#Renaissance deserved AOTY

[itsokbbygrl]

Sorry, Beyoncé 🫡

[pinkponygrl]

the way that Beyoncé synthesizes so much culture and preserves history on Cowboy Carter is so beyond!!!! the references she makes and the world she invents, like this will take me months to dissect and I’m already so excited by how much I’ve learned from this album.

like over time I see Cowboy Carter being included as one of the most important and culturally significant contributions to the American music catalogue. and yeah it’s TAKING IT (aoty 2025<3)

[redshoes-blues]

HARRY STYLES AOTY NO WAY?!!?

[emma-mayhew]

.

[joesalw]

Not her coming out with an album with a long ass title. She wants to be Lana so bad. SZA was robbed for AOTY, Kelly Clarkson was robbed for best pop VOCAL album (I mean, c'mon now).

Scammys are constantly snubbing Black creators in the major categories. Only 3 black women have won AOTY in the 66 years of the Grammys existence. Two of those albums were cover albums of mainly white acts ( Unforgettable...with Love by Natalie Cole and The Bodyguard Soundtrack by Whitney Houston). The last BW that won AOTY was Lauryn Hill's "The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill" which won 25 YEARS AGO.Even Mariah Carey hadn't won this category. What baffles me the most is the fact that the most awarded artist in the Grammys history hadn't won a single one AOTY and only has 1 (ONE!) award from the big 4 (Record of the year, Song of the Year, Album of the year and best new artist). She'd won it for Single Ladies. Out of all the hit songs she has, that was the only one that got awarded (imo one of her worst songs).

Renaissance got snubbed last year. And this year we see a tendency of streaming artists (Ariana's newest song comes to mind first) following the Renaissance's sound and house music's becoming trendy again. The Grammy voters even said 'We didn't vote for Beyonce on AOTY because she's won too many already'. Too many my ass. This woman's won only one Grammy outside of the genre category. And the genre categories they put black and brown people in are truly outrageous. No matter what they do, no matter how many new sounds and sub genres they invent, they will always be boxed into R&B and Urban categories. I mean, her country song from 'Lemonade' album 'Daddy Lessons' got snubbed in the country category and got rejected a nomination for being 'not country enough'. Bitch, please. From the first five seconds it's obvious to even non-country listener that it in fact, is a country song. And people that vote for this stuff are supposedly professional musicians and music experts. These same people box The Weeknd's music into R&B categories when he's clearly making pop music.

Jay-Z's speech was just a cherry on top for me. After Swift in her acceptance speech said that " I want to say 'thank you' to the members of the recording academy for voting this way but I know that the way that the recording academy voted is a direct reflection of the passion of the fans" while smugly polishing the Grammy, this man went on stage to get his lifetime achievement thingy and completely obliterated the same institution that Swift was ass kissing just a few minutes prior. He went on and said: " We want y'all to get it right. At least get it close to right. And obviously it's subjective because it's music and it's opinion based. [About his wife] She has more Grammys than everyone and never won AOTY so even by your own metrics that doesn't work. Think about that: the most Grammys, never won AOTY. That doesn't work. Some of you are going to go home tonight and feel like you've been robbed. Some of you may get robbed, some of you don't belong in the category. *everyone gags* No, no. When I get nervous... I tell the truth. But outside of that, we got to keep showing up. And forget the Grammys for a second, just in life, you gotta keep showing up until they give you all those accolades you feel you deserve, until they call you chairman, until they call you a genius, until they call you the greatest of all time". To me that sounds like "POC have to work twice as hard to get half as far". Not a big Jay fan but the speech was great. I'm sure he got his ass whooped on the way home for saying that.

