Fiona Apple was nominated for three Grammys this year, but the singer-songwriter said in a video message on Sunday morning that she would be skipping the biggest night of the song.
“I don’t want to be on national television,” she said in a video posted on Instagram by filmmaker Zelda Hallman. “I am no longer made for that kind of thing.”
Apple won a Grammy for Best Female Rock Vocal Performance in 1998 for its song “Criminal”. In 2020, she released her first album in eight years, Take the screw cutters. In the first award on Sunday, he won the Grammy for Best Alternative Music Album, as well as Best Rock Performance for his track “Shameika”.
Although she wished the best for the other nominees and attendees at the ceremony, Apple said it simply did not want to go alone.
“I want to sober up and I can’t do it soberly,” she said. “I don’t think it’s safe to be in that kind of exposure or scrutiny compared to people.”
She added that skipping the ceremony was not a protest on her part, although she acknowledged the problems she has with the Grammy. The awards have attracted more and more criticism from musicians, most recently The Weeknd, who said he would boycott for lack of transparency.
Instead, Apple asked fans to support transparency in US courts. She asked supporters, in particular, to sign a petition to maintain virtual access for court observers in Prince George County, Maryland.
“They are trying to exclude us and you have to question that,” she said. “Like, why are you trying to exclude us? What don’t you want us to see?”
A major problem has been inaccessible, or in some cases unguarded, bail, which consists of keeping people suspected of non-violent crimes in prison pending trial, she added.
“This is ruining families and fucking the future that we need to help protect,” she said.