The discourse is a relentless cycle. Every conversation that has been had, will be had again. Rinse and repeat. That counts doubly in the music industry today, where artists are picked apart, piece by piece, have their worth evaluated, and are faced with judgment on whether they belong in the spaces they’re occupying. Which brings us to the great Bruno Mars debate.

Just over a month ago, Bruno Mars took home six whole Grammys; half of them were under the R&B category. The other half were for the major categories: Record of the Year, Album of the Year, and Song of the Year. He cleaned up, and some felt like he was the Academy’s—and the industry’s—safe bet for pushing forth the black sound without betting on black for real.

Fast-forward to Thursday night, when culture commentary site The Grapevine released a two-part, one-hour discussion about Bruno Mars and cultural appropriation. One perspective in particular stood out, and was clipped and shared to social media, where it promptly went viral. It came from writer/YouTuber/artist/activist Seren Sensei, who felt like it didn’t make sense that Bruno, a non-black performer, has been praised for essentially recreating black art.