If you’ve used the internet in the past 24 hours, you’re already up to speed on all the news surrounding the Grammys, whether wilfully or not. But the one story that’s been stage-rushing and interrupting all of the others is Kanye West doing just that after Beck received the award for Album of the Year.
Having nabbed the award for Best Rock Album, Beck was bestowed with the highly coveted Album of the Year title by none other than Prince. But as the towheaded alternative icon approached the microphone, West ran onto the stage, seemingly determined to recreate his infamous stage invasion at the 2009 VMAs, but refrained at the last second.
Instead of blasting Beck, a la Taylor Swift after the young superstar beat out Beyonce, who West contended had one of the “best videos of all time”, a seemingly matured Kanye stopped himself and ran back to his seat. This was much to the disappointment of Beck, who begged him to come back, as the audience laughed, revelling in the tongue-in-cheek reference.
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But it’s since been revealed that the whole thing was no joke. In fact, West had every intention of pulling another stunt and once again asserting that Beyonce had been robbed by a lesser artist. Also nominated in the category were Ed Sheeran, Sam Smith, and Pharrell Williams, whom West felt far less passionately about.
“I just know that the Grammys, if they want real artists, to keep coming back, they need to stop playing with us. We ain’t gonna play with them no more,” Kanye told E! in an interview after the awards ceremony. West said he nixed his planned outburst out of consideration for his daughter and his wife, who was in attendance.
“Beck needs to respect artistry and he should’ve given his award to Beyonce,” West added. But according to Billboard, he has no bad blood whatsoever with Beck. “Beck knows Beyoncé should have won,” West told a paparazzo. When asked if he’d heard of Beck before, the rapper replied, “Come on, man, I love Beck. But he ain’t have album of the year.”
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Meanwhile, in keeping with his general good humour about the whole situation, Beck isn’t even mad at Kanye. “I was just so excited he was coming up. He deserves to be on stage as much as anybody,” Beck told Us Weekly. “How many great records has he put out in the last five years, right?”
In fact, Beck even agreed with West’s sentiment. “I thought [Beyonce] was going to win,” he said. “Come on, she’s Beyoncé! I still love [West] and think he’s genius. I aspire to do what he does.” The industry veteran expressed his doubts about the possibility of winning with his latest album, the somber Morning Phase, to Billboard during a pre-Grammys party.
“It would be a surprise with this record, honestly… I think it’s just, the moment in music, you know what I mean? I’ve been in that category before, and it’s usually something that’s very definitive of the time,” he said. Beck had previously been nominated for Album of the Year in 1997 for Odelay and 2001 for Midnite Vultures.
