Though the 59th Grammy Awards ceremony has come and gone, people across the globe cannot stop talking about Adele and Beyoncé. Despite being the biggest winner on that night, Adele’s gesture and show of love to Beyoncé, who lost a major category to her, was priceless.
While the British soul singer, who took home five awards including Album, Record, and Song of the Year on Sunday night came on stage, she said she did not deserve one of those accolades. She later went ahead to break her Album of the Year award into two, giving the other part to Beyoncé.
She said, “But I can’t possibly accept this award. And I’m very humbled and I’m very grateful and gracious. But my artist of my life is Beyoncé. And this album to me, the ‘Lemonade’ album, is just so monumental. Beyoncé, it’s so monumental. And so well thought out, and so beautiful and soul-baring and we all got to see another side to you that you don’t always let us see. And we appreciate that. And all we artists here adore you. You are our light.” “And the way that you make me and my friends feel, the way you make my black friends feel, is empowering. And you make them stand up for themselves.
And I love you. I always have and I always will. Grammys, I appreciate it. The academy, I love you. My manager, my husband and my son, you’re the only reason I do it. Thank you so much.
Thank you very much to everybody.” Beyoncé’s ‘Lemonade,’ which came out last April via HBO special, Tidal stream, and iTunes Store download, was a major hit, and spoke about black womanhood in an exciting way. It seemed like a perfect-fit for Album of the Year.
Yet Adele triumphed, for reasons only known to individual Grammy voters. While Adele was busy upstage, the camera caught Beyoncé’s eyes filled with tears. She was seen shaking her head and mouthing ‘I love you” back to Adele as she stood next to her husband, Jay Z, who got emotional too.
Beyoncé had all reasons to cry foul play, but she did not take it personal. Instead of creating a show, it was the lucky winner who did it for her. For her, it was not a do-or-die affair.
She was nominated for nine categories but walked away with just two of those awards, Best Urban Contemporary Album and Best Music Video, missing out on the biggest award of the night. When Beyoncé came on stage too, despite being the loser, she was inspiring.
She said, “I thank God for my family, my wonderful husband, my beautiful daughter, my fans for bringing me so much happiness and support. We all experience pain and loss, and often we become inaudible.
“My intention for the film and album was to create a body of work that would give a voice to our pain, our struggles, our darkness and our history; to confront issues that make us uncomfortable.
“It’s important to me to show images to my children that reflect their beauty, so they can grow up in a world where they look in the mirror, first through their own families — as well as the news, the Super Bowl, the Olympics, the White House and the Grammys — and see themselves, and have no doubt that they’re beautiful, intelligent and capable.
“This is something I want for every child of every race. And I feel it’s vital that we learn from the past and recognise our tendencies to repeat our mistakes. Thank you again for honouring ‘Lemonade.’ Have a beautiful evening. Thank you for tonight. This is incredible.”
Relating what transpired at the Grammys to what happened at the Headies’ back home, it is disturbing to note that since the 2015 Headies’ fallout, Olamide and Don Jazzy have not been in good terms.
Though, there were moves by the business mogul, Aliko Dangote and certain people in Nigeria to settle the rift between both parties, things have never remained the same afterwards.
The things Olamide said were too deep and personal. Though most people felt Olamide was under the influence of alcohol, it did not make much difference. Even if Don Jazzy had truly forgiven him, those words cannot be taken back and would dwell in him forever.
For the few who had forgotten the incidence, it all started when Reekado Banks was announced the winner of the Next Rated category. It upset Olamide and his boys, who had concluded plans to celebrate Lil Kesh. For some reasons, they did not think any other deserved the award but Lil Kesh.
When Olamide came on stage to celebrate Adekunle Gold, he was aggressive, insinuating that his boy was robbed. Expectedly Don Jazzy did not take that funny, which made him to ask Olamide to come take the car prize if he wanted it. Olamide took to twitter and vented his anger on Don Jazzy.The case is similar to that of Adele and Beyoncé. While one ended bitterly, the other ended with great applause.
It may be wrong to say international stars are super humans, but Adele and Beyoncé’s reminded everyone that certain things are greater than awards.And Nigerian artistes need to take a cue from this. Award is just an icing on the cake; it does not define who or what you are.
It did not take Adele anything to admit that Beyoncé was more of a deserving winner than her and she even shared the award with her.Beyoncé was also calm and refrained from calling out anyone. Remember, that this was not the first time she would be losing out on the Album of Year, when many people thought she was the deserving winner.
