Before last night’s Grammys aired, Frank Ocean posted an essay on Tumblr, which expanded on why he avoided having anything to do with the ceremony. Ocean highlighted the “cultural bias” of a show that last year honored Taylor Swift’s 1989 over Kendrick Lamar’s To Pimp A Butterfly. His words gained new relevance after all the trophies were handed out last night, and Adele’s 25 beat Beyoncé’s Lemonade for Album Of The Year. Even Adele thought this was an oversight, paying tribute to Beyoncé in her acceptance speech, and declaring in the press room: “My view is kind of: What the fuck does she have to do to win Album Of The Year?”
In a telling moment, Beyoncé’s sister Solange posted Ocean’s essay, seemingly concurring with his sentiments about the Recording Academy in light of her sibling’s loss.
wuddup frankhttps://t.co/CVth1vwgNb
— solange knowles (@solangeknowles) February 13, 2017
And she was not the only artist to reportedly speak out in frustration about Beyoncé being overlooked. The Daily Beast noted that Terrence “Punch” Henderson—a co-president of Top Dawg Entertainment, Lamar’s label—posted to Twitter that he spoke to Lamar, who expressed that he was “upset.”
Beyoncé won Best Urban Contemporary album during the telecast. “It’s important to me to show images to my children that reflect their beauty, so they can grow up in a world where they look in the mirror—first through their own families as well as the news, the Super Bowl, the Olympics, the White House, and the Grammys—and see themselves, and have no doubt that they are beautiful, intelligent and capable,” she said. “This is something I want for every child of every race.”