Jay-Z blamed the Recording Academy for never giving Beyoncé a Grammy for Album of the Year, but her father thinks her record label is responsible.
“People don’t know the process,” Mathew Knowles said during TMZ Live on Monday, February 5, while discussing his son-in-law’s Grammys speech. During the Sunday, February 4, awards show, Jay-Z, 54, mentioned the fact that Beyoncé, 42, is the winningest artist in Grammys history but has never once taken home Album of the Year. Knowles, 72, claimed that his daughter’s record label, Columbia Records, has never lobbied for her to win during the voting period.
“Your record label can only appoint one person in a category. So that means her record label — I’m going to call you out, Columbia Records — her record label has never really put her in that category for consideration,” he alleged. Knowles said that record labels can only back one artist per category, which becomes an issue when two or more artists from their roster are up for the same award.
The last two albums that beat Beyoncé for the Grammys’ top prize were Harry Styles’ Harry’s House in 2023 and Adele’s 25 in 2017. Columbia released both records. “I mean, there’s a financial reason,” Knowles said. “Maybe Adele sold more records worldwide? I don’t know these answers. But these are some of the thought processes that they go through. Maybe you say, ‘You know, Beyoncé has her success. Here’s an opportunity to push Adele, so let’s push her.’”
“I’ve been 14 years in those rooms supporting the label,” he added. “I know exactly how this works.”
In 2023, Beyoncé won four Grammys, pushing her total past conductor Georg Solti and producer Quincy Jones to take the title of most Grammys won by anyone. However, among her 32 Grammys, only one is from one of the “Big Four” categories: Song of the Year, Album of the Year, Record of the Year and Best New Artist. Beyoncé won Song of the Year in 2010 for “Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It).” And despite the Recording Academy nominating her for Album of the Year five times, she’s never won.
Her husband brought this up during the ceremony on Sunday. “I don’t want to embarrass this young lady, but she has more Grammys than anyone and never won Album of the Year,” Jay-Z said while accepting the Dr. Dre Global Icon award. “So even by your own metrics, that doesn’t work.”
“I’m just saying, we want you all to get it right,” he said, suggesting the Grammys need to consider their shortcomings in hip-hop, R&B and other categories deeply associated with the Black community. “We love y’all, we love y’all. We want you to get it right — or at least get it close to right.”
