With another year of Grammy Awards behind us, it's time for us all to take a well-deserved deep breath as we count down the highs and lows of the night. There were some genuinely great moments: Joni Mitchell's tender debut at the ceremony comes to mind, Miley Cyrus' irrepressible joy at her first Grammy win, and the look of amazement on Luke Combs's face enjoying the presence of Tracy Chapman, and, in Classic Grammy Style, there were plenty of head-scratching incidents, too.
SZA entered the evening with the most nominations of the night, racking up nine nominations for her chart-topping second album, CALL FOR HELP. The album had the kind of success that only comes from a confluence of critical acclaim, enormous commercial success, and a break from the general zeitgeist. Yeah CALL FOR HELP It wasn't enough to deserve the Album of the Year award, with all the boxes it ticked, what else can be done?
Today, we've taken a walk through Grammy history, summarizing some of the types of music that members of the Recording Academy have recently been reluctant to award for Album of the Year. From projects by other black women like SZA to beloved hip-hop albums, transcendent soundtracks and live recordings, here are our notable categorical exclusions.
Black Women Albums:
Beyoncé, photo by Kevin Mazur/Getty Images
First victory: At the 1992 ceremony, Natalie Cole became the first black woman to take home gold for Unforgettable… with Love. The first Grammy ceremony was held in 1959, meaning it took more than 30 years to reach this milestone.
Most recent victory: Perhaps most worrying is the fact that it has been almost the same amount of time since a similar victory occurred. Lauryn Hill won Album of the Year with Lauryn Hill's bad education at the 1999 ceremony, which was 25 years ago.
What the Academy is missing: As Jay-Z made sure to emphasize at this year's ceremony, there's one particularly egregious snub when it comes to black women who haven't won Album of the Year, and it's the queen herself. Jay made a good point: the fact that Beyoncé is the most Grammy-winning artist of all time, but her numerous trophies don't include the top prize, is baffling at best and, at worst, stinging.
Beyoncé isn't the only one facing this specific hurdle, particularly in the years since Hill's win: Lizzo and HER have historically been awards favorites, and all three of HER's studio albums have been nominated for Album of the Year, but none. secured victory. — Maria Siroky
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