The waiting was the hardest part for Beyoncé fans, but patience finally paid off as she scored a win for album of the year at Sunday night’s Grammys, with “Cowboy Carter” scoring the top prize where four previously nominated albums in the category had not.
“I just want to thank the Grammys, every songwriter, every collaborator, every producer, for all of the hard work,” she said in accepting. “i want to dedicate this to Miss (Linda) Martell, and I’ll just hopefully keep pushing forward, opening doors.”
“She had 99 nominations, and now an album of the year win is one,” said host Trevor Noah, looking at Jay-Z as he noted the record number of noms Beyoncé came into this ceremony with.
Although it was ultimately a multi-genre album, “Cowboy Carter” was a concept album in representing Beyoncé’s take on how country music has much of its roots in Black music, and how Black performers continue to make their way in that genre, including guest stars like Shaboozey, as well as pioneer Linda Martell.
Beyoncé became the first Black woman to win album of the year since Lauryn Hill did it with “The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill” in 1999.
“Cowboy Carter” had been widely predicted as a winner for album of the year by a majority of prognosticators — but nervously, given what a sure thing major albums of hers like “Lemonade” had been in the past. The win had been forecast all the way back when the album came out last March, with Variety asking in a headline days after its release: “Is Beyoncé’s ‘Cowboy Carter’ an Unstoppable Frontrunner for the Album of the Year Grammy?” The cultural import of the album proved indomitable — along with the factor of people just liking it — even against a lineup of one of the strongest fields in the category in years.
Nonetheless, Beyoncé was seen as facing strong competition from albums by perennial Grammy album of the year favorites Billie Eilish and Taylor Swift, not to mention the year’s hottest newcomers, Chappell Roan and Sabrina Carpenter, and It Girl Charli CX. Jacob Collier and Andre 3000 rounded out the division’s eight slots as the longest shots.
It was Beyoncé’s second turn at the podium Sunday night. Earlier in the prime-time telecast, she had been handed the country album of the year trophy by presenter Taylor Swift. In the pre-telecast premiere ceremony, she also won a third award, for best country duo/group performance, honoring her duet with Miley Cyrus, “II Most Wanted.”
Beyoncé came into the ceremony as both the most nominated artist of all time and the most awarded artist in Grammy history, yet fans lamented that she had a history of not coming through in the top three all-genre categories. Although she won song of the year in the past, she had never won album of the year or record of the year before Sunday night.
It was her being denied album of the year in the past that especially stuck in fans’ craw — and, vocally, her husband Jay-Z’s. When “Lemonade” lost out to what was considered a lesser Adele album, that singer apologized to Beyoncé that night for beating her, saying it was Bey who really deserved the award.
