Chance the Rapper is the most talented rapper of his generation and a pioneer in the music industry. His latest album, "Coloring Book," won him a 2017 Grammy for best new artist.

He also won his first Grammy earlier Sunday for best rap performance, for his song "No Problem," featuring Lil Wayne and 2 Chainz.

This year, the Grammys made streaming-only albums available for awards consideration for the first time, which allowed "Coloring Book" to be nominated. Because of the new rule, Chance, whose real name is Chancellor Bennett, made history as the first artist to win a Grammy based on a streaming-only album. 

"Coloring Book" is so popular that it's the first streaming-only album to chart on Billboard's ranking.

Miraculously, Chance has done all of this without a label supporting him. He's turned down record deals from numerous labels, and depends on word-of-mouth and his SoundCloud account for distribution.

Meet the most successful fully independent musician of our era:

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Chance the Rapper calls his albums "mixtapes." He recorded his first one in his senior year of high school.

He formally kicked off his career with the song "Windows." It got him some attention in Chicago's hip hop scene, and Chance spent another eight months tinkering with the rest of the album.

His first album — "10 Day"— gave Chance a cult following.

The album was released in 2012 and received over 400,000 downloads on the music-sharing site DatPiff and got Chance a cult following.

It's called "10 Day" because he wrote it during a 10-day suspension from high school.

A few months later, Childish Gambino (Donald Glover) featured him on his song "They Don't Like Me."

Listen to it here.

The INSIDER Summary:

• Blue Ivy Carter attended the Grammy Awards with Beyoncé and Jay Z.
• She wore a pink suit with a white ruffled top — a perfect Prince tribute.
• The suit ensemble was made by Gucci.

The 59th Annual Grammy Awards brought a lot of the world's music stars out to the red carpet, and the royal family of pop was no exception. Beyoncé, Jay Z, and Blue Ivy brought their unparalleled power to the show, and the 5-year-old wore a small pink suit that many are calling the world's most adorable Prince tribute. We think it's even better than the $11,000 gown she wore to the 2016 VMAs.

The Grammy awards this year featured a musical homage to Prince, who died on April 21, 2016. Blue Ivy's pink suit with a ruffled white shirt (a look Prince was known for rocking) seemed like an added nod to the fallen pop star.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the Prince-like suit was designed by Gucci.

Though Blue Ivy's expression seemed to indicate she was unimpressed with the show so far, that all changed after her mom unleashed an incredible performance. 

Never change, Blue Ivy.

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Adele gave an incredibly moving performance in honor of the late George Michael at the 2017 Grammys Sunday night, but she had a vocal slip-up that led her to stop and restart the performance mid-song, leaving viewers puzzled.

The "Hello" singer performed Michael's "Fastlove" in stripped-down fashion, with a string section behind her. As she started singing, it appeared she was slightly off-key and her timing was off. Those stumbles led Adele to put a halt to the performance and swear on live TV.

"Can we please start it again? I can't mess this up for him," she said.

Adele got her wish. She recovered and the Grammys broadcast her full rendition of the song, which ended up being a beautiful, heartbreaking tribute to Michael's work.

But she did look very upset as the song ended.

Later Adele apologized for swearing while accepting the song of the year Grammy Award for "Hello."

Watch Adele stop her performance mid-song to get it right:

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Sporting a white pantsuit and a "resist" armband, Katy Perry gave the first major political performance of the 2017 Grammys Sunday night while doing her song "Chained to the Rhythm."

A major supporter of Hillary Clinton during the presidential election, Perry's performance of her new song that she released on Friday was certainly a message that she will continue to be a major voice on issues she believes in. And it made her stand on President Donald Trump's administration pretty clear.

Her Grammy performance ended with her sharing the stage with Skip Marley, who is featured on the track, and a graphic of the Constitution's words behind them.

Perry's final words before ending the song were "No hate." 

"Chained to the Rhythm" has Perry's most explicitly political lyrics to date. The singer says, "So comfortable, we're living in a bubble, bubble / So comfortable, we cannot see the trouble, trouble."

