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Kelly Rowland Reacts to Jay-Z Slamming Grammys for Beyonce’s Album of the Year Snubs
Kelly Rowland has opened up about what she thought of Jay-Z slamming the Grammys during a speech at the Sunday, February 4, event, where he criticized the Recording Academy for wife Beyoncé‘s lack of wins in the Album of the Year category.
“Shawn Carter is one of the greatest men I know and his words ring so loud to me. I couldn’t be more proud of him,” Kelly, 42, told Entertainment Tonight on Tuesday, February 6, at the Los Angeles premiere of the film Bob Marley: One Love.
“I’m just really happy for a lot of things that he said,” the former Destiny’s Child singer continued. “I think that he made a lot of artists feel very seen and very heard in those minutes that he took on stage.”
While accepting the Dr. Dre Global Impact Award at the 2024 Grammys, Jay, 54, pointed out that despite Beyoncé, 42, having the most overall wins of any artist in the show’s history, she’s never taken home the prestigious Album of the Year title. She has been nominated four times in the category.
“Obviously, it’s subjective because, you know, it’s music and its opinion based. But you know, some things, you know, I don’t want to embarrass this young lady, but she has more Grammys than everyone and never won Album of the Year,” Jay, said onstage as the camera cut away to show Bey.
“So even by your own metrics, that doesn’t work. Think about that. The most Grammys; never won Album of the Year. It doesn’t work,” he mused, as the couple’s daughter, Blue Ivy Carter, stood next to him.
Jay also accused the Recording Academy of allowing some music to compete in categories he felt they didn’t belong in.
“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. All right. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, that was it, no. When I get nervous, I tell the truth,” the music mogul said with a nervous laugh.
Despite holding the title for most Grammy wins with 32 trophies, Beyoncé has come up short in Album of the Year. Her first nomination in the category came in 2010, when her I Am … Sasha Fierce was upset by Taylor Swift’s Fearless. She lost again in 2015 when her eponymous album was beat by Beck’s Morning Phase.
In 2017, fans were sure Lemonade would bring home Bey’s first AOTY win, but she lost out to Adele‘s 25. Her most recent Album of the Year nomination came in 2023, when Renaissance lost out to Harry Styles‘ Harry’s House.
On the night of Jay’s rant about Beyoncé’s lack of wins for Album of the Year, Taylor, 34, broke the record in the category by taking home her fourth AOTY trophy for Midnights, a feat no other artist has achieved.
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