Matt B Wins Grammy For Best Global Album

MattBGrammy – Matt B won the Grammy award for Best Global Album for Alkebulan II. Courtesy of Rankin for the Recording Academy®.
MattBGrammy – Matt B won the Grammy award for Best Global Album for Alkebulan II. Courtesy of Rankin for the Recording Academy®.

Matt B Wins Grammy For Best Global Album

By Tia Carol Jones

Matt Benson, who goes by the stage name Matt B, won the Grammy Award for Best Global Album for his album Alkebulan II. 

Matt B was previously nominated in 2023 for Best Global Music Performance for “Gimme Love,” a song that he collaborated with Ugandan star Eddy Kenzo. When he found out he was nominated for Best Global Album, he said it felt surreal to be nominated, not once, but twice for his work. At the time of his nomination, he said that he puts out music for his fans and for his growth and he hoped the Academy of Music and the voting body would recognize his efforts. With his win, it shows they did.

Matt B said it feels like a dream to win the Grammy for Best Global Album. He described the album, which features the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, as an evolution that is very much rooted in hope and perseverance. He said the experience of being at the Grammys and hearing his name called was amazing.

“My team and I we worked so hard to spread awareness about the project and to get as many ears on the project,” he said.

Still Matt B and his team were shocked when their names were called. He said he is still processing everything. He said the red carpet is always fun for him. He gets to do a lot of interviews and interact and engage with his peers in the music and entertainment industry. One of the things he and his wife, Angela, like to do at the Grammys is the E! News Glambot at the end of the red carpet.

“The energy is just electrifying on the red carpet and that energy just kind of passes into the auditorium when you go in and the auditorium is packed and you just see all your peers in there,” he said. 

Matt B said that when Tems and Rema, two popular Afrobeats performers, announced Alkebulan II as the winner for the Grammy, he and his team jumped up and started screaming. Before announcing the Best Global Album, Tems was announced as the winner for Best African Music Performance for Love Me Jeje. Tems was also nominated in the Best Global Album category for Born in the Wild. Matt B wasn’t sure if his project would win and he said he started to pray. He said hearing the screaming from other people in the auditorium showed him how much support there was for the album and how much the voting body really wanted it to win.

Matt B said when he got up on stage, he was handed the Grammy, he said his speech, he handed the Grammy to Angela, she said her speech and they did two hours of interviews. He said everything else is a blur. He described it as insane.

“It feels amazing, being from Chicago and a lot of time being the underdog and feeling like me as an artist that I’m not getting the recognition that I would like to get, to now, having music’s highest honor, words really can’t describe how that feels. To have that is very sobering and it makes me realize that as an artist that I am one of the few who has the honor and that really separates me from the rest,” he said.

For more information about Matt B, visit mattbworld.com, or follow him on Instagram @mattbworld. Alkebulan II is available on Apple Music, Tidal and Spotify.


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