The Grammys this year were pretty eventful, to say the least. Chappell Roan had all the artists you can think of singing “Pink Pony Club,” Kendrick Lamar received the record of the year for his song “Not Like Us,” and Taylor Swift was partying it up during all the performances. The long-awaited Album of the Year (AOTY) section of the Grammys had a diverse range of nominees, Billie Eilish and Beyonce being one of them. Presented by the L.A. Fire Department, they awarded Beyonce’s “Cowboy Carter,” which many fans debated whether it was a deserving win for Queen Bey. I stumbled upon many TikToks that evening about who deserved the award more, Billie Eilish or Beyonce. All of whom had very interesting points. The most I encountered was the number of streams Billie had compared to Beyonce, how Beyonce has gotten snubbed every year and finally won AOTY, and the most emotionally impactful “HIT ME HARD AND SOFT” had on its audiences. Let’s delve deeper into these arguments.
Many Billie Eilish fans hurried onto TikTok to compare Spotify streams of the artist’s popular songs from their respective albums. They circled and highlighted their streams, screenshotting them, arguing that “HIT ME HARD AND SOFT” deserved the award. They compared “TEXAS HOLD ‘EM” over 600 thousand Spotify streams to “Birds of a Feather” over 2 billion streams and streams alone mean Billie should’ve won AOTY. Many even said no one listened to Beyonce’s album as much as Billie’s, going so far as to say that no one listened to “Cowboy Carter” at all. The argument caused many Beyonce fans to gather on the platform and argue how much of an impact she has had on the music industry, saying her win was well-deserved.
Beyonce fans created their TikToks, speaking on the number of times Beyonce has been nominated in this category and never won until now. Beyonce has been nominated for AOTY 5 times, angering fans that she never won any of them until this year. Her fans argue that her impact on the music industry, who she represents, and what she advocates for makes her all the more deserving especially for how long she’s waited to receive Album of the Year.
Billie Eilish fans argued that the emotional impact they experienced with the album “HIT ME HARD AND SOFT” was much stronger than “Cowboy Carter.”They felt that all of the tracks hit close to home impacting their viewpoints on the world. They used tracks like “Wildflower,” sharing how heartbroken they are for Billie or using clips from concerts with captions saying that we know who the real winner is. Some users even lip synced to audio exclaiming how confused they were witnessing Billie’s loss, shaking the phone or adding dramatic movements.
When watching all of this unfold, I started to form my own opinions on the matter. I adore Billie and all of the albums she’s released over the years. “HIT ME HARD AND SOFT” has by far been my favorite album. I’ve replayed it, especially because of how much I relate to it. I’ve been listening to it a lot more now after the whole fiasco. As much as I love Billie and believe that her winning Album of the Year would be deserving because of her hard work on this album, Beyonce has been waiting 5 years. She’s had a long career in the music industry and has done so much for the black community and black women. For that reason, I feel that her win was earned for all the years she’s created powerful and insightful music.