Beyoncé had started the awards strong by taking home the award for best country duo/group performance for "II Most Wanted" with Miley Cyrus. Beyoncé became the first Black woman to win a Grammy for a country music song since the Pointer Sisters won in a similar category in 1975.

Not only that, but the academy has repeatedly emphasized — including on Sunday’s show, where Chief Executive Harvey Mason Jr. hammered the point in a speech — that its electorate has evolved by welcoming younger and more diverse members (and, by extension, by booting older and whiter ones). Maybe it’s working.