Marley's verse on the song is even more bold in its political take, saying "We're about to riot."

Watch some of the performance below:

SEE ALSO: Here are all the winners of the 2017 Grammy Awards

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The INSIDER Summary:

• Beyoncé won the Grammy award for best urban contemporary album.
• During her acceptance speech, she spoke about the lack of diverse representation in mainstream media.
• She also said "It's vital that we learn from the past and recognize our tendencies to repeat our mistakes."

Music's biggest night was (rightfully) all about Beyoncé. After delivering a stunning performance, she won the award for best urban contemporary album. Beyoncé used her non-singing time onstage to emphasize the importance of increasing the representation of people from all races and backgrounds in our mainstream TV culture.

Scroll to read the full transcription, or watch the clip now: 

 "Thank you to the Grammy voters for this incredible honor. Thank you everyone who worked so hard to beautifully capture the profundity of deep southern culture. I thank God for my family, my wonderful husband, my beautiful daughter, my fans for bringing me so much happiness and support.

We all experience pain and loss and we often become inaudible. My intention for the film and album was to create a body of work that will give a voice to our pain, our struggles, our darkness, and our history. To confront issues that make us uncomfortable.

It's important to 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.

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's prepared words were a reminder of the lack of diversity that often plagues awards shows like the Grammys (or Oscars), as well as in many other areas of mainstream culture.

Musician Frank Ocean wrote a Tumblr post about the Grammy awards that reflected a similar message. Ocean said that Taylor Swift's "1989" winning album of the year over Kendrick Lamar's "To Pimp a Butterfly" was "hands down one of the most 'faulty' TV moments [he's] seen."

Stay tuned for more news of the Grammys — we expect Beyoncé to take home more awards as the evening continues.

SEE ALSO: All the looks from the 2017 Grammys red carpet

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The 59th Annual Grammy Awards had a Beyoncé-packed first half. The music queen performed two songs from her hit record/visual album "Lemonade," and then she won an award for best urban contemporary album (and delivered a stirring speech about the need for better diverse representation).

Beyoncé's show-stopping performance wound up being the most memorable part of the evening, though Adele took home the awards for both album and record of the year.

Keep scrolling for a look at the stunning visuals from Beyoncé's performance.

SEE ALSO: The wildest looks from the Grammys

The performance opened with a pre-recorded video of Beyoncé (in all her pregnant glory).

But then it cut to the real woman herself, standing in an amazing bejeweled gown.

More pre-recorded video played, including a group of tiny Blue Ivy's dancing around their mom.

The INSIDER Summary

• Adele took home album of the year for "25" at the Grammys.
• She beat out other artists including Beyoncé, who was nominated for visual album "Lemonade."
• In her speech, Adele said she couldn't accept the award because she felt it belonged to Beyoncé.
• Adele brought Beyoncé to tears as she praised "Lemonade" as monumental and empowering.
• Beyoncé mouthed "I love you" to Adele over and over from the front row of the audience.
• Adele then broke her Grammy in two to share with Beyoncé.

Adele took home the biggest two awards of the night at the Grammys, winning both record of the year for "Hello" and album of the year for "25," but not even the singer herself was sure she deserved both awards.

When the 28-year-old singer took the Grammy stage for album of the year, she was taken aback, telling the audience that she felt the award belonged to Beyoncé for her visual album, "Lemonade."

"I can't possibly accept this award," said Adele. "And I'm very humbled and I'm very grateful and gracious but my artist of my life is Beyoncé."

Adele went on to explain how important the "Lemonade" album was, not just to herself and her friends, but in general. Not only did it show a more vulnerable side to the singer, but her album was also an empowering one for women.

"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-bearing," said Adele. "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, we f---ing adore you," she continued. "You are our light and 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 and I love you. I always have, and I always will. Grammys, I appreciate it. The Academy, I love you. You're the only reason that I do it."

