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Music

Ariana Grande Is Reportedly Skipping the Grammys

Variety reports the singer is expected not to show at this year's award show after a discrepancy over "7 Rings."
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Queens, US
Ariana Grande
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It looks like Ariana Grande may be sitting Grammy season out this year, despite being nominated for Best Pop Vocal Album and Best Pop Vocal Performance. According to Variety, a disagreement about the singer's setlist for Sunday's show was enough to cause Grande to withdraw from the award show altogether.

A source close to the Sweetener singer told Variety Grande felt "insulted" after Grammys producers nixed a full rendition of "7 Rings" as a part of her performance, relegating the controversial song only to a medley. The report claims the show's producers wanted creative control of the other songs that would appear in the medley, a demand that wasn't enforced for other performers.

The news of Grande pulling out from the Grammys comes at a time where the award show appears to be trying to repair Neil Portnow's comments about women from last year's show. According to Portnow, if women wanted to be recognized they should "step up." The 2018 Grammys faced more backlash after Alessia Cara was the only woman to be honored during the broadcast. If Grande's situation sounds eerily familiar, that's because it is. Last year, Lorde declined to perform after being the only Album of the Year nominee without a solo performance. The Melodrama singer was reportedly asked to perform in a Tom Petty tribute. The prospect of the show wanting to micromanage Grande's performance poses questions on whether the Recording Academy has truly learned their lesson.

Kristin Corry is a staff writer for Noisey. Follow her on Twitter.