Then the Grammys have proven him right by celebrating white mediocrity by giving Midnights AOTY. The outrageous thing is, only three Black women have won AOTY, she now has four. And many talented black people don't have a single one. The bodies of work that transcend genres, cultures and languages. The bodies of work that have much better musical components and lyrical content. The bodies of work that can stand the test of times and sound fresh and new even 10 years after their release. Artists that aren't afraid to step out of their comfort zone, experiment with genres (Whatever Swift calls 'experiments' don't go outside of the pop genre (Country-pop (Red), synth-pop (1989, Lover), electropop (rep, Lover), acoustic pop and alt-pop (Folkmore)). Beyonce, Kendrick Lamar, TLC, Missy Elliott, Usher, Kanye (his artistic side), Alicia Keys, Lil Wayne, Frank Ocean, and many more black music creators deserve their flowers. They are the ones that are inventing new shit and setting trends in various genres of music, they are the ones that put the most effort into their presentation and live performances. I'm sick and tired of the major showbiz institutions overlooking black, brown, asian, indigenous excellence. These people deserve to be rewarded for their hard work in the same capacity these institutions reward white (anglo) people. I'm sick of people celebrating white mediocrity and overlooking art of different cultures, ethnicities, races.

Now she's gonna be insufferable for at least another year. I've been listening and enjoying her music for the past 5-6 years (not a fan but a casual listener) for the lyrical content of her songs but she's not a poet in any way. Lana's been a staple for me in that regard. And the fact that she dragged her on stage to have that "Adele to Beyonce" moment just gave me the ick. I wouldn't be surprised if Swifties are taking Jay-Z's speech as a sub for TS's wins (haven't gone on twitter yet). I mean, if the shoe fits. Also wouldn't be surprised if she herself took it as a jab to her ego. She's also clearly drunk and possibly on some ❄️ (just my opinion). The only deserved AOTY she has is the Folklore one. And don't get me started on her EMMY win. The fact that a visual masterpieces like Lemonade and Homecoming lost to Carpool Karaoke is absolutely absurd to me. Also the fact that her visual album for her "Lion King" project wasn't even nominated when every single one of those in the category were comedy specials is especially infuriating (If anyone's interested, some of the music videos are up on Youtube). And Swift comes along and swoops up hers in a bullshit category with no actual nominees? Nah, things don't work like that. Or at least, they shouldn't.

Anyway, SZA and Lana were robbed. Victoria Monet's won Best New Artist, Miley got her first win, Phoebe Bridgers went home with the most wins of the night and everyone only talks about Taylor Swift. I'm patiently waiting for the tower to fall. She desperately needs a reality check. This drunkard didn't even acknowledge Celine Dion who handed her the award. I mean, she didn't even look at her. But proceeded to have a cringe and unnecessary handshake with Jack Antonoff. You're in a professional setting, behave like an adult and save those handshakes for the afterparty or do it behind the stage after giving a speech. She proceeded to drag Lana on stage to the point where she was trying not to fall. At this point I'm convinced that swifties have brainwashed her into the thinking that the nicest thing she can do for someone is grace them with her presence. Ana Clara's family serves as a great example.

Her hair was a miss, she looked like she was wearing a wedding gown and the black gloves didn't help. Her make up made her look old. Her accessories were excessive and tacky and it looked like she was also wearing hip pads, shoes were giving late 00s-early 10s. Overall, fire the whole styling team. You're a global superstar that's a billionaire and you look cheap as fuck.

TL;DR : She shouldn't have won. Lana and SZA were robbed. She once again made the night about herself and her narcissism peaked in the moments where she'd accepted her awards. Black creators are criminally overlooked. She ass kissed the grammy voters and Jay-Z shamed them just a few minutes later and was right. She needs to get rid of her stylist, hair stylist and make up artist. Another drunk award show. Beyonce should have at least one AOTY. Sick and tired of people celebrating white mediocrity in show business.

Sorry for the long ass paragraph, just felt like it was a safe space to vent 💜

you guys can vent all you want. I'm here for it🤏

[narrie]

i wonder if harry would still have gotten aoty if cowboy carter had come out before renaissance🤔

even renaissance deserved aoty more than hs3, there was no good reason for it

[whiskeyswifty]

to be fair we also saw Taylor fail to hold a single note before winning AOTY in 2010 howeverrr she was a teenager and also didn't win over Renaissance by Beyoncé. It's still a funny coincidence to me

