I was inspired to write this article after staying up to watch the Grammys, which was then followed up with a conversation I had with my housemates about the Grammys. Specifically, at the 2025 Grammys, Beyonce had won album of the year for her 2024 album “Cowboy Carter” which I didn’t think would be so controversial, considering she’d previously never won album of the year.
We all knew that this years’ Grammys were going to be a bloodbath; we had popular artists nominated such as Billie Eilish, Chappell Roan, Sabrina Carpenter, Beyonce, Ariana Grande, and Kendrick Lamar. All artists that seem to have very large and opinionated fanbases. However, because of all of these fanbases, I’ve often found it hard to enjoy shows like the Grammys. Specifically, when Beyonce got up to accept her Grammy for album of the year, the camera had cut to Billie Eilish, who was also amongst the nominees for album of the year, showing her to be teary-eyed. This had then led to a bunch of TikTok videos, such as those made by dancer and content creator Undos (@undos), saying that she didn’t deserve to win album of the year, and that Cowboy Carter wasn’t a good album.
It’s through this outrage that I came across a video on TikTok from a musician and songwriter called ADIV, who is a part of the recording academy’s voters (@whoisadiv) who voted for Beyonce’s Cowboy Carter album to win album of the year. He explained that the theme that other academy voters were looking for this year was innovation. He credited Billie’s album for being a great album, however he didn’t think it deserved the win because it wasn’t as innovative as the other albums nominated. Because Beyonce has never done a country album before, that also meshed elements of R&B, hip hop and opera with country, it was therefore regarded as innovative by the academy, leading to her win.
This is not to discredit Billie’s critically acclaimed “Hit Me Hard and Soft” album, that has garnered a mass number of streams and sales, and tackles complex themes such as love, obsession, having insecurity, and the emotional roller-coaster that come with being in a relationship, as well as the difficulties that comes with being famous. However, if the theme that Grammy voters were looking for this year was innovation, then these concepts that Billie has previously covered in albums such as “Happier than Ever”. Beyonce not only properly introduced a new genre into her catalogue, but it was also an innovative way of referencing and overcoming the racist backlash she’d received at the 2016 Country Music Awards, performing her country-twinged song “Daddy Lessons” with the Dixie Chicks.
I believe that what happens a lot in stan culture, is that they sometimes succumb to their own bias, especially when their favourite artist is popular, leading them to disregard the merits of other artists. I think what a lot of Billie fans also seem to disregard, in terms of the Grammys, is that unfortunately because she had lost in all of other the other categories that she was nominated in such as best pop vocal album, or best pop song. The selective outrage for Beyonce winning album of the year whilst there was no outrage for Sabrina Carpenter for winning best pop vocal album, or best pop solo performance, tells me that people did not regard the important message that Beyonce delivered behind Cowboy Carter.
Realistically, nobody will ever be happy at the outcome of who the Grammys nominate and who they award. They’ve been called out multiple times by music fans for snubbing artists in the past, such as Nicki Minaj, Ariana Grande, BTS, and The Weeknd. I think that music is an extremely subjective art form- what may sound better to one person may sound awful to another. The results of the recording academy’s voting also shouldn’t dictate what you listen to, or what you deem to be good music.