Adele: ‘What the f— does Beyoncé have to do to win Album of the Year?’

When Adele accepted Album of the Year at the Grammys on Sunday for 25, she dedicated the win to Beyoncé, who was also nominated in the category for her 2016 album, Lemonade. And when Adele went backstage after the ceremony to answer questions about her win, the singer further explained her reasoning for giving thanks to Beyoncé during her speech.

“My album of the year is Lemonade,” Adele told reporters. She went on to explain that the first song she fell in love with was Destiny’s Child’s “No No No” when she was 11 years old. “The way I felt when I first heard ‘No No No’ was exactly the same as when I heard Lemonade last year,” Adele continued. “I felt like it was her time to win. My view is what the f— does she have to do to win Album of the Year? That’s also how I feel. I felt this album — I said this earlier — I felt this album was a different side of her that we haven’t seen. I felt blessed to be brought into that situation. Obviously the visual is very new and the Grammys are very traditional, but I thought this would be the year they went with the tides.”

The comments echoed her sentiments during the awards show. After taking the stage, Adele said, “I can’t possibly accept this award. And I’m very humbled and I’m very grateful and gracious, but my artist of my life is Beyoncé and this album to me, the Lemonade album, was just so monumental, Beyoncé. It was so monumental and so well thought out and so beautiful and soul-baring and we all got to see another side to you that you don’t always let us see, and we appreciate that. And all us artists here adore you. You are our light.”

Adele went five for five on Sunday night, picking up every award for which she was nominated. She walked away with statues for Album of the Year, Record of the Year, Song of the Year, Best Pop Vocal Album and Best Pop Solo Performance. She beat Beyoncé in four of those categories. (Lemonade was not nominated for Best Pop Vocal Album.)

Though Beyoncé was up for nine awards and was the most nominated artist of the night, she only won statues in two categories: Best Music Video and Best Urban Contemporary Album. During her televised acceptance speech for the latter, Beyoncé spoke about the importance of confronting “issues that make us uncomfortable.”

“It’s important for 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,” she said. “This is something I want for every child of every race, and I feel it’s vital that we learn from the past and recognize our tendencies to repeat our mistakes.”

Beyoncé also gave one of the most explosive performances of the night, performing “Sand Castles” and “Love Drought” off Lemonade while pregnant with twins and dressed as a queen goddess.

Read Adele’s full backstage comments below.

The reason why I felt the need to say something is my album of the year is Lemonade. She is my icon of my whole life. I was 11 years old and I was i school. I was in year six, so I was 11 before I moved up to my high school. And I was with some girlfriends and we were practicing a song for an assembly with our friends and for our family. My recommendation was we do a Spice Girls song and they’re like have you heard “No No No” and I was like “no no no, I haven’t!” and they played it for me. Literally, I remember it so clearly how I felt hearing her voice, hearing all their voices, but hers so specifically and then I got home and just started getting into . I fell in love immediately with her. That was when I was 11 and I’m 28 now. The way I felt when I first heard “No No No” was exactly the same as when I heard Lemonade last year. For an artist… the only other people that made me feel like that, they’re all dead. So I’m living off of music that they made when they were alive. For her to be making such relevant music for that long of a period and still affect all of us — it’s not just me — there are friendships that are completely defined and us being complete Beyoncé stans. I don’t take any f—ing s— when it comes to anyone not liking Beyoncé. You can’t be in my life. You simply can’t. So I felt the need to do it. I felt like it was her time to win. My view is what the f— does she have to do to win Album of the Year. That’s also how I feel. I felt this album — I said this earlier — I felt this album was a different side of her that we haven’t seen. I felt blessed to be brought into that situation. Obviously the visual is very new and the Grammys are very traditional, but I thought this would be the year they went with the tides.