I wasn’t gonna say anything cuz it’s perhaps my most controversial thing (for this crowd) I’ll ever say especially on this blog…… i am Sasha fierce deserved to win AOTY instead of fearless. Not because she couldn’t hold a note in some performance or whatever, and it’s not why Harry didn’t deserve either. I was making a mean joke. But because it just didn’t deserve it artistically nor as a representation of the biggest album of that year in comparison. A lot of swifties, especially ones who weren’t conscious at that time, look back at that as a great historical moment to celebrate, but for everyone else, especially now, it was another good but not better album by a white person winning over a massive artistic and cultural phenomenon album by Beyonce. Everyone let it slide because we were sure she would win eventually, it was her first AOTY nomination. And looking back now, Fearless was the best of the 4 albums that have beat beyonce, and it was a genuine competition between the two, that can be said. We had no idea it would be a harbinger of a decade (and eternity most likely) of racism and bullshit from the academy. Beyoncé’s work getting better and better and the albums by white people on stage accepting the award getting worse and worse. Nobody blames Taylor, she didn’t do anything, but that’s my truth and frankly the truth!

[zot3-flopped]

I don’t think the insider accounts know anything, and some of the claims are particularly irritating because Harry has already played with rock and various other genres on his albums. Harry’s House is actually very experimental. HS1 was classic rock and his fashion described as Prince/Bowie inspired at the time (suits, velvets, silks, pussybow shirts etc.), so he’s already nodded in that direction (but no, never replicated). That said, I don’t know how much Harry plans his releases around awards per se, especially as he himself has said he doesn’t make music for awards. Of course, his label will have their own ideas. I get not wanting to be lost in the crowd of big releases and I imagine that does have an influence, but you could end up waiting forever if that was the case because artists are always releasing music. Also, Harry is a major player in his own right. I actually wonder whether anyone wants to release near Beyonce now because it’s become so loaded, or whether the criticism by her husband and father will actually work against her (i.e., whether many voters will resent being lectured on who “deserves” to win an award when that person has already won so many awards).

If he was Grammy obsessed he wouldn't have released Harry's House in the same eligibility period as 30 and Renaissance. Very few people thought he would win over Adele and Beyonce, including Harry himself. I think he was hoping for As It Was to be awarded and AOTY came as a huge surprise.

[didhewinkback]

i’m curious to know if you think harry deserved album of the year last year

babe you are asking me to step onto a minefield but for u i will answer this. i am going to get on a soapbox so forgive me

here is my thing w the grammys ! i think theyre the worst voting academy of any awards ceremony bc they are mostly white, mostly old, mostly men who when it comes to the big 3 awards of their night, they almost always go for the safe, white option regardless of whether or not that is the most deserving. especially with AOTY they just cannot take risks or vote outside of their worldview. they also sometimes go for the biggest selling albums of the year in which case that would be harry's house. for me personally, i would like to think aoty is more than just what sold the most but what was the best collection of songs as a whole, what album was exciting, dynamic, did something that no other albums that year did. for meeee, last year that was renaissance, not harry's house. i really enjoy harry's house a lot A LOT but it's hard for me to compare that to the body of work that is renaissance, the message of renaissance, the world of renaissance and say it should have earned it over beyonce. also just the fact that beyonce has not won it ever, the fact that no black woman has won it since 1999 (!!!!!!!!?!?!?!?!?!??!) is actually batshit to me. i don't think harry's house is harry's best album nor do i think it was the best album of last year, tho its really fun and funky and has songs on it that i do not stop listening to but for me personally i would have loved if beyonce won it last year.

do not ask me about this year as i will get doxxed.

[saintlaurentproblems]

I like Harry's music and As It Was deserved to go home with either SOTY or ROTY but to give him AOTY was insane Renaissance deserved that award and the tour proved it that project was sickening from start to end

Yes I listen to Renaissance more than Harry’s House

[stylesunchained]

Adele apologized coz even she realized that lemonade deserved the award, it was groundbreaking. Renaissance deserved it as well because it's groundbreaking can you seriously listen to both the albums and think yeah Harry's house deserved the biggest win of the night. And then harry goes onstage talking about how it doesn't happen to people like him when the last time a black woman won aoty was in 1999. He'll even bad bunny deserved it if not Beyonce. Both their wins would have been historical for them and for the industry while with harry it's just another album from a white mediocre man winning.

I’m gonna put it in simple terms:

No, I don’t think Renaissance is anywhere near groundbreaking. It’s a subpar album in comparison to everything else Beyoncé has released in the past.