The camera cut to Beyoncé to show the artist tearing up in the crowd mouthing "I love you" to Adele from the front row with husband Jay Z beside her.

Earlier in the evening, she took home best urban contemporary album for "Lemonade." 

Right before Adele's album of the year win, the singer took the stage to accept the award for record of the year for "Hello" and had also praised Beyoncé.

"My idol is Queen Bey and I adore you," said Adele. "You move my soul every single day and you have done for nearly 17 years. I adore you and I want you to be my mommy."

Afterward, Adele broke her Grammys award in two to share it with Beyoncé. In the Grammys' press room, Adele explained to press how she felt when she won album of the year.

"A piece of me died inside," she said to press, according to People. "I felt like it was her time to win. What the f— does she have to do to win album of the year?"

In her album of the year speech, Adele also opened up about her struggles with motherhood. 

"Five years ago, when I was last here, I also was pregnant and I didn't know," she said. "I was awarded that [album of the year] shortly after which was the biggest blessing of my life. In my pregnancy, and through becoming a mother, I lost a lot of myself. I've struggled, and I still do struggle being a mom. It's really hard."

You can read her speech in full below: 

It took an army to make me strong and willing again to do it. Thank you all from the bottom of my heart. Five years ago, when I was last here, I also was pregnant and I didn't know. I was awarded that [album of the year] shortly after which was the biggest blessing of my life. In my pregnancy, and through becoming a mother, I lost a lot of myself. I've struggled, and I still do struggle being a mom. It's really hard.

Tonight, winning this, kind of feels full circle and like a bit of me has come back to myself, but 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. 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-bearing. 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, we f---ing adore you. You are our light and 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 and I love you. I always have, and I always will.

Grammys, I appreciate it. The Academy, I love you. My manager, my husband, and my son, you're the only reason I do it. Thank you so much. Thank you very much to everybody.

Watch Adele's album of the year speech:

SEE ALSO: CeeLo Green showed up to the Grammys looking like a golden comic-book villain

AND: The best looks from the BAFTAs

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The INSIDER Summary

• Rihanna brought a bedazzled flask to the Grammys.
• It quickly became a scene-stealer as the singer was seen taking swigs out of it and dancing with it during the show.
• Rihanna won none of her eight nominations of the night.
• She still won the night with fans as images of the flask emerged online.

Beyoncé, Chance the Rapper, and Adele may have dominated the Grammys stage with big performances and acceptance speeches, but in the crowd, Rihanna was the real winner.

The 28-year-old singer may not have won any of the coveted awards of the evening, but that didn't stop her from having a ball.

The official Grammys channel on YouTube released a clip of Rihanna dancing to Tribe Called Quest and you can clearly see her unscrewing her bejeweled flask as she grooved to the rhythm. 

In fact, there were numerous times during the awards show where Rihanna was briefly seen taking a swig out of her flask, sharing it with a friend, or dancing with it throughout the event.

No big deal.

Everyone was loving it.

You do you, Rihanna.

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The INSIDER Summary

• Beyoncé wore two show-stopping outfits to the Grammys Sunday night.
• Her first look was a golden, etheral look complete with a crown.
• Beyoncé then sat in the audience in a stunning red gown with a plunging neckline.
• Both gowns were designed by Peter Dundas.

Beyoncé stunned at the Grammys with a show-stopping performance and an acceptance speech for best urban contemporary album for "Lemonade," but she also caught fans by surprise with multiple looks at the awards show.

Earlier this month, the 35-year-old singer announced she and husband Jay Z are expecting twins and Beyoncé took pregnancy style to another level with not one, but two revealing gowns.

Beyoncé skipped the Grammys red carpet to unveil her first look during her performances of "Love Drought" and "Sandcastles." The star stepped out on stage in an etheral gown complete with matching headpiece by fromer Roberto Cavalli creative director Peter Dundas.

"It's very ornate, and almost reminds me of the Byzantine Hall at the Met Museum," Sir John, her hairstylist, told Allure of the headpiece. "She’s like a Venus. Peter showed me references of what he liked, one of which was Tom Ford's white dress collection for Gucci back in the late '90s, so the makeup is literally that."

