As music’s elite gather in Los Angeles for the Grammy awards on Sunday (Monday in Manila), one question is playing on loop: Will Beyonce finally win the coveted Album of the Year prize?
The 41-year-old has the most chances at Grammy gold with nine nominations, following the release of Renaissance, her rich, layered ode to club music.
She is a powerhouse contender for the night’s major awards – but the same goes for British balladeer Adele, whose introspective ode to the ugly cry, 30, earned her seven nods.
The face-off has prompted obvious comparisons to 2017, when Adele swept the top prizes at the glitzy music biz gala, shutting out Queen Bey’s culture-shaking Lemonade.
Six years later, Beyonce has continued to make history as the Grammys’ winningest woman; with four more victories on Sunday, she could overtake classical conductor Georg Solti for the most victories by any artist.
But when it comes to the big three awards —best album, best record, and best song—Beyonce curiously remains something of an underdog.
She has never won Album of the Year honors and although she has the most Record of the Year nods with eight, she’s never won that prize either.
She only scored Song of the Year once, for 2008’s “Single Ladies.”
But industry watchers including Billboard predict this will finally be Beyonce’s year to take home the Grammy for Album of the Year, arguably the night’s most prestigious prize.
“I sure hope so, because doesn’t she deserve it?” Nile Rodgers, the co-founder of the band Chic who is credited with contributions on “Renaissance,” told AFP.
Rodgers, the Supremes, Nirvana, and others will receive a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Recording Academy at Sunday’s ceremony.
“She’s arguably the most culturally important artist in the world,” Merck Mercuriadis, the music publishing mogul who was once Beyonce’s manager, chimed in at a pre-Grammy gala.
