I love Adele, I always have and I probably always will. Adele and I both love Beyoncé. To ease my heartache over Lemonade’s AOTY loss, I decided to research who the f%$k decides which artists deserve Grammy’s for the year.
In my findings, I realized that Beyoncé didn’t lose because of some evil collusion or hatred for powerful black women (but I’ll come back to that later). First, I’ll inform you on the Academy. They are thanked in every winner’s speech but, who are they? First, The Recording Academy – this is the firm who puts on the show. Most might think they are the ones who choose the winners, however, this is not the case. Actual artists who are “voting members” of the Academy cast votes for their favorite artists for each category. If your name is on “six commercially-released tracks or credits from 12 digital-only releases” you meet one requirement to vote for the Grammy’s. These voters send their ballot directly to Deloitte – yes, the accounting firm – and they take care of the tabulating for the big day.
No foul play here, right? Well, we don’t know exactly who the voting members are, nor do we know who makes up the committee that selects the nominees. I’d like to think they give everyone a fair shot or at least, I hope so. This year, countless viewers voiced their opinion, saying, Queen B was robbed of Album of the Year. Now that I’ve explained how the process works, you might agree with me when I say she lost because she simply did not get enough votes. Now before you come after me swinging, let me clarify:
The issue with AOTY is that, year after year when there are two popular artists within the same genre, the votes are split. Last year, it was Kendrick Lamar. Fans thought To Pimp A Butterfly was a guaranteed winner but, Grammy buffs knew he couldn’t possibly win, the reason? His fellow nominees, Taylor Swift, Alabama Shakes, Chris Stapleton and The Weeknd. The R&B/Hip-Hop fans’ votes were split between Kendrick and The Weeknd, ultimately canceling each other out. This has happened numerous times and I believe something similar happened this year to Beyoncé. The nominees were, Beyoncé, Adele, Drake, Justin Bieber and Sturgill Simpson. I believe the R&B/Hip-Hop votes were split between Beyoncé and Drake and maybe a few were sprinkled in with Justin Bieber. Adele had no option but to come out on top. I’m not entirely surprised, 25 was a phenomenal album and you’re lying if you say you haven’t belted Hello in the shower. Also, Beyoncé doesn’t need a Grammy to validate how incredibly influential Lemonade is – she’s Beyoncé.