Chris Brown has not taken his loss in the Best R&B Album category at the 65th Annual Grammy Awards well, hopping on social media to express disbelief at the Recording Academy’s decision.
The singer’s 10th studio album Breezy was nominated in the category, up against 2022 releases by Robert Glasper, Lucky Daye, Mary J. Blige and PJ Morton. Upon losing to Glasper’s Black Radio III, Brown took to his IG stories on Sunday evening (February 5) with a question that made it clear he was upset about the loss.
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“Who the fuck is Robert Glasper,” he asked in a since-deleted post. The post originally appeared minutes after the untelevised category was awarded.
The subsequent posts included insinuations that maybe he needed to bulk up his musical skills, and a fan-made video listing all of the album’s sales and chart stats as evidence of its success.
Chris Brown reacts to Best R&B Album Grammy loss 👀 pic.twitter.com/aXqgXx2lIr
— HipHopDX (@HipHopDX) February 6, 2023
“I Gotta get my skills up.. ima start playing the harmonica,” he wrote.
The 2023 Best R&B Album award marks Robert Glasper’s fifth Grammy since picking up the same prize for the first iteration of the Black Radio series in 2013, the year after Breezy’s only Grammy win for the album F.A.M.E.
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Two years later, he picked up Best Traditional R&B Performance for his single “”Jesus Children of America” featuring Lalah Hathaway & Malcolm-Jamal Warner. He was also the winner for Best Compilation Soundtrack for Visual Media for his contributions to the soundtrack for the Miles Davis biopic Miles Ahead in 2017; and the Best R&B Song category in 2021 for his single “Better Than I Imagined.”
While it did not garner a win for Chris Brown on his third nomination for Best R&B Album, Breezy did help him nab the Best R&B/Soul Male artist at the 2022 Soul Train Awards. He also picked up a controversial win at the 2022 American Music Awards during which Kelly Rowland had to chastise the attendees at who heckled Brown after he won an award.
On November 20, Rowland announced Breezy as the winner of the Favorite Male R&B Artist category at the AMAs when some members of the audience inside Los Angeles’ Microsoft Theater had a less-than-enthusiastic response. As the former Destiny’s Child member began to speak, she made a point to address those in the crowd who booed and defend Brown.
Chris Brown beat out The Weeknd, Brent Faiyaz, Lucky Daye and Giveon to win Favorite Male R&B Artist.
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The Virginia native was due to headline a tribute to the late Michael Jackson to commemorate the 40th anniversary of Thriller during the AMAs, but his performance was canceled at the last minute without explanation.
Breezy revealed his performance had been axed the day before the awards in a video posted on Instagram showing him rehearsing the set with a group of dancers. The clip started with Brown and two women performing to his latest single, “Under The Influence,” before the music transitioned to the intro gongs of Michael Jackson’s “Beat It.”
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The video continued showing more of the performance that incorporated other classics from Thriller, such as “Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’,” “Billie Jean” and “Thriller.” “WOULDVE been the ama performance,” Brown wrote in the comments section, “but they cancelled me for reasons unknown. [shrug emoji].”
The AMAs’ decision drew backlash from a number of Chris Brown’s musical peers.
