The four-time GRAMMY winner responded to the haters at the 66th annual awards ceremony.
Lenny Kravitz wants to make it clear that his music is for everybody.
After being honored with the Global Impact Award by The Recording Academy last week, the 59-year-old musician attended the 66th annual GRAMMY Awards in Los Angeles on Sunday night to present a special tribute to Clarence Avant. Ahead of the show, Kravitz spoke to ET's Nischelle Turner on the red carpet, where he took a moment to address critics who say his music isn't "Black enough."
"They said it on both sides, 'It's not Black enough, it's not white enough, it's too funky,'" Kravitz said of his early music days. "People like to be able to put things in a box -- especially at that time when I got signed. It was difficult, you know, because they wanted me to do whatever they thought a Black artist should be doing. While I was actually making Black music. Rock 'n' Roll is Black music. It's for everybody, but we know where it came from, so it's all good."
Kravitz also shared a few details about his upcoming 12th studio album, Blue Electric Light. "Blue Electric Light, which comes out May 24, is a celebration. It's fun, it's sort of the record that I didn't make in high school," Kravitz noted.
At last Thursday's Recording Academy Honors, the rocker and actor opened up about his longtime friendship with Mariah Carey, who was also honored with the Global Impact Award at the ceremony.
"Yeah, a lot of people don't know, Mariah and I come from the same circle in New York City," Kravitz recalled to ET. "And we were both working on our demos, we used to hang out with the same group of people. She used to work at a sports bar that I used to go to and hang out at."
Speaking with ET at the GRAMMYs, Kravitz said last week's ceremony "was really surreal" for both him and Carey "knowing where we came from, how we started, and, you know, full circle."
He continued: "Everything in God's time, you know? I don't do any of this for those reasons. It's wonderful to be recognized, to be admired, but I do it because it's in me. I have no choice, I love what I do. I would do it on the street, I would do it wherever I have to do it, but it's like I said, it's wonderful for all of this to happen and I'm taking the time to appreciate it and smell the flowers."
The 2024 GRAMMY Awards is on Sunday, Feb. 4, at 5 p.m. PT/8 p.m. ET and being broadcast and streamed live on CBS and Paramount+ from Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles. Follow along at ETonline.com for full coverage from music's biggest night, including performances, GRAMMY winners and more.
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