Filmmaker Spike Lee has weighed in on Beyoncé’s history of getting overlooked for Album of the Year at the Grammy Awards.
“I’m not the male president of the Bey Hive, but I love and support Beyoncé,” he told The Guardian. “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 bulls**t.”
At this year’s Grammys, Beyoncé’s Renaissance lost Album of the Year to Harry’s House by Harry Styles. She lost to Taylor Swift in 2010, to Beck in 2015 and to Adele in 2017.
“I just want to give a shoutout to my sister Beyoncé,” said Lee. “We know what the deal is. It’s straight-up shenanigans, skulduggery, subterfuge. Or as the British say: it’s some poppycock!”
According to the Recording Academy, Album of the Year honours “artistic achievement, technical proficiency and overall excellence in the recording industry, without regard to album sales, chart position, or critical reception.”
Leading up to the Grammys, Variety spoke to several voters about the ballots they cast. “With Beyoncé, the fact that every time she does something new, it’s a big event and everyone’s supposed to quake in their shoes — it’s a little too portentous,” said one.
But, Lee believes race is behind Bey’s losses.
“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**k it’ – or seek white validation and chase awards?”
Since 2000, only five Black artists have won Album of the Year – OutKast, Ray Charles, Herbie Hancock and Jon Batiste – despite 50 nominations.