Adele, Nicki Minaj, Kendrick Lamar Named To ‘Time’ 100 Most Influential List

Adele, Kendrick Lamar, Nicki Minaj and Ariana Grande are all named on Time‘s list of the 100 most influential people of 2016. As is customary for the annual roundup, different public figures wrote essays praising each honoree.

Black Lives Matter activist Alicia Garza handled Lamar’s tribute, writing “Kendrick should be applauded for inviting us to face things that are uncomfortable, for celebrating our will to survive and for being audacious enough to grapple with the questions that we all need to answer if we ever hope to get free.” For Nicki, her label boss Lil Wayne said “She’s an icon, a boss and a role model to all these young girls out here on how to do it the right way. Her work ethic speaks volumes and has yielded these results.” Jennifer Lawrence lauded Adele by pointing out “we all see her success. Her undeniable talent and beauty. But what you don’t see is what a wonderful mother she is. What a wonderful partner and friend she is. That she makes her son’s Halloween costumes. Adele is a gift, an international treasure, but she’s also sweet, funny, intelligent and beautiful.”

As for Ariana Grande, seems like they just needed to fill another pop star spot and randomly picked her, no? I get it, she has an album coming out, but how is she on here but Beyoncé isn’t, Taylor Swift isn’t, Drake isn’t? Hell, where’s Future, who’s caused a whole segment of dudes to dress like modern gauchos? Well, Grande’s tribute by Jason Robert Brown seems to have predicted this exact type of reaction: “You know that no matter how much you are underestimated — by your peers, by casting directors, by your label, by the media, by your 39 million Twitter followers — you are going to open your mouth and that unbelievable sound is going to come out.”

Check out the whole feature right here.