If Beyoncé takes home at least 4 prizes at the Grammys on Sunday, she’ll become the winningest person in Recording Academy history. But one prize stands out: album of the year. Grammys, do your job this Sunday, says pop music critic mikaelwood.
” — are up for various R&B prizes. But the way “Renaissance” coheres, with its intricate transitions and clever callbacks, is the real wonder to behold; it’s by far the most album-y of the 10 LPs competing for album of the year.The formula for success in album of the year, which despite the fragmentation brought on by digital streaming is still the Grammys’ equivalent of best picture, has always been a shifting mixture of commercial might, critical acclaim and cultural impact.
“She’s one of our greatest artists and has never received the album award,” says Lenny Beer, editor of the trade journal Hits. “Her new music is both current and nostalgic, accessible and progressive. Her time is now.”‘Renaissance’ reveals a depth of knowledge regarding rhythm and harmony that puts her as an arranger and bandleader on a level with Prince and Stevie Wonder.
As an institution, the Grammys have also proven suspicious of the kind of highly collaborative record-making involved in “Renaissance,” whose credited writers, producers and performers run into the several dozens.
Do those concerns over a lack of representation mean that an overdue win for Beyoncé — whose career has been proceeding just fine without a Grammy for album of the year — would benefit the academy at least as much as it would the artist?
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