It’s finally Grammy season! On Feb. 2, the Recording Academy held its annual Grammy Awards ceremony, being the 67th overall. Hosted again by Trevor Noah, it honored the best pieces of work from musicians starting from Sep. 2023 to Aug. 2024, and just like previous years, the results have left many with mixed emotions.
Chappell Roan was crowned Best New Artist, to no one’s surprise, and Kendrick Lamar swept the ceremony winning all five of the awards he was nominated for, including both Record and Song of the Year with “Not Like Us”, the song famous for dissing Drake.
Doechii, who you might’ve heard on Tyler, The Creator’s new album “CHROMAKOPIA”, won Best Rap Album with her own “Alligator Bites Never Heal”, marking the third time ever that a woman has won in the category, with Lauryn Hill winning in 1999 and most recently, Cardi B in 2019.
The night was filled with many memorable performances, like Sabrina Carpenter’s and Charli xcx’s, but one question that seems to have the internet playing a game of tug of war was whether or not Beyoncé’s historic Album of the Year win was deserved or not.
Her eighth studio album, “Cowboy Carter”, won not only Best Country Album, but the overall Album of the Year award. This win was arguably extremely overdue for her, as many believed she earned that title ever since her career began. Other nominations included Taylor Swift’s “The Tortured Poets Department”, Charli xcx’s “Brat”, and Billie Eilish’s “Hit Me Hard And Soft”.
“Cowboy Carter” is undeniably a love letter to country music. A project five years in the making, it pays homage to Black culture, where country music holds roots from. Beyoncé took it upon herself to create a country album following criticism of her song “Daddy Issues”, off of Lemonade, her sixth album.
Country music fans said she didn’t belong in the genre, and the Recording Academy rejected its submission for a Grammy, saying it wasn’t country enough, per Billboard. With “Cowboy Carter”, Beyoncé reclaimed the country brand and made it something of her own, against all odds.
She proved that the media forces Black artists to feel like they need to fit within a certain genre. Tyler, The Creator, had expressed discomfort with stereotypes after winning his first ever Grammy in 2020, for his album “Igor”.
Per his acceptance speech, Tyler had this to say: “It sucks that whenever we — and I mean guys that look like me — do anything that’s genre-bending, they always put it in a rap or urban category.”
Similarly, Chlöe Bailey, another Grammy nominated artist, spoke out about the issue. She is most known for her 2021 single “Have Mercy”, which won her a Platinum certification, per 1iota.
“Any music I do will easily and quickly be categorized as R&B because I’m a Black woman. If someone who didn’t have my skin tone made the same music, it would be in the pop categories. That’s just the way it’s always been in life,” Bailey told Nylon Magazine.
Black artists are often forced into R&B or hip hop, or rap or ‘urban’ per the Grammys criteria, which is a box that Beyoncé wanted to break out of.
“Beyoncé is legendary. No other female artist in history has made and broken records like she has. You can say that Jay Z had something to do with her winning, but I just think that sounds misogynistic. You’re discrediting everything that she’s worked for,” said Alondra Rodriguez, a homeschooled junior.
On the other hand, people believed Billie Eilish had the award taken from her. “Hit Me Hard And Soft”, her third album, was released May 2024, and it’s considered her ‘best work yet’, according to Rolling Stones.
“Billie had a good year last year. I mean, you heard ‘Birds Of A Feather’ on the radio all the time! You still do. She should’ve got Song of the Year at the very least. Every song on the album is perfect, she should’ve won,” said Serenity Harris, a homeschooled junior.
“Her album helped me through a rough patch in my life. I know every song on the album, it’s been on repeat since day one. She deserved to win,” said Kyla Smith, a homeschooled junior.
But people seem to forget that music is subjective, and Grammys aren’t determined by charts or streams. Album of the Year, like the other Grammy awards, is determined by innovation, or by how much impact a music recording has made in popular culture.
“Cowboy Carter” challenges cultural narratives, and stands as a clear example of solidarity with marginalized groups. It’s Beyoncé’s refusal to be erased. Who do you think deserved to win Album of the Year?
