The 59th annual Grammy Awards show, which aired on Sunday, February 12, 2017, was on a level of craziness and extravagance of its own. From Lady Gaga and Metallica's intelligible collaboration on stage to Anderson .Paak's politically-charged performance and Beyoncé's transcendental performance to Adele winning pretty much everything that she was nominated for, it was certainly a night to remember.
The most extraordinary moment for me was Adele's acceptance speech after winning Album Of The Year. Out of all the nominees for this particular award - Adele, Beyoncé, Drake, Justin Bieber, and Sturgill Simpson - the two frontrunners to win were undoubtedly Adele and Beyoncé.
Despite whether you think Adele should have won or not, she did, and of all the things that she could have said in her acceptance speech, thanking Beyoncé was certainly not something that anybody expected.
During her speech, Adele poured her heart out to the queen bey herself as she thanked Beyoncé for being such an incredible role model and for producing Beyoncé's latest viral album, "Lemonade". Adele explained that in the past few years, she had been struggling with her pregnancy and with learning how to be a mother, but "Lemonade" had kept her strong and helped her regain parts of herself that she had lost.
Now, Beyoncé is a bona fide global superstar who has been a force to be reckoned with in the music industry since her former group, Destiny's Child became popular in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Adele - who only recently rose to fame when her first album, "19", put her on the map in 2008 - could have easily let the glory of beating out a veteran like Beyoncé for such a prestigious award go to her head. Adele could have rubbed her victory in Beyoncé's face or been petty in some other way.
Instead, after expressing how grateful she was to receive the award and how much love she had for everyone who had helped make "25" such a hit, Adele recognized Beyoncé for how extremely talented, inspiring, and prolific she is.
Women are taught to compete against each other at a young age, whether it's for a man, to see "who wore it better" (as we so often read about in magazines like People and Us Weekly), or for approval from others regarding physical appearance. Women are raised to be competitors, and I'm sick and tired of it.
That's why I love Adele's acceptance speech so much. She praises and supports Beyoncé instead of tearing her down, even though they were up for the same award. As she stood on the Grammy Awards stage in front of thousands of people in person and millions more around the world, Adele wasn't afraid to express how much she admires Beyoncé and how much Beyoncé has impacted her life positively.
Not only is this a pure and beautiful example of a woman supporting another woman, but it's also just an example of a human being supporting another human being, and that's such a refreshing thing to see after all of the hate and division that has been escalating since Trump's inauguration.
