Beyoncé Calls Long-Sought Grammy Album of the Year Award Win ‘Very Surreal’
Beyoncé notched a number of firsts on Sunday night (Feb. 2) at the 2025 Grammy Awards. Not only did she become the first Black woman to take home the album of the year award as the lead artist this century when Cowboy Carter took the top prize, but she also finally scored her long-sought first win in the AOTY category after four previous nominations and losses.
Asked what the award means to her by ET after the show, Beyoncé said, “It’s very surreal and it’s been 25 years of working really had and trying me best to keep growing and keep opening up doors… so I’m just very honored.” In accepting the award, Bey shouted out the members of the Los Angeles Fire Department who presented it to her, thanking them for keeping Angelenos safe during the recent deadly wildfires that were acknowledged frequently during Sunday’s fundraising broadcast.
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“I’d like to thank and acknowledge and praise all of the firefighters for keeping us safe,” she said during the show. “I just feel very full and very honored. It’s been many, many years.”
A reporter for the Recording Academy also caught up with the singer backstage and got a similarly jubilant answer. “I feel overwhelmed, so full, thank you so much. This is a beautiful night,” she said, adding with some sass and a wrist roll, “the Beyhive is buzzin‘!”
In her chat with ET, Bey also said she was glad that her and Jay-Z’s eldest daughter, Blue Ivy, was on hand to see her mom triumph and join her on stage for the big moment. “Taller than me, and I don’t like it at all,” the singer joked about the 13-year-old, noting that their youngest daughter, four-year-old Rumi — who is also on Cowboy Carter — was “at home watching and I forgot to thank her so I get to thank her now: Thank you, Rumi.”
Beyoncé also took time to acknowledge that the Carter album was a means to introduce many more people to the deep history of Black country artists while showcasing such contemporary players as Rhiannon Giddens, whose hot banjo licks on the “Texas Hold ‘Em” single likely put a lot more eyes on her long career in country/bluegrass music.
“The banjo has a deep history and I just feel honored to reintroduce some of that history that I think has been lost and very, very honored that I got the response and the open heart and that people welcomed the album,” Beyoncé said, appearing to get a little teary-eyed when the interviewer mentioned how touched Giddens said she was in an chat last year about her prominent spot on the album.
“The love I got from the country community tonight really made me feel so seen and I’m very grateful,” Beyoncé said. “Hopefully they continue to open up the world for people that just love and respect the genre, no matter where they come from, everybody should be invited.”
In addition to AOTY, the 11-times nominated Cowboy Carter also won best country album, making Bey the first Black woman to ever take home the prize; she also won best country duo/group performance thanks to her Miley Cyrus team-up on “II Most Wanted.”
Watch Beyoncé talk AOTY Grammy win below.
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