Dundas shared sketches for the singer's pre-recorded and stage looks:

This one shows Beyoncé with a belly button ring.

If that wasn't enough, when Beyoncé finally appeared in the Grammys audience with her husband Jay Z she revamped her entire look. Beyoncé came out in a shimmering, deep plunging ruby gown, also by Dundas.

Bey later went backstage to show off her trophies, and her bump, to the press.

Pregnancy has never looked sweeter. 

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The INSIDER Summary:

• Actress Laverne Cox presented an award at the 2017 Grammys.
• During her stage time, she asked people to look up the name Gavin Grimm.
• Grimm is a transgender teen plaintiff in a lawsuit case that will heard by the Supreme Court in March.
• The case is based around Grimm's school board's decision to assign him a separate bathroom in his high school.

Actress Laverne Cox began her presentation at the 59th Annual Grammy Awards with a direct request of the audience: Google Gavin Grimm, and then tweet about him with the hashtag #StandWithGavin.

Cox's plea brought more attention to Grimm and his pending Supreme Court case that focuses on his right to use the men's bathroom in his high school. 

The lawsuit was filed by the ACLU on behalf of Grimm in 2015 after his school board decided that Grimm should use a separate bathroom with a single private stall, instead of the regular men's restroom the rest of his peers used.

According to the ACLU's information page about the case,"the lawsuit argues the bathroom policy is unconstitutional under the Fourteenth Amendment and violates Title IX of the U.S. Education Amendments of 1972, a federal law prohibiting sex discrimination by schools."

Cox — who is transgender herself — drew attention to Grimm's case because it's just over a month away from being heard at the Supreme Court. As the Washington Post reported back in the fall of 2016, Grimm never imagined the issue would become the focus of national attention.

At a meeting with his high school's board, Grimm made the following statement: "I am just a human. I am just a boy. Please consider my rights when you make your decision."

But the school board decided on assigning Grimm to a seperate facility, sparking the lawsuit that will now be considered by the Supreme Court.

"The American Civil Liberties Union and the ACLU of Virginia filed a lawsuit against the Gloucester County School Board for adopting a discriminatory bathroom policy that segregates transgender students from their peers,"the ACLU case page reads. "The policy effectively expels trans students from communal restrooms and requires them to use 'alternative private' restroom facilities."

Grimm was interviewed by Katie Couric for the upcoming National Geographic documentary "Gender Revolution: A Journey with Katie Couric."

Couric tweeted an excerpt of the documentary on the night of the Grammys. 

"I'm not looking for separate but equal," Grimm tells Katie in the clip. "I'm looking for the same opportunities my peers enjoy every single day, and that includes using the same restroom as any other student."

Oral arguments will be heard in the Supreme Court starting in late March. You can follow updates and press releases for the case on the ACLU case website.

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The Grammy Awards got it wrong again.

On Sunday night, Adele swept the major categories: Album of the year, record of the year, and song of the year all went to "Hello" and its album "25."

That shouldn't have been much of a surprise. Adele was the odds-on favorite going into the 2017 Grammys, even if "25" and its smash hit feel like distant memories (the album was released in November 2015 and was eligible for this year's awards because of the Grammys' weird timing rules). She is beloved across the world, technically impressive, charming all of the time, and almost impossible to hate.

But Adele's sweep felt like an affront to Beyoncé's "Lemonade," which had to settle for best urban contemporary album (an awkward phrasing that basically means best modern-sounding R&B album). The Grammys chose a perfectly fine album with a huge hit over one that made history, which left the awards feeling more irrelevant than ever.

Black music has gotten shortchanged before

As many critics have pointed out, the Grammys have an uneasy racial history. Only 10 black artists have ever won album of the year since it was first given in 1959, even though the history of rock 'n' roll is derived from black music.