Yes, I believe Harry deserved it because Harry’s House was THE album of 2022 and it was everywhere, unlike Renaissance, which Beyoncé released towards the end of the year and then refused to promote it. I can seriously listen to both albums and recognize greatness in both, as well as see that HsH broke through the glass and reached a whole new audience, while Beyoncé’s album only made noise within her already established fandom.

Harry did deserve the biggest award of the night because he was the biggest artist of 2022 and no argument you guys can come up with will change that. It was his year.

You’re all acting like Beyoncé left that awards show empty handed when she did not. Her not winning AOTY doesn’t change she’s the most awarded artist of all time and doesn’t take away her greatness.

Harry worked hard to get where he is and what he meant when saying “things like these don’t happen to people like me very often” was that people like him, who came from a small village in England with literally 5k residents, people like him who came from a talent show and a boyband who are historically not taken seriously by the Grammys, people like him who were just regular and usually don’t get up to the level of prestige he achieved when winning AOTY and being even NOMINATED for a Grammy. You people are misunderstanding him ON PURPOSE, because you want to be mad.

While all of the above is true, the structural racism within the Grammy voting system still exists and shouldn’t be ignored. Beyoncé should’ve gotten AOTY for Lemonade and so many other black women should’ve been recognized by their greatness in the past. TWO THINGS CAN BE TRUE AT THE SAME TIME: while she is being a victim of the system, this year was not her time to get AOTY because Renaissance was simply not the album with most impact throughout 2022. If the Grammys have ANY sense whatsoever, they will give her AOTY next year, after she’s done her tour and performances all over, because everyone knows 2023 will be THE Beyoncé year.

Finally, and most important of all: you people are the mediocre ones, putting down another artist to lift another. Beyoncé has been nothing but graceful over the years, she has shown appreciation and love towards Harry and so should the Beyhive. But you guys choose to be disrespectful because your fave didn’t win when she shouldn’t have and you can’t accept it. You can’t give people a “retrospective Grammy” to compensate for all the times they lost in the past. This wasn’t her year, it was Harry’s and that’s done.

People have continuously found new reasons to trash him and send him hate and he’s done nothing egregious or mean spirited to deserve it. He’s only been thriving and making good music and being a fucking great artist who is, after twelves years in the industry, finally being recognized for his hard work. That is all.

[startreatment]

10, 20 & 24 ^_______^ 🩵

hehe thank youu <3

10. you have to get a lyric tattoo — which lyric is it?

bigmouth strikes again in huge bold letters across my forehead

20. which album deserved that damn grammy?

is melodrama a cope-out answer? if we're talking about albums that were nominated but did not win, i'd say melodrama, when the pawn, dirty computer, lemonade and renaissance (we should hunt harry styles for sport i think. god.). honestly the fact that bey does not have a single AOTY grammy is criminal! also AM (2013) for being a huge slay . and grace by jeff buckley of course

24. which song do you want played at your funeral?

uhhh fuck. i think i'll just stick with the answer i gave last time and say another one bites the dust

[allamericansbitch]

A series of opinions:

The three albums taylor won aoty with were each super deserving and it’s stupid to act like she would only be considered for those awards if she bribed someone. The three albums that won are truly among her best work and had huge cultural impacts in their release years.

The Grammys are racist. (Taylor benefits from white privilege at award shows, as do all white artists. That fact can and does co-exist with the fact that her aoty wins were deserving. There’s a lot of nuance here that one anon message cannot touch on. Also I personally think the red nomination is an example of a time she was nominated in a category where she wasn’t deserving of the win - which I know is not a popular opinion among swifties lol)

I also just don’t think Taylor needs to be centered in a conversation about Beyoncé in general. Especially when it comes to aoty at the Grammys. I believe Taylor and Beyoncé have only been nominated for the award at the same time once, in 2010. And I personally think her losses to Adele and Harry styles were far more shocking/offensive just because of how much better/bigger Lemonade and Renaissance were in their release years compared to the competitors.

I agree! The 3 albums she won AOTY for are generally her best and deserve it, and I can see why red didn’t get an award because it is a very messy album with its own issues.

