Okay, Where Is Beyoncé At The 2018 Grammys?

A better name for the Grammy Award would be The Official Beyoncé Watchdog Awards. Depending on the year, we’re left wondering where Queen Bey is, when she’ll arrive, what she’ll wear, and, what she’ll win. While the latter question couldn’t technically apply to this year’s 2018 Grammys — no matter who won Album Of The Year, we all know 2017 belonged to Lemonade – we were left pondering every other Beyoncé-related quandary going into Sunday night’s award show. After all, the mega-star’s husband Jay-Z is 2018’s most-nominated artist, leaving him up for the night’s top honors like Record, Song, and Album Of The Year.

While images of a glammed-up Beyoncé parting the red carpet “Single Ladies” danced in our head, the “Hold Up” singer shocked us. Not only did she skip the red carpet, she seemed like she skipped the entire awards show.

At the top of the New York City-set awards show, host James Corden riffed on the fact Jay is the ultimate New Yorker, especially when compared to British-born, Los Angeles-living Corden. That was all well and good, but, more importantly, the moment gave viewers their first look at Jay-Z in his seat, revealing he was apparently Beyoncé-less. Instead of seeing the iconic singer and businesswoman, fans spotted an unknown man sitting next to the 4:44 performer.

Twitter melted down accordingly.

But, photos from inside Madison Square Garden prove Beyoncé eventually joined her husband for the show, as did their daughter Blue Ivy. So, the superstar actually is at the Grammys despite her MIA status at the top of the show when cameras were on her seat.

One section of Twitter came up with with a reasonable explanation for all of this mystery around red carpet-skipping Beyoncé: the queen is going to surprise us all with an unexpected award presentation. One of Bey’s iconic musical foremothers, Miss Tina Turner, will take home the Recording Academy's Lifetime Achievement Award. There is quite literally no one more qualified to hand the “Proud Mary” singer that high honor than Beyoncé, who is continuing Turner's legacy as music’s most fiercely talented, Black, and dominant force.

If Bey — who was very publicly seen at Grammys events leading up to the award show — doesn’t end up handing Turner her latest Grammy, she could also present Jay-Z with one of his many prospective landmark awards. It’s worth noting that despite decades in the industry, he’s never won AOTY gold.

So, either Beyoncé will hand out one of the biggest awards of the 2018 Grammys, or, she’s doing her own thing. After supporting her man all weekend for writing an album detailing his infidelities, can we blame Bey for wanting a little Me Time?