Kelly Rowland thinks Jay-Z’s now-viral speech at the Grammys last weekend was just what artists needed to hear.
The Destiny’s Child singer told Entertainment Tonight in a red carpet interview on Tuesday that she was proud of the rap mogul, who called out the Recording Academy for never awarding her former bandmate, Beyoncé, with the Grammy Award for Album of the Year.
“Shawn Carter is one of the greatest men I know and his words ring so loud to me,” Kelly said. “I couldn’t be more proud of him.”
“I’m just really happy for a lot of things that he said,” she continued. “I think that he made a lot of artists feel very seen and very heard in those minutes that he took on stage.”
While accepting the Dr. Dre Global Impact Award at the ceremony on Sunday, Jay-Z called out the fact that Beyoncé has yet to win Album of the Year, despite having the most Grammys in history.
“Think about that, the most Grammys, never won Album of the Year — that doesn’t work,” he said about his superstar wife, who watched his speech from the audience.
Kelly later celebrated Beyoncé – whom she considers a “sister” – telling ET that the Renaissance singer is an “icon.”
“She starts trends, she is innovative, her thoughts are big and bright and she just jumps for them and does it,” she said. “Her albums are a reflection of that. It should be really celebrated in that way, Album of the Year, a couple of times.”
“I’m not saying that because it’s my sister, I’m saying it because it’s the truth,” she added.
The Grammys have been called out over the years for snubbing Beyoncé — and other Black artists — out of winning top awards such as Album of the Year.
Many viewers were shocked when Harry Styles’ album Harry’s House beat out Beyoncé’s Renaissance at the Grammys last year.
The Break My Soul singer has been nominated for the Grammys’ top award four times, but never won.
In 2017, Adele famously dedicated her acceptance speech for Album Of The Year for her record 25 to Beyoncé, who was nominated for her album Lemonade.
“My artist of my life is Beyoncé, and this album for me, the Lemonade album, so monumental, Beyoncé, so monumental,” Adele said onstage at the time while looking directly at Beyoncé in the audience.
“You are our light,” she added.