And I completely agree I think people focus way too much on the Taylor g beyonce thing because they’re not even in the same zones to me.. like Taylor’s a pop singer songwriter and beyonce is a rap/ r&b artist I genuinely do not understand why they end up in the same conversations. And yeah if people wanna be mad at something they should be mad at Harry styles beating beyonce bc what lol

[ialwaysknewyouwerepunk]

i have a thing to say, idk where I'm going with this but pls listen. The people who are hating on harry the most are only those who are chronically online. I'm sure that no artist or celebrity is popping veins because harry styles won AOTY.

this is the thing with being chronically online, one of my fav memes that I saw and still think about is the one whic goes:

person 1: I love apple

person 2: so are you saying you hate oranges?

this is literally how chronically online ppl act. there is absolutely no nuance, no grey area... everything is just black or white in this situation.

first about him deserving AOTY, yes he did. Harry's house (regardless of if anyone likes it or not) stayed up in charts, was played multiple times, is critically acclaimed and has several accolades. so is the case with Renaissance correct. but the thing about these nominations are that there is possibility of winning and losing indefinitely. Did Harry's house deserve to win? this is a question which is very subjective. those who likes it will say yes and those who don't will say their fav album but painting hs3 as some sort of a charity case that harry winning that award is extremely shocking, never thought of never been done before is case of extreme delusional imo. all the albums which were nominated were for a reason, which means the probability of any album winning was the same as harry winning. it was in competition for a reason. imo I get the anger that people have because beyonce has been snubbed from AOTY for many yrs but imo that is a frustration that should be taken upon recording academy and not harry. I have barely seen tweets and posts about ppl being angry at RA but more about how harry didn't deserve it. AOTY was deserved by every nominee if they were nominated at the first place.

now about his speech, what harry said yes I agree it sounds tone deaf. I know what he means, his fans know what he meant but I can understand how GP thought of it. I hope in the future harry minds his words and practice beforehand how to approach this situation. But I also have to add this thing, that I have seen several ppl wanting to "cancel" him, several ppl making fake tweets about how lizzo and Adele weren't happy, several ppl digging into his old tweets wanting to find racism...in one way harry should've been considerate but on the other way there is minimal actual disappointment but rather "let's jump on this bandwagon to hate on him"

anyways my advice to your other anon as well is to refrain yourself from "chronically online" people. Acknowledge that harry can and make mistakes. hold him accountable. but also find nuances and differences between an emotion out of vengeance and an emotion of actual disappointment. find difference between people who preach and people who listen and people who make you understand.

lastly, harry should've been careful with his words. and I hope he keeps that in mind. but do I think the world will end because of this? no. do i think Harry's house deserved the award? hell yes and I'm proud of his accomplishment.

i agree with a bunch, kind anon, but i do want to note that harry is probably one of the most censored artists out there in terms of what actually genuinely comes out of his mouth. does the speech sound out of touch? i guess, if you actually believe someone who is really a white cishet man could think he's a minority, but that seems kinda unlikely tbh. it seems like ppl are just ready to hate on anything harry says. bc a more logical interpretation of the speech would be - "hm. this sounds like something who is a minority would say. maybe he is one of us." was it the Smartest thing to say in a situation where no one gets him? no. but do i stand behind the idea that he should shut up even more than he already does? also no.

and then about the grammys... *deep sigh* why do people fucking care so much?

[joesalw]

Oh man... that dancing is truly something. Good for the choreographer and the dancers though, the check is fat and they didn't have to overexert themselves. I think that Mandy made the choreo so Taylor can keep up without seemingly struggling and look like the ecocidal billionaire princess she is. I personally don't think that she has any interest in dance. She only does it so the show doesn't look as boring. She doesn't have Adele's natural charisma to pull off a stadium show without dancing. And doesn't have the moves to do so without having pipes. This woman's just mediocre no matter who you compare her with. Olivia Rodrigo is a good lyricist too especially if we're comparing Taylor's work at Olivia's age to 'SOUR' and 'GUTS'. She's certainly a better vocalist than TS, has enough acting chops to act out a performance and is far more confident when she dances (I hadn't seen much though). She's sort of Alanis' regen. No wonder TS felt threatened when Olivia blew up. I'm curious to see if she'll turn on that Sabrina girl if she ever blows up.

