Beyoncé swept the Dance / Electronic music categories at the 65th annual Grammy Awards on Sunday, beating out fellow nominees Bonobo, Rüfüs du Sol, and Diplo in both the Best Dance / Electronic Record and Album categories. The pop singer wins both categories for the first time, with her taking home the Grammy for Best Dance / Electronic Recording for her house-pop single Break My Soul and Best Dance / Electronic Album for Renaissance. During her acceptance speech for Best Dance / Electronic Album, Beyoncé thanked the queer community “for inventing this genre.” Renaissance features a list of prominent producers from the electronic music scene, including Honey Dijon, Green Velvet, and A.G. Cook.
Beyoncé’s wins now make her the most awarded artist in Grammys history, with a record breaking 32 wins. She also won Grammys for Best R&B Song and Best Traditional R&B Performance, both for Cuff It, which curiously appears on Renaissance despite the album being top of the class in the Dance / Electronic Music categories.
The electronic music industry has long been critical about the Grammys criteria for who gets nominated in the Dance / Electronic Music categories, often noting that the rules for these categories essentially make them extensions of the awards’s pop or general field categories. Mixmag recently published a think piece on the issue, while many on social media have been quick to question Beyoncé’s prominence in the categories.
