Frank Ocean will not be winning a Grammy in 2017 because his back-to-back August releases were not submitted by the elusive R&B singer's labels, management or reps, Billboard reported on Monday (October 17).
Despite the incredible anticipation for the sets and the fact they were both released well before the eligibility cutoff date of September 30, neither Blonde or his visual album Endless will be recognized by the Recording Academy. It's an unfortunate move on Ocean's part, considering the critical acclaim and success that the releases were met with. Not only did Blonde debut atop the Billboard 200 for the week ending August 25 with 276K in album units, but it also serves as the third-largest opener of the year.
On the flip side, there's a chance the albums were intentionally not submitted for the Grammys and the fine print makes things fuzzy for Endless anyways. Even though it is considered a visual album, it's only available as a long-form streaming video via Apple Music, which make it ineligible for Billboard charts and an unlikely contender in the video category because the mundane footage just sees Frank building a staircase for the entirety of the 45 minutes.
Either way, the Frank-less 2017 Grammy Awards will air February 12 on CBS.
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