Craig Jenkins, New York magazine's music critic, said Kanye West was "right" about the Grammys. West said after Beck's "Morning Phase" beat out Beyoncé's self-titled album in 2015: "At this point we tired of it, because what happens is when you keep on diminishing art and not respecting the craft and smacking people in the face after they deliver monumental feats in music, you’re disrespectful to inspiration."

Immediately after this year's awards, the singer Solange (Beyoncé's sister) shared a note on Twitter from Frank Ocean, who chose to sit out this year's Grammys, which was directed at Grammy producers. Ocean wrote:

"USE THE OLD GRAMOPHONE TO ACTUALLY LISTEN BRO, I’M ONE OF THE BEST ALIVE. AND IF YOU’RE UP FOR A DISCUSSION ABOUT THE CULTURAL BIAS AND GENERAL NERVE DAMAGE THE SHOW YOU PRODUCE SUFFERS FROM THEN I’M ALL FOR IT. HAVE A GOOD NIGHT."

The Grammys have a history of not giving hip-hop — and anything remotely new or pioneering — its due. Will Smith and DJ Jazzy Jeff won the very first Grammy rap award in 1989 for "Parents Just Don't Understand," but the category wasn't televised, leading them and other nominees to boycott the show.

The Grammys are more conservative than they look

Adele appeals to the conservative streak in the Grammys' voting body of industry pros, who strongly favor work that appeals across generations and harks back to older forms. Everyone from your mom to your 5-year-old nephew knows the words to "Hello" and connects to it. Her style of soul music isn't breaking any molds. "Formation" may be a statement-making, forward-thinking masterpiece, but from its sonics to its politics, it challenges and alienates a certain segment of the US.

Ray Charles, Herbie Hancock, and Robert Plant, among many others, have only recently won their first album of the year trophies long after their music had become safe and all-pleasing. The Grammys seemingly finally caught up to David Bowie, who swept in his categories this year after long being denied any major prizes. That's how the Grammys work.

In the end, sales matter

There is another, simpler reason Beyoncé was shut out of the biggest, cross-genre categories while Adele was coronated: sales. At a time when music is more vexed than ever about itself as a business and its future, Adele sold records at a rate unseen since the '90s. "25" sold more than 9 million copies in the US alone, while Beyoncé's "Lemonade" (her second-lowest-selling album to date) couldn't quite hit 2 million.

SEE ALSO: How a 23-year-old rapper who refuses to sign a record deal made Grammys history

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The INSIDER Summary:

• The 2017 Grammy Awards brought out the best-dressed musicians to the red carpet.
• Carrie Underwood, Faith Hill, and Beyoncé all wore similar dresses.
• The long-sleeved gowns were a stunning shade of red with plunging necklines.

The red carpet at the 59th Annual Grammy Awards was filled with glamorous and wild outfits. But one trend became apparent early on — plunging necklines were still all the rage, and long-sleeved red gowns were a signature look.

First Carrie Underwood arrived wearing an Elie Madi gown that had a lot of sparkle and gorgeous bell sleeves. Then Faith Hill appeared in a Zuhair Murad creation — it was effectively the same cut and shape, but without the embellishments or wide sleeves. As seen in a clip shared by The Hollywood Reporter, Hill struggled to pronounce her designer's name.

Last but not least, Beyonce changed into a glimmering red gown designed by Peter Dundas after her stunning performance. She first appeared onstage in a golden beaded dress (also by Dundas), but was later seen in her the equally impressive red dress.

Twinning (or in this case, tripletting?) at award shows is a common occurrence, and this was one case where a decided "Who wore it best?" was nearly impossible. Each of the three singers rocked their scarlet dresses, bringing even more meaning to the term "red carpet."

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The INSIDER Summary:

• Adele was a huge winner at the 2017 Grammy Awards.
• But she was very vocal about wishing Beyoncé had won for "Lemonade."
• Adele even wore a lemon-shaped pin — a nod to Beyoncé's album title.

Adele went home with the two biggest Grammy Awards — record of the year and album of the year — but the singer made sure to tell the world that she believed the honor belonged to Beyoncé. During her acceptance speech for winning album of the year, Adele said she couldn't possibly accept the award because Beyoncé was the artist of the year.

