The 59th annual Grammy Awards on Sunday will feature perhaps the show’s most electric contest in years: Adele versus Beyoncé.

Both are megaselling queens of pop whose every move reverberates throughout the culture. The fact that they will face off in each of the top three categories — album, record and song of the year — gives the Grammys a rare tension that can only be good for ratings.

Yet their competition is also fraught in ways that have long dogged the awards. One concerns race, a subject the Grammys have a tangled history with — especially this year, when one of the most acclaimed young black artists, Frank Ocean, has boycotted the process altogether. Another sensitive area is the Grammys’ spotty record in recognizing the vanguards of contemporary pop.

Added to the mix is a heightened political climate in which issues of race and identity are front and center, raising the question of whether the music industry will use this year’s Grammys as a soapbox.