During 2017’s Grammys, a not-so-expected record stole “album of the year.” Social media lit on fire.
According to @TwitterData, Queen Bey, also known as Beyoncé, was the most tweeted about star of the night. Why you ask?
A black artist losing to a white artist, specifically for “album of the year,” seems to be a never-ending issue at the Grammys. For some reason, urban artists never seem to achieve this award.
Beyoncé has respectively earned 22-Grammys to-date. But never album of the year.
Just two years ago, Beyoncé’s self-titled visual album Beyoncé, lost to Beck’s Morning Phase. Kanye almost pulled a MTV Video Music Awards (VMA’s) moment when he heard Beyoncé lost to Beck.
For those who are unfamiliar, in 2009 Beyoncé lost “Best Female Video” award to Taylor Swift. Kayne strolled on stage and said “…Beyoncé had one of the best videos of all time!”
Fast forward to the 2015 Grammys. Kanye approached the stage but as he went for the mic, he jokingly walked back to his seat. This was to show he thought Beyoncé should have won, as opposed to Beck.
That moment was epic and gave the audience a good laugh. But what isn’t funny is black artists’ work not being publicly recognized by The Recording Academy.
In 2009, Lil Wayne’s Tha Carter III lost to Robert Plant & Alison Krauss’ Raising Sand. And in 2010, I Am… Sasha Fierce by Beyoncé lost to Taylor Swift’s Fearless. In 2016, Kendrick Lamar’s To Pimp a Butterfly lost to Taylor Swift’s 1989.
The list goes on. Even Adele begged the question at this year’s Grammy Awards. “What the f**k does she have to do to win album of the year?” Adele asked.
It is an ongoing recurrence that the Grammy voters have not chosen a black artist over the past ten years to win this prestigious award.
This year created the most uproar on social media, as Queen Bey’s triumphant album Lemonade lost to Adele’s 25.
Before April 2016, lemonade was just a popular drink. Today, Lemonade is Beyoncé’s most popular album. On April 23, 2016 Beyoncé’s visual album Lemonade, released after her three-year musical hiatus and left the Beyhive (Beyoncé’s fans) in absolute shock. It also created controversy.
Beyoncé sings the line, “He only want me when I’m not there, he better call Becky with the good hair” in the song “Sorry” from her album Lemonade. This sparked allegations of troubles in her marriage to Jay-Z.
Was Jay-Z unfaithful? Who was the other woman? When did this happen?
The cheating scandal was never confirmed, but what it did do was create an impact. It made the record more relatable for woman and men who have been cheated on.
Along with controversy, the album also had an empowering visual aspect, which brought racial injustice to light.
“Formation,” the last track off Lemonade, displayed Beyoncé floating on a police car in the water. This was not an anti-police act. Beyoncé was trying to bring awareness to police violence and murders towards black Americans.
Beyoncé brought the mothers of Mike Brown, Eric Garner, Oscar Grant and Travon Martin into the Lemonade visual. They hold photos of their sons who died – all victims of police brutality. Later that year, she brought all the mothers to the MTV VMA award white carpet. This made the bigger picture come full circle, showing Beyoncé’s appreciation towards these mothers.
Queen Bey tells other stories throughout her album. She opens up to her fans, which she normally does not do.
The album includes moments from her childhood, private moments with her daughter Blue Ivy Carter, Beyoncé’s pregnancy, her mother Tina Knowles and she and Jay-Z getting matching tattoos.
This album’s visual concepts showcased eleven emotional chapters, including intuition, denial, anger, apathy, emptiness, accountability, reformation, forgiveness, resurrection, hope and redemption.
These eleven feelings tell the perfect story for Lemonade. Beyoncé took lemons and made a historical impact on pop culture.
The journey of infidelity, the impact of injustice and the art of bittersweet moments all in one complete package go along with a triumphant record.
For a visual album of this caliber to lose “album of the year” is another loss to great quality art.
