Beyoncé’s First AOTY Win Confirms She Was Always Too Black for the Grammys

Rolling Stone

Country music has Black roots but a white face, and by taking it head on, the Recording Academy finally saw themselves in her.
Artists like Frank Ocean, Drake, and the Weeknd have blatantly called out the Grammys in the past for what they are.
He noted that since his birth in 1987, only a handful of Black artists had won Album of the Year—just six.
Beyoncé’s Cowboy Carter win makes her the twelfth Black person to do so in 66 years and the first Black woman since Lauryn Hill in 1999.
But with Beyoncé’s AOTY losing streak, it can and should only mean so much.

NEGATIVE

Following four consecutive Grammy denials of Album of the Year—denials that declared four successful albums (two of which inspired their own movies), four iconic world tours, two Super Bowl appearances, more Grammys than any other individual, and numerous other acts of unquestionable genius were just not good enough—Beyoncé eventually took home the coveted golden gramophone for Cowboy Carter.

You would think that the greatest living entertainer would feel better about breaking this curse after winning a prize that has been rightfully hers since Beyoncé in 2013. The briefness of her acceptance instead highlighted how complex and bittersweet it was. Cowboy Carter, Beyoncé’s first full-length country music release, is unquestionably a masterwork of vision, scholarship, social commentary, technical skill, and perseverance. Despite this, the Recording Academy’s continued rejection of her unique genius turns her long-awaited AOTY Grammy into a memento. Despite the hardships, struggles, and scars of Black country pioneer Linda Martell, whose career was destroyed by racism and to whom Beyoncé dedicated her award in a brief 40-second speech, Beyoncé was only awarded the top prize at a white traditionalism-dominated institution when she addressed it in a language it could comprehend. The Recording Academy finally recognized her by tackling the white-faced, Black-rooted genre of country music.

The last time Beyoncé lost Album of the Year was in 2023, when Harry Styles’ (excellent but much less significant) Harry’s House defeated her ground-breaking tribute to dance music, Renaissance. Speaking with Rolling Stone’s Charlie Cooper on Twitch during a Grammy pre-show, I stated bluntly that the Academy could either redefine itself by giving Beyoncé what she deserves or further erode the legitimacy that its ongoing exclusion of Black music had established. Artists such as Drake, the Weeknd, and Frank Ocean have openly criticized the Grammy Awards in the past. Ocean told the New York Times that he didn’t submit his 2016 opus Blonde for consideration because “it just doesn’t seem to be representing very well for people who come from where I come from, and hold down what I hold down.”. He mentioned that only six Black artists had won Album of the Year since his birth in 1987. With her victory over Cowboy Carter, Beyoncé became the first Black woman to do so since Lauryn Hill in 1999 and the twelfth Black person to do so in 66 years.

editor’s selections.

President and CEO of the Recording Academy, Harvey Mason Jr. appears to be well aware of these criticisms and has made an effort to prevent the organization from resting on its deteriorating achievements. He is a Black man himself. Presenters from Diana Ross to Los Angeles County firefighters in the Big Four categories (AOTY, Record of the Year, Song of the Year, and Best New Artist) at last night’s Grammys were forced to clarify that the previous winner was chosen by an eligible body of over 13,000 members (regardless of the proportion of those members who actually cast ballots). in the role of Mason Jr. announced a surprise performance by The Weeknd, who had abstained from the awards due to a heinous snub in 2021. He praised the six-year-long effort to diversify the voter base by including more women, young people, and people of color. Diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives are and will remain crucial in all fields, particularly as the Trump administration and its allies demonize and undermine them.

It is clear from who Beyoncé’s opponent was last night how important and influential this evolving Grammy voting body is. Among the Album of the Year finalists were a rap legend on a new path as a flautist, a young muse forging his own path, and primarily women, two of whom were openly queer, following the paths she blazed to the forefront of pop. She faces off against songs like Brat by Charli XCX, The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess by Chappell Roan, The Tortured Poets Department by Taylor Swift, Short N’ Sweet by Sabrina Carpenter, Hit Me Hard and Soft by Billie Eilish, New Blue Sun by André 3000, and Djesse Vol. by Jacob Collier. 4. Compared to earlier times, a Beyoncé loss would not have been as obvious a sign of white hegemony.

Relevant Content.

However, since Renaissancé’s embarrassingly ridiculous defeat to Harry Styles in 2023, I have viewed the Grammys more as a music industry professional and amused bystander than as someone who truly believes in the show’s ability to do the right thing. Mikael Wood, a pop music critic for the Los Angeles Times, claimed in an opinion piece that Beyoncé herself ought to have boycotted the Grammys after losing the 2023 AOTY contest that the Grammys are a progressive organization and want to be perceived as such. All I can say is that the latter is true. The Grammys’ primary role as a public institution is to present awards, and in this capacity, they have remained dreadfully traditional. The Big Four categories represent what the organization as a whole believes is important because only the voting membership can vote in them; other categories are protected to give priority to genre expertise. With Doechii’s victory for Best Rap Album and Chappell Roan’s for Best New Artist, it’s clear and significant how the Grammy Awards can impact artists and the communities they serve. The significance of Beyoncé’s AOTY losing streak, however, is limited.

Despite Beyoncé’s sociological significance and recurring global resonance, which Adele skillfully captured when she accepted her AOTY award for 25 over Lemonade in 2017 (recently named the best album of the century by Rolling Stone), Cowboy Carter is the most readable she has ever been to the Recording Academy, which in October still had 66 percent male voting members, 49 percent white voting members, and 66 percent senior citizens. It is the most recognizable to them due to the fact that it is country music, supported by some of Beyoncé’s most notable collaborators (Dolly Parton, Willie Nelson, Miley Cyrus, and Post Malone), as well as perhaps the whitest symbols (a Beatles cover, a “Jolene” riff).

scroll to top