No one was more stunned when Beyoncé didn't snag "Album of the Year" at Grammys than Adele, who won for her album, "25". Was Beyoncé's "Lemonade" simply put it as too political for the Grammys' 13,000 voters?
Grammys Was Too Political Over Votes
#Grammyssowhite is already circling on Facebook and Twitter. And there's the dispute to be made that Lemonade was too political, given that an album by a white artist has won over an album by a black artist for album of the year, although, without fail, the black artist's album had greater social bearing and critical acclaim. At the 2015 ceremony, Beck's Morning Phase beat Beyoncé's self-titled album, a move that caused Kanye West to proclaim that Beyoncé had been robbed. Last year, Taylor Swift's 1989 hit chart "To Pimp a Butterfly" from Kendrick Lamar. So, is this racism event or is it simply that the Grammys are a statistics game?
Boycott Beyoncé Over Genre
Critics generally hailed Lemonade for its breadth, not only in subject matter, but also for its complete struggle to adhering to any one genre. Beyoncé worked with everyone from Jack White to James Blake, The Weekend, and Kendrick Lamar. While some critics are Grammy voters, the acclaim from journalists doesn't mean much when it comes to who wins. Grammys are voted on by the creative people in the business who make the album-artists, songwriters, engineers, producers, et cetera - not just critics. The standards to be a voter includes having contributed to six records, so critics who have written album notes usually become voters that way.
With first single "Formation" and its video, Beyoncé set a partisan tone that may have turned off some fans voters. If you recall, the video, set in New Orleans, featured a police car that was window-high in water and she was on top of it, redolent of Hurricane Katrina, as well as scenes of police officers in riot gear. The album was diverging - there was even a #BoycottBeyonce movement following her Super Bowl presentation of the song - and that may have changed the minds of some of the voters in the Album of the Year category. In addition to that - a sad commentary - Lemonade is about life from a black viewpoint, and perhaps too many Grammy voters could not relate to it, unrelatedly of its overall fineness. Lemonade did win for Best Urban Contemporary Album.
Adele's 25 alone saved the music industry after its release in November 2015, selling more than eight million copies in its first two months in the U.S. alone. The last album to have accomplished that feat was Adele's 21. When the business is voting, it's almost intolerable to expect them to vote against an album that helps to keep the business moving.