But some eagle-eyed viewers noticed that Adele was publicly rooting for Beyoncé long before she got up on stage. 

Adele made her red carpet entrance wearing a long green gown and one important accessory: a lemon-shaped pin.

People believe the pin was a direct nod to "Lemonade," Beyoncé's visual album that was up against Adele and several others for the major awards of the evening. 

If you zoom in, the lemon design of the pin is even more obvious. See the jeweled leaves at the top?

During her post-Grammy press conference, Adele re-emphasized what she had said earlier in the evening about "Lemonade" losing to her album for both record of the year and album of the year. 

"Like I said in my speech, for me my album of the year was 'Lemonade,'"Adele said. "So a piece of me did die inside, as a Beyoncé stan, I'm not gonna lie. I was completely rooting for her, I voted for her."

Adele didn't stop praising Beyoncé there, either. Later in the same backstage Grammys interview, she used more colorful language to applaud Beyoncé's work.

"For her to be making such relevant music for that long of a period, and still effect all of us — it's not just me — I mean there are friendships I have that are defined by us being complete Beyoncé stans, you know?" Adele said. "Like I don't take any f---ing sh-- when it comes to anyone not liking Beyoncé. You can't be in my life. You simply can't."

Adele also said she believed this was Beyoncé's time to win.

"My view is kind of 'What the f--- does she have to do to win album of the year?'" she said. 

"I am of course very very grateful having won it, but I felt the need [to say something] because I love her and I felt like she was more worthy," Adele said. "And that's pretty much it really."

You can watch the full backstage interview here, and hear more from Adele about growing up listening to Destiny's Child and George Michael, and reflect on her big wins.

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Adele may have won best album at the Grammys, but the biggest winner of the night was William Bell — at least by Spotify streams.

77-year-old Bell won an award for best Americana album, for his "This Is Where I Live," which is his first release on a major label in almost 40 years, according to The Los Angeles Times.

"Wow, this is quite a surprise,"he said. "I am very humbled by it and glad to be here after all these years and still viable in the industry.

Spotify said that streams for the singer-songwriter's iconic blues song, "Born Under A Bad Sign" (co-written by Booker T. Jones), jumped a whopping 4,950%. Bell's total Spotify streams as an artist rose 680% in the wake of his Grammys win. On Pandora, Bell saw a 12,085% lift in stations added.

Here were a few other artists who saw big post-Grammy jumps, according to Spotify:

• Cynthia Erivo — also 680%
 (Performed The Beach Boys' "God Only Knows" with John Legend)    
• Sturgill Simpson — 346% 
(Winner of Best Country Album, performed "All Around You")
• Morris Day — 344% 
(Performed a Prince tribute with Bruno Mars)
• Chance The Rapper — 206%
 (Winner of Best New Artist, Best Rap Album and Best Rap Performance, performed "How Great" and "All We Got" with Kirk Franklin)

A note on Spotify's methodology: "The increases were calculated by comparing the number of streams that took place in the hour following the show with the exact same hour the week before."

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Congratulations to the brilliant, vivacious Adele on having a tremendous night performing twice and winning the top honors of the night at the 59th annual Grammy Awards.

Adele warranted the biggest congratulations, though, when she praised Beyoncé and her masterful album, "Lemonade," in not one, but two of her acceptance speeches. Adele expressed her admiration for Beyoncé when accepting the award for record of the year, but it was her speech for album of the year where she specified why Beyoncé was most deserving of the honor. 

During an emotional acceptance speech, Adele said, though humbled and grateful, she couldn't possibly accept the award because of how monumental "Lemonade" was in 2016.

"And all us artists here, we f---ing adore you," said Adele. "You are our light, and 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 and I love you."

For me, the nomination of Beyoncé's 2016 visual album and subsequent loss to "25" Sunday felt eerily similar to the loss black women faced on Election Day in 2016. 95% of black women— the highest percentage of any other polling group — voted for Hillary Clinton and it's safe to say that a majority of those same women were liberated by Beyoncé's "Lemonade."

