The 2023 Grammy Awards are behind us, but people are still talking about the wins and losses. It was a monumental night for Beyoncé, who became the most-awarded artist in The Recording Academy's history. The acclaimed singer earned herself several accolades at this year's Grammys, but her Album of the Year loss still hits hard for her supporters. Spike Lee recently sat down with The Guardian for an interview, and during the conversation, he shared his thoughts on Bey's loss to Harry Styles.
“I’m not the male president of the Bey Hive, but I love and support Beyoncé," said the film icon. "Her album is amazing. I know she’s won multiple Grammys, but four times nominated for album of the year and she’s lost every time? No disrespect to those artists like Adele or Harry Styles who won. It’s not their fault, but that’s some straight-up bullsh*t."
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Each year, the Grammys are entangled in controversy due to their choices of winners. Both Beyoncé and her husband Jay-Z have missed out on coveted awards, but they seem to take it all in stride. That is at least publicly. “There’s a history of great black artists who come up for these awards and don’t win,” Lee said. “We all know their work is great because art speaks for itself."
"But then it always comes down to this tricky territory of validation. Do Black artists say: ‘F*ck it’ – or seek white validation and chase awards? I just want to give a shoutout to my sister Beyoncé. We know what the deal is. It’s straight-up shenanigans, skulduggery, subterfuge. Or as the British say: it’s some poppycock!”
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Ahead of the Grammys, Jay-Z caught up with Elliott Wilson for TIDAL and was asked about Bey's Album of the Year nomination. At this point in his career, he hopes The Recording Academy doesn't miss out on awarding artists who spark pivotal movements. "Yeah, I remove myself from the process and hope they just get it right," said Hov. "It got to the point where I was like, it’s just a marketing thing. You go, you got an album out and it could help the sales go up. It got to that point, but deep down … Again, we grew up idolizing this. It was like one of the pillars for us. It was like, 'We want to go Gold.' Yeah, I’ve been in it that long. Haaaaa!"