Adele and Beyoncé: victory for generosity, feminism and grace at Grammys 2017

Generosity and grace are not qualities one usually associates with high-profile entertainment industry awards. Adele and Beyoncé showcased both these in abundance at the Grammy Awards in Los Angeles on Sunday night.

The British singer won the top awards of album, song and record of the year for 25, but when Adele stood on the stage to accept her awards, she said, looking down into the crowd to find her fellow nominee, Beyoncé, “I can’t possibly accept this award.”

Beyoncé, Adele said, is “the artist of my life. And this album to me, the Lemonade album, is just so monumental. You are our light. And the way that you make me and my friends feel, the way you make my black friends feel, is empowering. And you make them stand up for themselves.”

She started off teary in her tribute to Beyoncé and then accelerated powerfully into a compelling speech that had both the auditorium and the wider international audience on social media entranced.

As Adele spoke, Beyoncé tenderly mouthed, “I love you”, from the audience and touched her hand to her heart. Nothing about either of these actions felt or looked anything but spontaneous; two powerful, famous, talented women acknowledging each other, and the societal challenges that being a woman still carries in 2017, no matter how famous you are.

“In my pregnancy and through becoming a mother I lost a lot of myself,” Adele said, straight out, in her on-the-fly speech. “And I’ve struggled, and I still do struggle being a mom. It’s really hard.”

It was Beyoncé’s first time to perform since announcing that she is pregnant with twins. Dressed in gold, with stacks of gold bands around her throat, a gold mantilla on her head, she looked like a shimmering sun priestess.

When Beyoncé accepted her award, for best contemporary album for Lemonade, she had things she wanted to say too; things about race, culture and identity that have a particular resonance in the era of America’s recently-elected 45th President.

“We all experience pain and loss, and often we become inaudible. My intention for the film and album was to create a body of work that would give a voice to our pain, our struggles, our darkness and our history.

“To confront issues that make us uncomfortable. It’s important to me to show images to my children that reflect their beauty, so they can grow up in a world where they look in the mirror, first through their own families, as well as the news, the Super Bowl, the Olympics, the White House and the Grammys, and see themselves, and have no doubt that they’re beautiful, intelligent and capable. This is something I want for every child of every race.”

It wasn’t caught on camera, but one of Adele’s Grammys, which are in the shape of gramophones, later came apart, into two pieces. Even the award was spontaneously combusting to mark the fact that while it was given to one woman, history will record the 59th Grammys as the one when both Adele and Beyoncé were winners for sisterhood, feminism and dignity.