As a black woman myself, I view "Lemonade" as an album that was for us, by us. Beyoncé had women of color, all of us, in mind with every lyric and every image presented on the album. In "Hold Up," Beyoncé speaks to universal experiences of being a woman in love with feelings of loyalty, jealousy, and longing fueling her passion.  Not to mention, Beyoncé visually displays women of all hues and shapes in the spirit of unity throughout the film. It's uplifting and reaffirming to hear Adele tell Beyoncé "the way you make my black friends feel, is empowering," because that’s who the body of work was meant for. Adele gets it!

This moment was important because Adele expressed that she understood the goal of "Lemonade" as a body of work — to empower women of color — and by refusing the award, she helped send a larger message to the Record Academy. "Lemonade" helped empower women without Adele's support. Beyoncé is constantly pushing her artistry into new realms, but the Academy is clearly unwilling to reward that. A nomination is not enough when an album empowers entire communities, moves people to action, sparks discussions, and serves better visuals than any other artist the past year. Beyoncé did that with "Lemonade."

This same feeling of loss happened to me in 2016 when the Grammy for album of the year was given to Taylor Swift for "1989" over Kendrick Lamar’s profound album, "To Pimp a Butterfly." Lamar’s album was similar to Beyoncé’s in that it spoke on a plethora of issues affecting people of color, with the struggles of being a black man in America at the forefront. My pain from that loss was not eased. When accepting her award in 2016, Swift made no mention to it. Swift was not obligated at all do that, she was not at all, but Adele acknowledging the importance of "Lemonade" on stage showed an earnest gesture of empathy and gratitude you do not often see at these big award shows. 

Talent respects and recognizes talent.

And, yes, it takes talent to be able to reflect on one's own experiences and compose songs about them, like Adele and Taylor Swift do, but to create works which reflect one’s experiences in relation to the societal systems and expectations that often directly cause those experiences is masterful, and as Adele put it, "monumental." Both Beyoncé and Kendrick Lamar achieved that with their albums, but both were refused the highest honor of album of the year.

Adele did not need to praise Beyoncé in her acceptance speeches to make her any more validated in her brilliance as an artist. But thank you for doing it. Thank you to her and the people who have the ability to empathize, not merely sympathize, with disadvantaged communities. Thank you to the people who recognize how tremendous the work of black artists are to this country. Thank you Adele for admitting, during music's biggest night, that Beyoncé changed the game. 

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Chance the Rapper is the most talented rapper of his generation and a pioneer in the music industry. His latest album, "Coloring Book," won him a 2017 Grammy for best new artist.

In 2017, the Grammys made streaming-only albums available for awards consideration for the first time, which allowed "Coloring Book" to be nominated. Because of the new rule, Chance, whose real name is Chancellor Bennett, made history as the first artist to win a Grammy based on a streaming-only album. 

"Coloring Book" is so popular that it's the first streaming-only album to chart on Billboard's ranking.

Miraculously, Chance has done all of this without a label supporting him. He's turned down record deals from numerous labels, and depends on word-of-mouth and his SoundCloud account for distribution.

The fame and success just reached another milestone of recognition: Chance was named one of the 100 most influential people in the world, according to Time magazine. "Chance upends expectations about what artists, ­especially hip-hop artists, can do,"the rapper Common wrote in the magazine.

Meet the most successful fully independent musician of our era:

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Chance the Rapper calls his albums "mixtapes." He recorded his first one in his senior year of high school.

He formally kicked off his career with the song "Windows." It got him some attention in Chicago's hip hop scene, and Chance spent another eight months tinkering with the rest of the album.

His first album — "10 Day"— gave Chance a cult following.

The album was released in 2012 and received over 400,000 downloads on the music-sharing site DatPiff and got Chance a cult following.

It's called "10 Day" because he wrote it during a 10-day suspension from high school.

