trio are all up for the prestigious Record of the Year award.
The full list of performers and nominees is available on the Grammy Awards website.
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Indoor cricket World Cup:
Insportz, Dubai, September 16-23
UAE fixtures:
Men
Saturday, September 16 – 1.45pm, v New Zealand
Sunday, September 17 – 10.30am, v Australia; 3.45pm, v South Africa
Monday, September 18 – 2pm, v England; 7.15pm, v India
Tuesday, September 19 – 12.15pm, v Singapore; 5.30pm, v Sri Lanka
Thursday, September 21 – 2pm v Malaysia
Friday, September 22 – 3.30pm, semi-final
Saturday, September 23 – 3pm, grand final
Women
Saturday, September 16 – 5.15pm, v Australia
Sunday, September 17 – 2pm, v South Africa; 7.15pm, v New Zealand
Monday, September 18 – 5.30pm, v England
Tuesday, September 19 – 10.30am, v New Zealand; 3.45pm, v South Africa
Thursday, September 21 – 12.15pm, v Australia
Friday, September 22 – 1.30pm, semi-final
Saturday, September 23 – 1pm, grand final
Another way to earn air miles
In addition to the Emirates and Etihad programmes, there is the Air Miles Middle East card, which offers members the ability to choose any airline, has no black-out dates and no restrictions on seat availability. Air Miles is linked up to HSBC credit cards and can also be earned through retail partners such as Spinneys, Sharaf DG and The Toy Store.
An Emirates Dubai-London round-trip ticket costs 180,000 miles on the Air Miles website. But customers earn these ‘miles’ at a much faster rate than airline miles. Adidas offers two air miles per Dh1 spent. Air Miles has partnerships with websites as well, so booking.com and agoda.com offer three miles per Dh1 spent.
“If you use your HSBC credit card when shopping at our partners, you are able to earn Air Miles twice which will mean you can get that flight reward faster and for less spend,” says Paul Lacey, the managing director for Europe, Middle East and India for Aimia, which owns and operates Air Miles Middle East.
GOLF’S RAHMBO
- 5 wins in 22 months as pro
- Three wins in past 10 starts
- 45 pro starts worldwide: 5 wins, 17 top 5s
- Ranked 551th in world on debut, now No 4 (was No 2 earlier this year)
- 5th player in last 30 years to win 3 European Tour and 2 PGA Tour titles before age 24 (Woods, Garcia, McIlroy, Spieth)
UPI facts
More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions
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Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
Marathon results
Men:
1. Titus Ekiru(KEN) 2:06:13
2. Alphonce Simbu(TAN) 2:07:50
3. Reuben Kipyego(KEN) 2:08:25
4. Abel Kirui(KEN) 2:08:46
5. Felix Kemutai(KEN) 2:10:48
Women:
1. Judith Korir(KEN) 2:22:30
2. Eunice Chumba(BHR) 2:26:01
3. Immaculate Chemutai(UGA) 2:28:30
4. Abebech Bekele(ETH) 2:29:43
5. Aleksandra Morozova(RUS) 2:33:01
The specs
Engine: 2.0-litre four-cylinder turbo
Power: 178hp at 5,500rpm
Torque: 280Nm at 1,350-4,200rpm
Transmission: seven-speed dual-clutch auto
Price: from Dh209,000
On sale: now
MATCH INFO
Kolkata Knight Riders 245/6 (20 ovs)
Kings XI Punjab 214/8 (20 ovs)
Kolkata won by 31 runs
