Ari Lennox, 28, is not happy about losing the Album of the Year award at the 2019 Soul Train Awards on Nov. 17 and some of her social media followers think she’s overreacting. The singer’s album Shea Butter Baby was nominated for the prestigious honor alongside big names like Lizzo, Chris Brown, Khalid, Ella Mai, and H.E.R., but when Lizzo’s album Cuz I Love You ultimately won the trophy, she made it known that she felt “snubbed”.
“It’s not just an award. It wasn’t any award show. It was the soul train awards. As you can see I’m big fan of soul music and huge fan of soul trains history,” one of Ari’s many tweets read. “Being snubbed was something I always expected and was definitely prepared for just not by them,” she went on. “My intent was to never shade other nominees. I’m hurt and I don’t expect soulless haters to understand that. Everytime I wrap my mind around it I just can’t accept it. It feels like a break up. I made a soulful album. I never ran from who I am. I just expected that one platform to understand that.”
Once Ari’s tweets were posted and got the attention of many Twitter users, it didn’t take long for them to start calling her out for complaining. “Ari Lennox is being entitled, you felt you earned an award & it went to someone else.. Look at how many artists who been in the game 20+ years & never received certain awards? Brian McKnight holds the record for the most Grammy nominations EVER, without a single win!” one tweet read. “Ari Lennox got her first real taste of mainstream relevance and now she believes she deserves all the recognition in the world. Y’all caused this when y’all made all her Instagram live stories go viral. Now she feels entitled,” read another.
Ari was quick to respond to her critics with an explanation about why she felt the way she did. “Dear fake fans please unfollow. I’m not entitled. I’m hurt. There’s deeper things i would love to say but I just can’t. It’s not entitlement. It’s blatant disrespect,” the wrote.
Ari also seemed to indicate that she felt her loss of the award was because she’s “not cool enough”. “It’s clear I’m not ‘cool’ enough. Not trendy enough and I don’t care to be. I don’t strive for that. I’m not going to chase this sh*t ever again. No more fake sh*t on my part,” another one of her tweets read.
In addition to critics responding to Ari’s tweets, supporters shared tweets for the artist. “You are genuine. That’s what people need. You make necessary music with this world in the state it’s in. You allow people to escape,” one follower responded. “Ari Lennox definitely should’ve won Album of the Year over Lizzo. Lizzo got the one song. Ari has consecutive hit after hit,” another pointed out.
Lizzo has yet to respond to Ari’s disappointment about her loss, but we’ll be on the lookout to see if she shares her opinions in the near future.
