Why this year’s Grammys will be the most controversial ever
On the surface, Beyoncé appears to be the queen of the Grammys. Over two decades she has been nominated 99 times and won 32 awards – be that as a solo artist, one half of spousal supergroup The Carters, or one third of Destiny’s Child.
Yet behind the success there are caveats. Of the “Big Four” categories (Album of the Year, Record of the Year, Song of the Year and Best New Artist), she has only one gong, for the 2008 chart-topper Single Ladies. That is in stark contrast to Taylor Swift, who has won Album of the Year four times, most recently for Midnights, and beat Beyoncé to the top prize in 2010 when her country opus Fearless was favoured over I Am… Sasha Fierce.
But could Bey’s luck finally be changing? Nominations for the 2025 ceremony, due to be held in February, have been announced, and Beyoncé’s Western-themed eighth album, Cowboy Carter, made the shortlist for the top prize alongside Swift’s The Tortured Poets Department, Charli XCX’s zeitgeisty BRAT, Billie Eilish’s Hit Me Hard and Soft, and Chappell Roan’s debut album, The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess. If Beyoncé goes home empty-handed, again, the Grammys risks becoming embroiled in a debate about how it rewards – or sidelines – black artists.
After two decades in the industry, Beyoncé’s contribution to popular culture is arguably unmatched by any other artist (bar Swift) in the running for the top prize. She has sold 200 million records worldwide and has billions of streams across Spotify and Apple Music; her 2008 marriage to rapper and mogul Jay-Z made them one of the most powerful couples in America. Winning Album of the Year is the final box left to tick off on her incredible list of achievements, and it feels like a matter of “if not now, when?” for Cowboy Carter, which was universally lauded by critics; in his five-star review the Telegraph’s Neil McCormick called it a “clever, sexy, angry, soulful, witty and fantastically bold… masterpiece”.
The album’s nomination and critical success has made the Beyhive – the nickname for Beyoncé’s millions of loyal fans – believe her win in 2025 is set in stone. Some fans wrote on social media that it would be particularly poignant following Donald Trump’s reelection to the Presidency, conceived by many on the Left of US politics as a vote for bigotry. And if she does win, she will become only the fourth black woman to do so, after Natalie Cole (in 1992), Whitney Houston (1994) and Lauryn Hill (1999). It would be a way for the Recording Academy – a network of music industry professionals who vote for, and present, the Grammys – to prove they are taking diversity seriously, after being accused of racism and favouritism in 2021, which led to the organisation scrapping its anonymous voting committees.
Others see the nomination as a long overdue recognition of Beyoncé’s success, after previous hit albums were overlooked, from 2022’s Renaissance (when Harry Styles walked on stage to collect the award for Harry’s House, boos and shouts of “Beyoncé should have won!” could be heard from the audience) to 2016’s experimental polemic Lemonade (beaten by Adele, with 25, who tearfully dedicated her acceptance speech to Beyoncé).
However, the 2025 nominees for Album of the Year are the strongest in years: Chappell Roan and Sabrina Carpenter (both also up for Best New Artist) are exciting, fresh young stars at the top of their game, while Charli XCX – who is rapidly gaining attention after years as a cool, fringe presence – is finally being rewarded. There are some strange choices, too, from the omission of Ariana Grande’s Eternal Sunshine and Dua Lipa’s Radical Optimism to the inclusion of André 3000’s baffling flute record New Blue Sun.
After years of dominance, Swift seems less likely to win with The Tortured Poets Department, an introspective 31-song-long slog littered with secret messages only superfans could decipher and that failed to spawn any significant standalone singles. If Beyoncé should feel threatened by anyone, it’s not Swift but Charli or Chappell, two artists who are capitalising on Gen Z’s insatiable appetite for authentic, relatable artists. Elsewhere, her biggest contender for another “Big Four” gong, in Record of the Year, is none other than The Beatles, who are nominated for Now and Then.
Away from her Album of the Year competitors, Bey has another battle to fight. Of Cowboy Carter’s 11 nominations, four are in country music categories: Best country solo performance (for 16 Carriages), Best country duo/group performance (for II Most Wanted, featuring Miley Cyrus), Best country song (for Texas Hold ‘Em) and, finally, best country album. It is a category otherwise dominated by old-hats and traditionalists – other nominees include Nashville favourites Lainey Wilson and Chris Stapleton, and megastar Morgan Wallen – and mostly by white artists (rising black star Shaboozey being the exception).
When Cowboy Carter was released, a number of country radio stations in the US refused to play it, while its hit singles, including Texas Hold ‘Em, remain markedly absent from the playlists blasting out of honky tonks up and down Nashville’s famous Broadway. The genre closed ranks further when, in September, the Country Music Awards did not nominate Cowboy Carter for a single award. Country fans insisted it was down to semantics – the album blends Western imagery and instruments with a slick R&B production that makes for a less traditional sound – rather than racism. But many considered it to be a conscious exclusion: a way for the country establishment to tell black artists that they’re not welcome on Music Row.
When the Grammys take place on the evening of February 2, it will be impossible to please all sides of the music industry. Beyoncé’s camp will be crossing their fingers that the singer will finally be going home with American music’s most coveted prize; beating Swift, and some of pop music’s most exciting new stars in decades. If she doesn’t, the debate will become one centred on race – and we can expect the most controversial Grammy Awards in years.