It’s never helpful (or fair) to compare female artists too closely, but Jay-Z’s comments came on the same night that Taylor Swift won Album of the Year for the fourth time. I can’t do it. Her relatively modest 10th studio album, Midnights, beat out strong competition from SZA, Olivia Rodrigo, and Lana Del Rey, among others. Other female artists since 2000 include Norah Jones, the Dixie Chicks (now The Chicks), Alison Krauss (with Robert Plant), Kacey Musgraves, Billie Eilish, and Adele (twice) won the Best Album Award. However, as @MJFINESSELOVER pointed out in a viral tweet, the last time a Black woman won in this category was in 1999, when Lauryn Hill won for The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill. did.
Was it because of some kind of racial prejudice that Beyoncé was shut out? Of her 32 Grammy Awards, the so-called “Big Four” (a colloquial term used to group the coveted trophies Album of the Year, Record of the Year, and Song of the Year) Being in a category only once definitely feels off-putting. and Best New Artist of the Year). Beyoncé’s only Big Four win came in 2010, when Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It) was named song of the year.
Her other wins have been in genre categories, including a record five wins for Best R&B Song. Winning a Grammy is a sign of widespread recognition in the industry, but as Jay-Z pointed out, it just doesn’t make sense that Beyoncé has never won Album of the Year. Especially over her 10 years here, she has produced music that has defined each genre she has worked in, from R&B to rap to dance/electronica. But she also produced albums that transcended those genres and became pop culture touchstones. As a result, her award for Album of the Year is long overdue. Thankfully, her creativity remains undiminished, so the Grammys should make more attempts in the future to correct this oversight.
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