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When Beyoncé's Renaissance was nominated for Album of the Year at the 2023 Grammys, there seemed to be a pretty general consensus that she stood a good chance of winning: it was undoubtedly one of the most talked-about, critically acclaimed releases of 2022, marked a change in musical direction for Beyoncé as an artist, and paid homage to the queer origins of disco and house. Given the cultural ubiquity of lead single 'Break My Soul,' the viral longevity of tracks like 'Alien Superstar,' and the fact that Beyoncé has never been awarded in this category before, the stars all seemed to be aligning with Renaissance.
So it shocked some fans when instead, Harry Styles ended up winning Album of the Year for his third studio album, Harry's House, and Beyoncé instead took home the award for Best Dance/Electronic Album. It was still a triumphant night for Queen Bey, as she officially became the most-awarded artist in the history of the Grammys, but to the Beyhive, it added insult to injury: a large number of those awards have been in the R&B or Urban Contemporary niches, despite her creative output having consistent mainstream success.
This ire quickly became aimed at Styles, who said of his win that "this doesn't happen to people like me," a comment which his fans believe to be a reference to his own background—Styles grew up working class with a single mother before being launched to fame as part of One Direction on The X Factor—but has been interpreted by others as a disingenuous thing for a cis white man to say, given that Beyoncé, the most celebrated Black female artist of her generation, has never won Album of the Year.
And naturally, the outrage online was widespread. A number of Beyoncé fans latched onto the fact that, during the live broadcast, British singer Adele appeared to leave her seat and walk out of the auditorium while Styles made his acceptance speech, while others began to launch their own investigations into what behind-the-scenes machinations may have gone into "robbing" Beyoncé of her rightful win. Did you know, for instance, that the child's voice featured at the beginning of Styles' single 'As It Was' belongs to the daughter of a Grammys producer?
Even one of Beyoncé's creative collaborators, producer The-Dream, alleged some kind of full-blown conspiracy. "100 people say we love what Artist z has done, those same say we love Artist z album over everything," he wrote on Twitter. "They super consume the album, they come to the concerts, because she’s amazing,but when it’s award time they get on the phone and gather, and oh do I mean gather!"
Regardless of whether there were truly industry shenanigans that went into the decision to award Styles over Beyoncé, the facts remain the same: Queen Bey stood and applauded Styles when he won, and it was a truly entertaining time to be on Twitter. Here are some of the highlights.
