No, Adele did not leave the Grammys when Harry Styles won Album of the Year, despite ceremony footage leading some on social media to think that way. Lizzo filmed Adele’s real reaction, capturing their excitement and fan-girling for Styles. Both appear to be cheering in the clip, with Lizzo pointing the camera to Adele at one point. Adele asked her, “What are you filming me for?” Lizzo then switched the view back to Styles, who had taken the stage at that point.
The rumor spread that Adele walked out because Beyoncé didn’t win Album of the Year for Renaissance (despite Adele also being nominated in the category for 30); broadcast footage shared on Twitter showed Adele moving before switching back to the stage. But Adele was not leaving the venue, as Lizzo’s TikTok made clear. She stayed for the speech.
Adele, a big Beyoncé fan, did end up refusing to accept her own Album of the Year Grammy for 25 back in 2017 because she thought Beyoncé deserved to win for Lemonade. Beyoncé, of course, still made history on Sunday night when she became the most decorated artist of all time at the Grammys.
Adele said onstage to Beyoncé, “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 and we all got to see another side of you that you don’t always let us see, and we appreciate that. And all us artists 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. I appreciate it.”
Adele later shared that the Grammy arrived broken in the mail—and she found a way to honor Beyoncé with the statue’s damage. In the broken part, “there’s a lemon in it,” she said.
Senior News and Strategy Editor
Alyssa Bailey is the senior news and strategy editor at ELLE.com, where she oversees coverage of celebrities and royals (particularly Meghan Markle and Kate Middleton). She previously held positions at InStyle and Cosmopolitan. When she’s not working, she loves running around Central Park, making people take #ootd pics of her, and exploring New York City.