Donald Trump is president.

ICE is storming through my city looking for undocumented immigrants.

An attorney general is in power that by all previous accounts of recorded history is a racist piece of shit.

Politicians are going after Planned Parenthood like it's the last slice of pumpkin pie on Thanksgiving.

The Patriots won the Super Bowl, led by two bffs of our Commander in Chief.

And also, it's winter.

There are a lot of things going on currently that are taking up a tremendous amount of emotional space, especially if you are black, a woman or queer. And so Beyoncé's loss — yet again — of Album of the Year hurts particularly worse than it ever has before. The last black woman to win Album of the Year was Lauryn Hill. Yes fam, it was THAT long ago.

Here we are, only a month into 2017, and we are swiftly giving 2016 (the worst year on record for both let downs and general fuckery) a solid run for its money. One of the few amazing things about 2016 was Lemonade. 

Lemonade is not just an album. You don't need to be told that. Because you know it with every inch of your core. Lemonade is like a tattoo on the souls of black folk. Beyoncé did not simply go into the studio and record songs. In my mind, she crafted, created and delivered to us a modern day Bible. 

Yes, it's that serious. Let me tell you, I've always been a fan of Beyoncé, but prior to Lemonade I was Beyoncé Lite. I was on that pre-paid 4G wireless plan. Lemonade forced me to become unlimited.

There's not one song on Lemonade that doesn't smack you like that bat in "Hold Up." And the album takes you through such a range of true emotion, from the feeling of what it's like to get the fuck over an ex, to the feeling of deeply connecting with what it's like to be black in America, to the difficult but necessary road we sometimes have to take when it comes to our lovers. True love isn't fucking easy. Black love isn't easy. Parental love isn't easy. 

With Lemonade, Beyoncé created songs that not only give us clever catchphrases, but stories that we can all relate to ourselves, our friends and yes, even our exes.

While it has been long understood that the Grammys are outdated and out of touch — hi, hello, Taylor Swift has two Albums of the Year, one which she received beating Kendrick and the other for beating Beyoncé — what hasn't been addressed enough is how the Grammys have allowed white mediocrity to flourish, excel and to have a platform for receiving praise for simply existing. I mean, the fact that Taylor was even allowed to sit in the same room as Kendrick and Beyoncé is an insult to our ancestors. But the fact that she beat them?

Lord, where's my whiskey?

Now let's discuss Adele. Adele is not Taylor Swift. Let's not get that neither confused nor twisted. Adele has a voice from the gods. Adele is talented as hell. And as shown in her acceptance speech, she does get it as much as we could expect any white ally to. Unfortunately Adele is not a voting member of the Academy. 

25 was fine. But 25 isn't even Adele's best album. Had this been a battle between 21 and Lemonade, I could almost understand her win. Extreme emphasis on almost. But 25 was weak. It was Adele Lite. Adele is happy now. She has a husband and a kid and success. That happiness was truly present in 25. We didn't get the gut-wrenchingly heartbroken Adele. We got the Adele who understands her fan base and tried her best to give them what they wanted, and who, despite all that effort, was unsuccessful in her delivery.

In trying to explain the impact of Lemonade, I could not do the album the justice it deserves. Honestly, until Beyoncé herself is ready to teach us all a class on its cultural importance, I'm not even going to try. I will say that Lemonade not only changed and challenged lives, it changed and rejuvenated the direction of black music.

Adele's 25 may have made a splash, but Beyoncé gave us a tsunami. The amount of soul, blackness and unapologetic female strength that shines from Lemonade is blinding.

And though those very attributes have always been in Beyoncé's music, slowly seeping into the music of other artists like Adele, they have never been present with the strength that we see in Lemonade. 

And that is precisely why it didn't win.