Fiona Apple Calls Out Grammys Over Dr. Luke Nomination, More in New Interview

Fiona Apple discussed the Grammys in a new interview with Laura Snapes for The Guardian. Apple, who’s up for three awards at the 2021 ceremony, mentioned Lukasz “Dr. Luke” Gottwald’s Record of the Year nomination for his pseudonymous work as Tyson Trax on Doja Cat’s “Say So,” stating, “They had [Kesha] up there singing ‘Praying,’ and now they’re gonna go: ‘Oh but it’s Tyson Trax!’”

(“Praying,” released in July 2017, is widely believed to be about Kesha’s alleged experiences of abuse by Dr. Luke. The producer has denied the allegations, some of which have been dropped. Dr. Luke has also sued Kesha for defamation.)

Fiona Apple continued:

I’m waiting to hear more about what Deborah Dugan [former Recording Academy president] has to say [about the culture at the Recording Academy] because that all reeks to me. When you hire somebody and they raise questions and then they get fired? There’s a lot of things that she brought up that make it so that I can’t vet that situation and I don’t really wanna go there and support it.

Elsewhere, Apple discussed her Best Rock Performance nomination, where she’ll face off against all-female-fronted acts. “I immediately had this feeling: I wish I was in a room with these ladies and we could celebrate. I felt really nice for a second,” she said, later adding:

I keep going back to them putting Kesha on stage like, “We believe you”—and I believe her—then two years later, fucking Tyson Trax. Not to go back to that word, but it’s bullshit. The feeling of wanting to celebrate with these women was genuine. But I should have that feeling anyway. I don’t know if anybody who’s nominated can help having the thought: What would I do If I won? My vision was that I would just get up there with a sledgehammer and I wouldn’t say anything, I would take the Grammy and smash it into enough pieces to share and I would invite all the ladies up. My second thought was I wonder if I can get all these ladies to boycott this shit because of Dr Luke.

Pitchfork has reached out to representatives for Fiona Apple and the Recording Academy for comment and more information.

Read the full interview, titled “Fiona Apple on the album of the year, Grammys hypocrisy and how #MeToo helped her get sober,” at The Guardian.