Kelly Rowland and Mathew Knowles have entered the chat commenting on Jay Z’s viral Grammy speech where he called out the recording academy for snubbing Beyoncé.
As the “Blueprint” rapper put it while accepting the Dr. Dre Global Icon award, “I don’t want to embarrass this young lady, but she has more Grammys than everyone and never won Album of the Year. So, even by your own metrics, that doesn’t work. Think about that: the most Grammys, never won Album of the Year. That doesn’t work.”
While on the carpet of “Bob Marley: One Love” Rowland spoke out on HOV’s words.
“Shawn Carter is one of the greatest men I know and his words ring so loud to me,” Rowland told ET. “I couldn’t be more proud of him.”
She continued, “I’m just really happy for a lot of things that he said. I think that he made a lot of artists feel very seen and very heard in those minutes that he took on stage, whether you carried some of that for years, or a year, or felt some sort of way about that.”
The Destiny’s Child singer reiterated Jay Z’s statement that “it’s no disrespect” to other artists as she went on to gush about Beyoncé.
“I feel like she is an icon, and that’s for a reason, it’s because she starts trends,” Rowland said of her former bandmate. “She is innovative, her thoughts are big and bright and she just jumps for them and does it. I think that her albums are a reflection of that, and it should be really celebrated in that way.”
Rowland added, “I’m not saying that because it’s my sister, I’m saying it because it’s the truth. I’ve seen the blood, sweat and tears that she puts into these projects, and her thoughts and her heart and her passion and her soul.”
And she’s not the only one in Beyoncé’s camp with something to say about it. The “Renaissance” star’s father and former manager spoke to TMZ Live on the matter, saying Queen Bey’s record label also holds some responsibility for the snubs.
“People don’t know the process. Your record label can only appoint one person in a category,” Knowles says. “So that means her record label—I’m gonna call you out, Columbia Records — her record label has never really put her in that category for consideration.”
Knowles also pointed out that Adele, who beat out Beyoncé’s “Lemonade” for the title in 2017 Grammys, is also with Columbia Records.
“I mean, there’s a financial reason. Maybe Adele sold more records worldwide? I don’t know these answers. But these are some of the thought processes that they go through,” he added. “Maybe you say, ‘You know, Beyoncé has her success. Here’s an opportunity to push Adele, so let’s push her.’”
Further in his speech, HOV insisted “We want y’all to get it right. We love y’all, we love y’all. We want y’all to get it right. At least get it close to right.”
