Beyoncé Finally Speaks Out About Album of the Year Grammy Losses on ‘Cowboy Carter’

“Fuck it, do it again (That’s cool)/A-O-T-Y, I ain’t win (That’s cool)/I ain’t stuntin’ ’bout them/Take that shit on the chin/Come back and fuck up the pen (Yeah),” Beyoncé said on the song.

Beyoncé received the AOTY nomination in 2010 for I Am… Sasha Fierce, in 2015 for Beyoncé, in 2017 for Lemonade, and most recently in 2023 for Renaissance. In those years, she lost to Taylor Swift’s Fearless (2010), Beck’s Morning Phase (2015), Adele’s 25 (2017) and Harry Styles’ Harry’s House (2023).

In an interview with Tidal ahead of the 2023 Grammys, Beyoncé’s husband, Jay-Z, criticized the Recording Academy for snubbing his wife all those years. According to Jay, the Academy “missed a moment.” 

“Look what it’s done to the culture. Look how the energy of the world moved,” he said. “They play her whole album in the club. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen that. The whole entire joint—like, everything?! Every remix is amazing. Everyone’s inspired. It has inspired the world. Every remix is better than the other one.”

He continued, “When it just inspires creativity, that’s an album. That has to be Album of the Year. It has to be….Even with Bey, I felt like they missed the moment. Not just LEMONADE; [also] when Beck won over her [for Album of the Year at the 2015 show]. I was like, ‘Oh, y’all missed it.'”

At the 2024 ceremony while accepting the Dr. Dre Global Impact Award, Hov went even deeper into his critique of Bey never winning AOTY and dragged the Recording Academy for never crowning her even though she’s the most decorated artist at the Grammys with 32 wins. 

“I don’t want to embarrass this young lady but she has more Grammys than everyone and never won Album of the Year,” Jay-Z said about Beyoncé. “So even by your own metrics that doesn’t work. Think about that. Most Grammys, never won Album of the Year, that doesn’t work.”