I don’t get Stan culture at all. Or, I get it, but it’s not for me. Uncritical, heedless loyalty to any entity seems less about actual appreciation, and more about group identity validation. So while I am someone who has dressed as Beyoncé for Halloween, and who is currently awaiting word that I’ve been waitlisted for the RENAISSANCE tour, you’ll still never hear me claim the Beyhive.
I’m also not here to say anyone deserved to win the Album of the Year Grammy. Believe me, I’m well-versed in the sting of watching some white guy get flowers for some bullshit while the rest of us get passed over. Award shows dress themselves up as displays of meritocracy, and it’s a self-congratulatory farce every time. They are as petty and biased and political as anything else that humans decide on. “Deserve” isn’t a remotely appropriate word in these contexts.
All of that being said, RENAISSANCE was absolutely my album of the year, and my favourite Beyoncé album by a country mile. It feels like it beamed straight out of two of my most beloved music eras — late-stage disco and 90s house. These are eras when music production could be almost reckless in its maximalism, while also being fussed over enough that every layer of sound was intentionally designed to wring out as much emotion as possible. When the logical endpoint of any emotion you felt was to throw that ass in a circle to coked out roller rink records. When you could achieve pure transcendence on the dance floor.
RENAISSANCE also sounds to me like an artist at the peak of her immense powers taking a huge swing just for fun. For whatever reason, she immersed herself in some of the queerest music of the past 50 years and created a weird, thrilling pastiche that doesn’t work at all times for all people (even her biggest fans have one song on here that they skip every time*, and it’s a different song for everyone!) but absolutely soars when it connects (again, different songs for everyone**).
What award could possibly capture any of that? Why should we want one to?