EDM Community Reacts to Beyoncé Winning Grammy for Best Dance/Electronic Album

Some music enthusiasts are calling “BS” on Beyoncé’s Grammy win for “Best Dance/Electronic Album” of the year. Did she deserve the title?

This past weekend was the 65^th Annual Grammy Awards recognizing the best music recordings, compositions, and artists running from October 1, 2021, to September 30, 2022. The event was hosted by former Daily Show icon, Trevor Noah.

Winners of the night included Lizzo, Harry Styles, Sam Smith, Kim Petras, Ozzy Osbourne, Bad Bunny, Kendrick Lamar, and no surprise, Beyoncé. However, Beyoncé’s last Grammy win of the night seemed to have riled up opinions online in the electronic music world.  

On top of winning in the categories “Best Traditional R&B Performance”, “Best R&B Song”, and “Best Dance/Electronic Recording” she also took the title of “Best Dance/Electronic Music Album” for Renaissance. This award marked the 32^nd Grammy win of her career and broke the record for the most Grammy wins ever.

While people congratulated Beyoncé for this huge milestone, others thought she was undeserving of it explaining her album’s genre is not electronic. One Twitter user writes, “No disrespect to Beyoncé, get your accolades, clearly a legend, but winning the best dance: electronic dance album? OVER actual EDM producers?”

In this category, she beat out artists Bonobo (Fragments), Diplo (Diplo), Odesza (The Last Goodbye), and Rüfüs Du Sol (Surrender). People expressed their distaste claiming the other electronic producers’ body of work was more aligned with the genre. Another user tweeted, “Of course, they put a non-EDM artist in this category to take away from any genuine recognition to the actual electronic artists. Beyoncé didn’t deserve the Grammy.”

However, on the other hand, there were an equal amount of people arguing that Renaissance was inspired by house music and the roots of electronic culture. In her acceptance speech, she dedicated her win to “the queer community for your love and for inventing the genre”.

For those who don’t know the history of house music, it originates in Chicago in the 1980s and was revolutionary for the LGBTQ community. The warehouse parties that hosted house music were a haven for minority and queer people giving them a space to express themselves and find community.

People who defended Beyoncé’s win pointed out that she handled her acceptance speech with class and paid proper homage to the genre’s origin. One user says, “Beyoncé won the dance music category because she made an album dedicated to the queer and Black origins of the genre, and straight, white EDM fans are mad I’m screaming.”

Other people argue that her Grammy is just since the category is Dance and Electronic classifying her album, Renaissance, as the Dance music. A tweet reads “I understand Beyoncé makes dance music with how big of a breakout the EDM scene and genre has had in the past few years though I think they should separate the categories so that artists that focus and give all their energy to that genre have a shot / feel appreciated”. 

Perhaps this person is right; it is only as of the last few years that electronic music has become more integrated within mainstream media and might be the reason it isn’t recognized as its own category. Those upset about the powerhouse’s win are advocating for more recognition amongst electronic music producers.

Though what many fail to consider is the history behind house music which was the leading inspiration behind her album. The academy can’t change the result now but the category was filled with strong nominations shining a bright light on the future of electronic music. 

Jaci Soukhathivong

An Atlanta gal chasing her love for electronic dance music. I’ve been with Exron since 2018 and have the privilege of contributing to the culture alongside other badass women whom I now call my friends. My introduction to the scene was first influenced by trap music, but my discography has since expanded to touch a bit of everything. Some of my favorite artists are Zeds Dead, Cloonee, Nghtmre, Flume, Infekt, Sosa, Bleu Clair, Subtronics, but the list goes on forever.

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