Pink gave time to respond to the Recording Academy President Neil Portnow. The executive made controversial comments after the hashtag #GrammysSoMale went viral and pointed out the lack of women honored at the prestigious award show Sunday.

The singer addressed Portnow’s message via a handwritten note posted to Twitter Monday. She began by saying that women are no strangers when it comes to “stepping up."

She pointed out that women dominated the music industry this year and added that that’s nothing new. She said it’s important to recognize the strides that women have made as it can push the next generation of women musicians and women in general to encourage equality and fairness.

Her response came after Portnow seemed to be finger-pointing at women after Alessia Cara was the only female who brought home a Grammy. She won the award for Best New Artist.

“It was to begin with…women who have the creativity in their hearts and souls, who want to be musicians, who want to be engineers, producers, and want to be part of the industry on the executive level…” said Portnow during an interview with Variety. “[They need] to step up because I think they would be welcome.”

He added that he has not lived through or had to “experience” any of the setbacks women have had to come against. Still, he also said it’s the music industry’s responsibility to encourage “breeding opportunities for all people who want to be creative” and paving the way for generations after.

The producer of the award show, Ken Ehrlich, took a slightly different take. He steered clear of the conversation and said he is simply the one who produces it for the small screen. He said he wasn’t sure if not allowing Lorde, who was up for Album of the Year, to perform or present an award was intentional.

One woman who did win was Rihanna, thanks to her Loyalty collaboration with Kendrick Lamar for Best Rap/Sung Performance. Reba McEntire, Aimee Mann, Lisa Loeb, and Carrie Fisher also took home awards during the pre-telecast special.

Interestingly enough, this was also the year that female heavy-hitters like Taylor Swift and Beyonce were not on the list of the nominees because of the timing of their projects. Ehrlich shared his thoughts on Swift’s absence.

“It wasn’t her year. She was kind of off cycle. Hopefully we’ll see her next year.”

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Pink, Rihanna, Beyonce