Beyoncé made history Sunday night during the 2023 Grammys, when she won four of the nine awards she was nominated for and became the first Black woman in history to win in the best dance/electronic album category. Winning that specific award also made her the most awarded Grammys artist in history, a feat for any artist, but especially for a young Black girl from Houston who has repeatedly raised the bar for herself and for the entire music industry. “I’m trying not to be too emotional. I’m trying to just receive this night,” she said after making history. “I want to thank God for protecting me. Thank you, God.”
If the snubbing of Beyoncé was happening in a vacuum, it would be less painful, but it continues a history of the Grammys overlooking Black artists deserving of recognition from its voting body.
Despite these well-deserved wins, the Grammys continued its storied pattern of excluding Beyoncé from three of the four major categories: song of the year, record of the year, and album of the year. Though she was nominated in all three categories, she once again lost, with Harry Styles winning album of the year for “Harry’s House.” And although Beyoncé has 32 Grammys statues, she’s only won once in those major categories, with “Single Ladies (Put a Ring On It)” winning song of the year in 2010. She’s been nominated in the album of the year category four times — and lost every single time.
Mind you, Beyoncé wasn’t the only Black woman awarded during the Grammys ceremony: Lizzo became the first Black woman to win record of the year since Whitney Houston won in 1994 for “I Will Always Love You.” Samara Joy took home the best new artist statue, while Viola Davis won for best spoken word album, becoming the third Black woman to win the rare, coveted EGOT. Amid all of these wins, the snubbing of Beyoncé, whose latest album, “Renaissance,” debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart, selling 332,000 album-equivalent units in…
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