Grammy CEO says Beyoncé has "really good 1-in-8 chance" of Album of the Year win

Beyoncé has a really tricky history with the Grammys. Despite being the most-awarded artist in Grammy history, she’s never won an Album of the Year award. Jay-Z has made his displeasure about this known. But behind the scenes, Academy members have not always welcomed the singer’s genre-hopping ways. You wouldn’t know it today based on her historic 11 nominations (making her the most nominated artist ever) across four different genres. But can she pull off the AOTY for Cowboy Carter? “Wow. You never know. I believe she has a really good one-in-eight chance,” Recording Academy CEO Harvey Mason jr. said in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter on Friday. Well, yes!

“That’s the best answer I can give, only because the voters, you don’t know what they’re going to gravitate to,” Mason asserts. “It is tough. Beyoncé has definitely been in the category before, [and she has] some other great competition there. But at the end of the day, the albums in that category are flat out amazing to me. I love all of them, and I’m so happy about where we are. I know somebody’s going to be mad. I know seven people won’t win, and I look forward to seeing the result.” Spoken like a true politician—but then again, what else could we expect the CEO of the Recording Academy to say?

Despite tip-toeing around the subject, Mason is a fan of Beyoncé, and even worked with her as a producer throughout her career. The Academy has also been pretty deliberate about diversifying its voting body, and earlier this year Mason sent a letter to members urging them against “bias, grudge-holding, or careless voting.” He sees Beyoncé’s many nominations this year as a reflection of the work put in behind the scenes. “It says a lot about our voters. With our 10-3 system of voting, [a] supporter of Beyoncé is not able to just follow her around the ballot; they only have three fields they can select, so when you see somebody like Beyoncé or another artist getting nominations across multiple fields, you are realizing that it’s not the same voters voting for her,” he explains. “It’s different voters in different fields. So to me, it’s really impressive. I’m pleased and proud that Beyoncé is breaking new records and continues to be the icon and legend that she is.”