Though Beyoncé formally became the most-decorated Grammys artist of all time last night, she did miss out on the coveted Album of the Year award to Harry Styles—who said in his acceptance speech, "This doesn't happen to people like me very often," a line that felt like a slap in the face to many.
"I gotta be honest I can’t think of a type of people this happens for more," tweeted one viewer; meanwhile, journalist Sam Sanders wrote, “'This doesn’t happen to people like me' is the most white privilege-iest thing to ever be uttered at an awards show ever for all time."
In a moment shared by MTV News on Twitter, fellow Album of the Year award nominee Adele seemingly looked confused when Harry said, "This doesn't happen to people like me very often":
The moment possibly brought back memories of the 2017 ceremony for Adele: "I can’t possibly accept this award,” she tearfully told the audience when she won for her album 25, beating out Beyoncé's Lemonade. “My artist of my life is Beyoncé." Adele even quipped "There’s a lemon in it" when asked later by Vogue about whether she had her Album of the Year Grammy on display in her home.
But back to Styles. Earlier in his acceptance speech, he seemingly acknowledged the awkwardness of the win, saying, "It's obviously so important for us to remember that there is no such thing as ‘best’ in music,” but the line he ended on—"This doesn't happen to people like me very often and this is so, so nice; thank you very much"—felt tone-deaf for many. Beyoncé had been widely expected to win Album of the Year for Renaissance, and her loss was made even more frustrating for fans due to its echoes of Beyoncé's past losses to white artists in the same category (at past Grammys, she lost the award to Taylor Swift, Beck, Adele, and now Styles).
“'this doesn’t happen to people like me very often” IT LITERALLY ONLY HAPPENS TO PEOPLE LIKE YOU????" tweeted @ungodlywests, adding, "A BLACK WOMAN HASNT WON AOTY SINCE 1999 BTW."
Still, journalist Elle Hunt pointed out: "To a UK ear, when Harry Styles says "things like this don't happen to people like me"—this is what he means," linking to her Vice article that noted that "the posh and parentally blessed" make up the vast majority of British celebrities. Journalist Cat Cardenas also wrote, "Like I think he means someone from a small, working class town with no connections becoming one of the biggest artists in the world, bc he said that after selling out Wembley, too but like... no one is gonna hear it that way?" adding; "sir, I am ROOTING FOR YOU, but absolutely no one knows what you mean by that and it does not sound good!!"
Beyoncé, of course, reacted to Styles' win with grace and support, rising to give him a standing ovation.
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