Music News

Solange Addresses Race & The Grammys Following Beyonce’s Album Of The Year Loss

Ahead of Sunday night’s Grammy Awards, oddsmakers — and many pundits — were predicting Beyonce’s “Lemonade” would win Album of the Year.

They got it wrong. The Recording Academy instead awarded the trophy to Adele’s “25.”

Adele herself seemed surprised by the news, and she spent much of her acceptance speech — and then some of her press room interview — sharing admiration for Beyonce and the “Lemonade” project.

Numerous musicians, critics and fans also discussed the surprising outcome, with some pointing to a possible racial bias in the voting process. Beyonce’s sister Solange added to the discussion Monday afternoon.

“There have only been two black winners in the last 20 years for album of the year…there have been over 200 black artist who have performed,” wrote the artist — a Grammy nominee and winner herself — on Twitter.

The two artists to whom Solange is specifically referring are unclear; black artists Lauryn Hill, OutKast, Ray Charles, and Herbie Hancock all won in the past twenty years.

“create your own committees, build your own institutions, give your friends awards, award yourself, and be the gold you wanna hold my g’s,” added Solange.

The comments were Solange’s second and third Tweets since the conclusion of the Grammys broadcast. The first was a link to Frank Ocean’s Tumblr rant about the credibility (or lack thereof) of music’s biggest awards show.

Brian Cantor

Brian Cantor is the editor-in-chief for Headline Planet. He has been a leading reporter in the music, movie, television and sporting spaces since 2002. Brian's reporting has been cited by major websites like BuzzFeed, Billboard, the New Yorker and The Fader -- and shared by celebrities like Taylor Swift, Justin Bieber and Nicki Minaj. Contact Brian at brian.cantor[at]headlineplanet.com.

Share
Published by
Brian Cantor