CNN
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Bey-lieve it or not: The 2025 album of the year category might be the most high stakes Grammys race in years.
But let’s back up.
The category has a little something for everyone this year – from the pink-drenched newcomer Chappell Roan’s velvety vocals in her debut album “The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess” to André 3000’s flute-centric “New Blue Sun.”
“It’s a phenomenal slate of nominees. It’s jam packed. I think it can hold its own with any year in history in terms of the albums that are going up against each other,” Rolling Stone senior writer, critic and author Rob Sheffield told CNN. “It’s an all-time slate of classic albums all happening at the same time.”
But Beyoncé’s genre-bending smash “Cowboy Carter” in particular is the one album out of the versatile crop of nominees that seems to hold the highest stakes – not for the artist herself, but for the Grammys.
The Recording Academy has consistently overlooked Beyoncé in this specific category, with the singer losing four times for her albums “Renaissance” (2023), “Lemonade” (2017), “Beyoncé” (2015) and “I Am… Sasha Fierce (2010).
For the most part, Beyoncé has remained unfazed. She even referred to her unsuccessful bids in the category on the “Cowboy Carter” song “Sweet Honey Buckin,” singing in part that she takes the losses “on the chin.”
While Beyoncé has seemingly accepted her losses with a gracious smile, each time showing the utmost respect for the winner, her husband Jay-Z – and her millions of supporters known as the Beyhive – have been more vocal, calling out the Recording Academy, the group behind the Grammys, for overlooking an artist that is widely considered to be one of the most influential of our time.
“She knows she’s an artist who knows that the art itself is the legacy,” Sheffield said. “I think she cares about making these genius records one after another… But there’s a sense that for this particular Grammy category to matter, Beyoncé has to win it.”
The album of the year category is regarded as the top prize of the Grammys, akin to the esteemed best picture category at the Oscars. It’s part of what’s become known as “the big four” categories, which includes best new artist, record of the year and song of the year.
Despite the losses for album of the year, Beyoncé has won more Grammys than any other artist in history, earning 32 statues from a whopping 99 nominations.
Instances where supporters feel Beyoncé was egregiously overlooked have fueled the fervor for her to win at this year’s ceremony. Sheffield points to Beyoncé’s loss to Beck’s “Morning Phase” in 2015 as a moment that “seemed like the biggest upset in Grammy history at that point.” Ever since then, he said, the Grammy’s album of the year race has always been about whether Beyoncé is winning the category.
“Everything else has become a sideshow,” Sheffield added.
Adele’s win of the prestigious award for her album “21” at the 2017 Grammys further fanned the flames of agitation. Adele made certain to acknowledge the significance of “Lemonade” during her acceptance speech.
“I can’t possibly accept this award,” she tearfully said, addressing Beyoncé directly. “I love you and I always have and I always will.”
In many ways, “Lemonade” got the last laugh. The album sits atop many “best of” lists, including claiming the No. 1 spot on Rolling Stone’s “250 greatest albums of the 21st century so far” list, published earlier this month. Lauded for its cultural resonance and visual storytelling, it’s widely considered the Beyoncé album for the ages.
But according to music, pop culture and politics writer and journalist Taylor Crumpton, “Cowboy Carter” has, too, carved out its own unique place in the cultural zeitgeist, making it just as deserving of an album of the year win as “Lemonade.”
“I think they both changed culture,” Crumpton told CNN. “I think ‘Lemonade’ opened up an opportunity for us to talk about Black feminism in pop culture, and I think ‘Cowboy Carter’ opened up an opportunity for us to talk about the hidden history – and the often erased history – of Black Americans in Western history in the United States.”
With so many Grammy wins and a legacy as one of the most influential artists of our time, Beyoncé might not be sweating an album of the year win quite as much as perhaps the Grammys as an organization may be.
Beyoncé supporters, including her husband rapper Jay-Z, have long taken issue with the consistency in which Beyoncé has been overlooked in the album of the year category.
While accepting the Dr. Dre Global Impact Award during the 2024 ceremony, Jay-Z called out the Recording Academy after Beyoncé’s “Renaissance” album lost album of the year to Harry Styles’ “Harry’s House” in 2023.
The Recording Academy has also faced criticism for failing to equally recognize women and artists of color, along with alienating rap and hip-hop performers in key categories, over the years. The group in 2020 announced changes they’re implementing to address that.
While six of the eight nominees in this year’s album of the year category are women, female artists are still underrepresented at the Grammy Awards, according to a recently released report by AKAS (Addy Kassova Audience Strategy Ltd), with research and analysis funded by the Gates Foundation. In the last eight years, only 1 in 5 nominations and wins have gone to women, the report read.
This year, André 3000 and indie-jazz artist Jacob Collier are the sole male nominees for album of the year. Taylor Swift’s “The Tortured Poets Department,” Sabrina Carpenter’s “Short ‘n Sweet,” Charli XCX’s dancefloor-centric “Brat” and Billie Eilish’s “Hit Me Hard and Soft” are also nominated.
“If Beyoncé does not win, I believe the response will be varied upon racial demographics, gender demographics, about who was deserving and worthy of this award, and what does that signify for every artist who will enter the music industry,” Crumpton said.
Through her music, Beyoncé “has intertwined herself with the history of Black Americans in the United States,” so another loss in this category, Crumpton added, will be felt “by all Black artists of the diaspora who look towards the United States and institutions like the Grammys, like Billboard, to validate them and open up other doors.”
The Grammys will be handed out Sunday from the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles. It will air on CBS and stream on Paramount+ at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT.