A few months later, Childish Gambino (Donald Glover) featured him on his song "They Don't Like Me."

Listen to it here.

Beyoncé is a music and fashion icon.

From her start in Destiny's Child to solo domination, Queen Bey has had an incredibly successful career. In addition to her musical prowess, she has evolved into a trendsetter.

The singer has dabbled in the fashion industry, introducing a fashion line in 2005 with her mother and a junior line in 2009. Her most recent venture was her activewear line, Ivy Park.

She's slayed with her Met Gala appearances and was given the fashion icon award at the 2016 CFDA Awards.

Here are 43 photos that show Beyoncé's fashion evolution over the past 16 years:

In 2001, Destiny's Child (Michelle Williams, Beyoncé Knowles, and Kelly Rowland) posed in sparkly blue outfits resembling the ones worn by the Destiny's Child dolls they were holding up.

The girls from Destiny's Child wore midriff Girl Scout uniforms to the 2001 Nickelodeon Kid's Choice Awards.

Beyoncé showed her support for the Lakers during a halftime show with Destiny's Child in 2001.

• Lady Gaga stunned with two gorgeous outfits at the Grammys Sunday.
• The singer showed up in an Armani Privé jumpsuit and skirt on the red carpet.
• She made a quick outfit change at the start of the show into a pale pink, angelic gown.
• Gaga gave an emotional performance of hits "Joanne" and "Million Reasons." Fans said she looked like an angel.

Lady Gaga put on a powerful performance at the Sunday's 60th annual Grammys, but she also wowed with not one, but two gorgeous looks Sunday night. 

The "Joanne" singer may have looked like she arrived to the Grammys in a gown, but it actually wasn't a dress. Gaga wore a show-stopping Armani Privé jumpsuit with a black skirt attached.

It may not have looked like much from up close. But once you see the dress from a few steps back, you'll understand why it turned heads. The train of the dress is enormous. 

But it doesn't stop there. The dress also had a giant slit up the middle.

It wasn't just the dress that caught attention. The singer wore a white rose with a pin in support of the Time's Up movement.

She also wore her hair in intricate fishtail braids held together by black string.

The 31-year-old singer also sparked engagement rumors with a diamond ring visible on her hand.

Once inside, she quickly changed for one of the night's first performaces. Gaga stepped out on the Grammys' stage in an angelic pale pink gown to perform powerful renditions of "Joanne" and "Million Reasons."

"This is for my father’s sister, Joanne," Gaga said as she started singing the titular track off her latest album on a feathered piano at New York City's Madison Square Garden. "This is for love and compassion, even when you can’t understand."

Gaga transitioned from single "Joanne" to "Million Reasons" before spreading out among the wings laid across the piano at her performance's end.

Many applauded the singer's emotional performance to her late aunt.

Before the song was over, Gaga said "Time's Up," to signify the movement against sexual harrassment.

You can watch Gaga's performance below and follow along with our Grammys coverage here.

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• Bruno Mars and Cardi B. performed "Finesse" at the 2018 Grammys on CBS Sunday night.
• Their stage performance was in the same colorful, stage musical style as their music video.
• Bruno Mars proved himself a master dancer, and Cardi B. stole the stage with her rapping.
• CBS censored the lyrics"Shut that s--- down on sight/That’s right," but started it a bit early with the line "Blame it on your measurements." If you listen closely, the four-letter word almost made it through.
• The crowd loved the performance.
• Watch it below:

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• Kesha performed "Praying" at the 2018 Grammy Awards Sunday night on CBS.
• It was the most powerful performance of the night. The song was written after her career stalled when she accused her producer Dr. Luke of sexual assault.
• She returned in 2017, and her album "Rainbow" charted at No. 1.
• The song now has particular resonance with the #MeToo movement.
• Kesha performed it with the help of Cyndi Lauer, Camila Cabello, Julia Michaels, Andra Day, and Bebe Rexha. They were all dressed in white.
• Watch Kesha's Grammy rendition of "Praying" below.

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