Naomi Campbell calls Grammys ‘tone deaf’ over Wizkid’s loss

Naomi Campbell, the British actress cum model, has called out the Recording Academy over Wizkid’s loss at the 2022 Grammys.

On Sunday, Wizkid lost the ‘Best Global Music Album’ category to Angelique Kidjo, the Beninese singer.

The ‘Ojuelegba’ crooner was also unable to claim the ‘Best Global Music Performance’ category, which was won by Arooj Aftab, the Pakistani vocalist.

But in a lengthy Instagram post on Tuesday, Campbell tackled the organisers of the Grammy Awards, claiming the ‘Made In Lagos’ album and the hit song ‘Essence’ were placed in the wrong categories.

According to her, ‘Essence’ should have been nominated in the ‘Song of the Year’ category.

She also accused the Grammys of being “tone-deaf”, claiming they always find new ways to misrepresent and neglect the categorization of Afrobeats.

Campbell described Wizkid as the “king of the people”, adding that ‘Made In Lagos’ was a “phenomenal album”.

“To my brother @wizkidayo, #MadeinLagos was beyond a phenomenal album!! WINNER WITHOUT DOUBT!” she wrote.

“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.”

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Naomi Campbell (@naomi)