I also wonder what kind of tantrum she'll throw when she loses that AOTY Grammy. Especially if she loses to Olivia. There's no shot she's winning it with THAT. I mean, even Beyonce constantly gets snubbed in that category with far better and diverse material that actually sounds like an album and not a bunch of singles thrown together. Mariah Carey doesn't have one either and Amy Winehouse's 'Back to Black' also didn't get it. I also think that '1989' Grammy wasn't deserved. Kendrick should've won. Period. And Beyonce's Renaissance lost because Grammy voters thought that 'she has too many already'. I mean, maybe I'm biased because I'm a Beyhive but the transitions that album has, the cultural impact it has, the history of the genre. I mean, who in their right mind would make a house music album in the year of 2022? Also the genre is built on using the samples. And she did it so marvellously where you couldn't really tell that it was sampled at all without REALLY listening to the original. House is also pretty much the gay music. She brought the ballroom culture back to the forefront and made it and the queer community the centre of the tour. Add the top notch vocal production that she did HERSELF on top of that and she still lost simply because the voters we're like 'nah, she's won one too many already'.

Meanwhile not one of Swift's album had made quite an impact as 'Back to Black', 'Lemonade', 'To Pimp a Butterfly', 'Renaissance', MJ's 'Bad' all of which hadn't won and Pink Floyd's 'The Dark Side of The Moon' which wasn't even nominated. All of Taylor's albums were tailored to the most popular aesthetic at the time. She didn't make shit popular, she just adapted. Especially when she made the transition into pop music. The hipster thing in 2012, the tumblr and polaroid aesthetic in 2014, cottagecore in 2020. Girl, please. The only original thing about her is her birth certificate information. Even her southern accent in her country days was fake.

I was a casual fan until this year when she chose to publicly parade and profess love to her nazi boo.

Excuse me for the long ass rant and thank you for your service x

[septembersghost]

I agree with you so much on hsh having cultural impact and that's the reason for his win. Which is why I feel like within a few years harry's win won't even be debated. When fearless won AOTY there was just as much questioning as there is now. When 1989 won people were arguing how Kendrick deserved it. As much as I like beyonce this wasn't her best album and she didn't even put that much effort in promoting(I have a lot of thoughts on dubai performance but it doesn't matter here) I really think people's frustration came from 'how come beyonce never won AOTY' more than 'renaissance is the only album that deserved it' combined with the shit ton of haters he collected from his 1D days.( l saw an old thread on reddit where a person who is a MaSSivE FaN saying golden is not good and how fine line is repetitive in sound and is basic. When I looked their recent comments they were full on harry hate train and wasn't even trying to hide it) . So there are a lot of people who claims as fans then shits on him. I definitely believe we haven't witnessed his best work yet once his talent become unquestionable I don't think anyone will discuss this(just like noone talks about fearless win)

i'm sorry, who do i have to physically fight for slandering golden? GOLDEN?! MY SUNSHINE?! MY BELOVED?!?!?!?! the appalling lack of taste. how can someone claim to be a fan and then spew hatred online, that makes zero sense? what is the point? i'll never understand people pretending to be fans of artists they clearly do not like, why be that miserable?

i agree re: bey and what you said about that album, and have a lot of thoughts/disappointment about the dubai thing too. (she should've won for lemonade.) you're so right about the fearless and 1989 wins, and how those were debated and even sneered at at the time, and most everyone has forgotten that and doesn't question her deserving that recognition now.

the cultural impact and how certain music can define a year is a really big factor in the decision imho! harry's house was massive. as it was was That Song last year - to the point where they even used it in multiple nye celebrations around the world. and it's not just about, idk, superficial virality and t*ktok memes or whatever, it's about the general perception and effect that had, and how many people listened to and embraced and were brought together by that music. i remember reading an article about some older fans bonding over his music and how joyful it made them and the way it strengthened friendships and their own self-esteem and connections to their youth, and so on, and i think that's every bit as incredible as younger fans discovering it and feeling their worlds open up. (part of why the sight of him hugging grandma reina after she got to read his AOTY win was SO touching and wonderful). music crosses barriers and affects hearts in such a pure way.

i don't believe we've seen his best work either (this is only his third album! i know it feels like more because there were five with the band preceding it, but this is still early in his career in many respects), and i hope that keeps transforming for him.