Beyoncé Finally Won Album Of The Year At The Grammys & We’re Just As Shocked As She Was

About a third of the way through the broadcast of the 67th annual Grammy Awards, it felt like things were too good to be true. The artists I wanted to win awards were actually winning. What a concept. Between Doechii’s heartfelt acceptance speech for Best Rap Album, Chappel Roan calling out record labels for their treatment of artists during her win for Best New Artist, and Beyoncé making history as the first Black woman to win Best Country Album, the days of the Recording Academy being on my personal list of enemies seemed like they were coming to a close. This is an awarding body that has denied our greatest living artist, Beyoncé Giselle Knowles-Carter, of its most coveted award, Album of the Year, four times. If you, like me, sat through every single one of those losses — to Beck, to Taylor Swift, to Adele, to Harry Styles – and watched the hope in your soul deplete every damn time, it’s understandable that we refused to have faith that 2025 would be Bey’s year (or that a legacy white institution would actually reward the work of a Black woman appropriately, especially this year). But throughout the show, the vibes were good enough that my timeline (which is mostly made up of card-carrying members of the Beyhive) was split between a state of cautious optimism and healthy skepticism. 

Well, after 99 nominations and 35 wins (the most in Grammys history), Beyoncé has finally won Album of the Year (AOTY). When Cowboy Carter was called for the first time during the televised broadcast for Best Country Album, Beyoncé gave a face that has already launched a million memes. She was shocked. We rarely see Beyoncé in a state of unfiltered authenticity,so watching her become so overwhelmed, so shooketh, to the point that her daughter Blue Ivy had to physically gesture for her to get out of her seat to accept her award was joyful and hilarious, but also relatable; something Queen Bey, by design, rarely is. If you know the lore surrounding this particular moment, you know Beyoncé was famously booed at the 2016 Country Music Awards for performing her country song “Daddy Lessons” and the CMAs shut Cowboy Carter out of its nominations this year. The country industry as a whole hasn’t exactly been welcoming (multiple artists have basically told her to stay in her lane) so it was understandable that Beyoncé genuinely did not think she was going to win. She is the first Black woman to win the category, after all (an embarrassing stat for the Recording Academy). After years of disrespect and lack of acknowledgment for your work, I can imagine that when that recognition finally comes, it’s jarring. So many Black women in workplaces around the world can imagine what that must feel like. 

Listen, I know it’s a bit of a stretch to relate Beyoncé, the almost billionaire, winning an industry award to the very real experiences Black women deal with in work settings on a daily basis. It’s not the same. But I do think Beyoncé’s journey to Album of the Year — one riddled with racism, disappointment, and mediocrity prevailing over excellence — can, like so much of pop culture, serve as a heightened macro-level example of how much more work, effort, and merit Black women have to exhibit before we are recognized. The moment Beyoncé won Album of the Year, the entire room full of the best and brightest in music erupted in elation. When we say Beyoncé is the artist of a generation, it’s not an exaggeration. The people who are supposed to be her peers consistently bow down to her in admiration. Lady Gaga was weeping as Bey accepted AOTY. Cynthia Erivo was jumping up and down like she herself had just won an Oscar. Billie Eilish had tears in her eyes. Taylor Swift held her champagne flute to the sky like it was an offering to royalty. Every single person in that room knew what Beyoncé deserved and it was beautiful, for once, to see her receive those flowers in real time. 

"It's been many, many years,” Beyoncé said as she accepted the award with a slight nod to her past snubs. "I want to dedicate this to Ms. Martell," she continued, referencing Linda Martell, the first Black female solo artist to play the Grand Ole Opry who is also featured on Cowboy Carter. "I hope we just keep pushing forward, opening doors." And therein lies the importance of this win for this album specifically. Beyoncé should have at least four AOTYs by now (Swift currently holds the record with four) so some of the reaction to her win has called it a “career award,” given to her by the Recording Academy to make up for their past fumbles. The problem with that narrative is that it implies that Cowboy Carter is a less-deserving album than Bey’s previous offerings, which, once again, downplays her brilliance. It focuses too much on the Recording Academy and less on the work. As I wrote in my review of Cowboy Carter last year, “When Beyoncé shows us the work she did to dive deep into country music’s Black ass past through the references upon references in each track, the symbolism of every song, and the efforts to propel rising Black country stars, I refuse to dismiss this album as just a product of petty revenge or just as an urge to be embraced by the white establishment. It’s probably a bit of both, but mostly, it’s a culmination of the creativity of one of pop’s biggest music nerds.”

Cowboy Carter challenged the very concept of genres, which we know are limiting for Black artists and rooted in white supremacy. Cowboy Carter catapulted the careers of emerging country stars Tanner Adell, Brittney Spencer, Tiera Kennedy, and Reyna Roberts and gave Shaboozey the boost necessary for him to have the biggest song of the year. Cowboy Carter gave us a textbook on the Black roots of country music, a syllabus that cements the Black contributions to the genre so no one can deny or ignore its Black history any longer. Musically, it’s a masterpiece. Culturally, it’s a classic. One thing we’re not going to do as the discourse surrounding this win continues to grow is further disrespect Beyoncé by minimizing the impact, relevance, and greatness of Cowboy Carter. Not on my watch. Yes, this justice was for 4, for self-titled, for Lemonade, for Renaissance, for all of us who have been in the trenches fighting for our lives screaming about the genius of Beyoncé like apostles spreading the gospel. But it’s also for Cowboy Carter, the rightful album of the year. Period. 

