Adele Breaks Her Grammy in Half for Beyoncé: "What the F--k Does She Have to Do to Win?"

"My Album of the Year is Lemonade," she tells reporters backstage

By Zach Johnson Feb 13, 2017 12:15 PMTags
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Is Adele the new queen bee?

At the 2017 Grammys Sunday, 25 was named Album of the Year, beating Beyoncé's Lemonade, Justin Bieber's Purpose, Drake's Views and Sturgill Simpson's A Sailor's Guide to Earth. Adele, who had just won Record of the Year for "Hello," was totally beside herself and burst into tears.

"I can't possibly accept this award, and I'm very humbled and very grateful and gracious, but my life is Beyoncé, and the album to me—the Lemonade album, Beyoncé—was so monumental, and so well thought out, and so beautiful and soul-bearing," Adele said. Addressing Beyoncé directly, she said, "We all got to see another side of you that you don't always let us see, and we appreciate that. All us artists adore you. You are our light. 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. I love you. I always have. And I always will. Grammys, I appreciate it."

Not only did Beyoncé cry, but other celebrities shared their emotional reactions on Twitter, too:

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Grammys 2017 Red Carpet Arrivals
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Like a scene out of Mean Girls, Adele broke the award in half, presumably to share with Beyoncé. When she later appeared in the press room backstage, she elaborated on her sentiments.

"Like I said in my speech, my Album of the Year is Lemonade. So, a piece of me did die inside, as a Beyoncé stan—not going to lie," Adele said. "I was completely rooting for her, I voted for her. I felt like it was her time to win. What the f--k does she have to do to win Album of the Year?"

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Grammy Awards 2017 Winners: The Complete List
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"I spoke to her before just to let her know how honored and privileged I felt to be nominated alongside her, and we spoke afterward as well and she was very gracious and humble—as always, as we've come to expect," the singer told reporters. "And the reason I felt the need to say something is because my album of the year is Lemonade. She is my icon of my whole life."

Adele has been an admirer ever since Destiny's Child's debut single "No, No, No" was released in 1998, when she was 11 years old. "The way that I felt when I first heard 'No No No' is exactly the same as how I felt when I heard Lemonade last year," Adele said. "There are friendships I have that are completely tied to us being complete Beyoncé stans. I don't take any f--king s--t when it comes to anyone not liking Beyoncé. You can't be in my life. You simply can't."

How did the beloved singers fare overall?

Beyoncé won two out of nine awards, while Adele won five out of five awards. Adele also made history as the only artist in history to sweep the Album, Record and Song of the Year twice.

Tune in to E! News at 7 p.m. and Fashion Police at 8 p.m. on Monday, Feb. 13 for complete coverage of the 2017 Grammys.