“It’s been 25 years of working really hard and trying my best to keep growing, keep opening up doors so I’m just very honored,” Beyonce said to ET’s Kevin Frazier after the show. “The love I got from the country community tonight really made me feel so seen.” When Beyoncé gives quotes like this, it’s clear she really cares about receiving validation that, from an outsider and fan’s perspective, she doesn’t need. Who cares if the country community sees you, you’re Beyoncé. This feeling is why I went into the 2025 Grammys preparing for another egregious oversight by the Recording Academy, but also with a sense of who cares? Last year, I wrote that if this organization was going to keep doing Beyoncé dirty, she should stop showing up and giving them the opportunity to play in her face. The Grammys need Beyoncé more than she needs them. Until last night, the award show had become a punchline. How can we take the Grammys seriously if they haven’t given their highest honor to our greatest living artist? What kind of music institution thinks Harry Styles is more deserving of an accolade than Beyoncé? (No disrespect to Styles; it’s unfair to even make the comparison). So what we saw unfold last night was correct and good, but it was necessary for the Grammys to survive as an institution. “Beyonce has obviously long surpassed the need for Grammy validation. But this was about addressing the equation the other way around: in order for the rest of us to take the Grammys seriously, they had to fix their poor standing with the greatest working pop artist of our time,” my friend, culture writer, author and host Elamin Abdelmahmoud tweeted last night after Bey’s win. 

The Grammys were on a bit of a redemption tour last night. Right before a surprise performance by The Weeknd ( a noted hater of the Grammys who has been boycotting the show for years) the CEO of the Recording Academy, a Black man named Harvey Mason Jr., gave a speech about how the institution has been listening to its critics and made some changes. "I remember waking up to the headlines that The Weeknd called out the academy for lack of transparency in our awards," Mason Jr. said. "But you know what, criticism is OK. I heard them. I felt his conviction." Mason Jr. went on to clarify that now, the voting members of the Recording Academy are younger and nearly 40% of its 13,000 members are people of color. So now that there is a diverse voting population, the Grammys finally got it right. It’s almost as if diversity, equity, and inclusion make things more fair. In a moment when companies around the world are rolling back their DEI programs and everyone seems to be fighting about whether DEI disregards merit, the most-deserving artist of her generation was finally awarded the honor she’s earned because a voting body diversified its membership, course-correcting years of exclusion. As Alicia Keys noted in her speech for the Global Impact Award, “DEI is not a threat. It's a gift.” 

As a noted past hater of the Grammys myself (between The Weeknd and Kendrick Lamar’s wins for “Not Like Us,” it was truly a night for the haters), it was hard to reconcile this new image of the Grammys as a fun, exceptional showcase of music and winners (mostly women!) who were actually the most deserving talent and their history of exclusionary practices. They give Beyoncé album of the year after years of pressure (and her husband calling them out to their faces) and we’re just supposed to forget that a Black woman hasn’t won that award since Lauryn Hill in 1999? The Recording Academy got it right this year, but a true signal of change will be if they continue to. I’ll fully forgive the Grammys for its problematic past if we don’t have to wait another 25 years for a Black woman to get her due. Beyoncé may not have needed that validation from the Recording Academy, in spite of how clearly she wanted it, but other artists do, unfortunately, need that recognition to boost their careers. It’s how the industry is set up. The same night we watched Beyoncé win her first AOTY after an illustrious 25-year career, Doechii won her first Grammy for Best Rap Album. She is the third Black woman to win the award, the second solo female winner, ever. The last winner was Cardi B almost a decade ago. 

Beyoncé winning Album of the Year brought me a mix of emotions: relief, vindication, and ultimately, so much joy. It instilled a sense of ultimately meaningless hope and belief in the shiny veneer Black excellence that I haven’t felt since the Obama era. But this isn’t just about Beyoncé. We keep coming back to the idea that Black artists need to divest from award shows and institutions that uphold an industry that continues to reinforce structural oppression with each celebration of white elitism.

If these awarding bodies finally start getting it right and acknowledging Black artists for their worth, does the entire industry shift? Does Beyoncé winning Album of the Year help emerging Black artists get more radio play, or record deals that come with healthcare, or even the playing field in a landscape that disregards and disrespects Black women? Sure, it could — if this signals an overhaul not just in the Recording Academy but across the music industry — but if history is any indication, we might be clinging on to this moment of joy for a couple more decades. I hope I’m wrong. I was wrong last night and I have never been more excited to eat my words and replace my cynicism with buoyant idealism. The problem is we’ve been here before. And we know placing your worth on waiting to be “seen” by institutions is always futile. I know what you’re thinking: damn, just be happy for Bey! Can’t we just have this nice moment? Who hurt you? We can, I am very happy, and the answer is the Recording Academy, over and over. So while I can acknowledge that they finally fixed their faces and stopped playing in Beyoncé’s, our memories are long and the bare minimum is just that. The Grammys finally gave Beyoncé Album of the Year but they also owe her an apology and a thank you.