Are we still asking everybody about this?
Of course nobody really cares about awards shows, but there was quite the uproar when the Country Music Association announced their 2024 CMA Award nominees and Beyoncé wasn’t among them.
The pop superstar created quite the frenzy when she dropped her country-inspired album Cowboy Carter back in March. At the time, Beyoncé made clear that the album wasn’t a “country” album, despite featuring collaborations with Willie Nelson and Dolly Parton, along with a reimagined version of “Jolene.”
Speaking on Cowboy Carter, Beyoncé said it was inspired by an experience where she didn’t feel welcome in country music, though she said it wasn’t a country album:
“It was born out of an experience that I had years ago where I did not feel welcomed…and it was very clear that I wasn’t. But, because of that experience, I did a deeper dive into the history of Country music and studied our rich musical archive…
This ain’t a Country album. This is a ‘Beyoncé’ album.”
Despite the proclamation from Bey herself, the album hit #1 on both the all-genre Billboard 200 album chart, as well as the Top Country Albums chart, with Beyoncé becoming the first black woman to have the top album on the country chart.
Since the album’s release though, we haven’t really heard much from Beyoncé. Fans were hoping for a Cowboy Carter tour, but so far nothing has been announced, and it seems like there hasn’t really been a ton of promotion for the album since it was initially released.
But when Beyoncé wasn’t nominated for any CMA Awards, her fans were obviously upset – and many accused the CMA and country music in general of racism for keeping her out of the awards.
Dolly Parton recently spoke out in defense of the organization and their nominations, saying that they likely wanted to reserve the awards for artists who make a living through country music:
“There’s so many wonderful country artists that, I guess probably the country music field, they probably thought, well, we can’t really leave out some of the ones that spend their whole life doing that.”
And during an appearance on SiriusXM’s Andy Cohen Live, the host asked Luke Bryan his thoughts on the CMAs not nominating Cowboy Carter and Beyoncé – and Luke had an interesting perspective on it, seeming to imply that Beyoncé hasn’t done much to try to make friends in country music:
“A lot of great music’s overlooked. Sometimes you don’t get nominated sometimes. Like I said, I mean, I think the CMA, they have their voting body. And they, they vote what they think should make it.
Everybody loved that Beyoncé made a country album. Nobody’s mad about it. But where things get a little tricky and, and you know, if you’re gonna make country albums, come into our world and be country with us a little bit.
Like, don’t, like Beyoncé can do it exactly what she wants to. She’s probably the biggest star in music. But come to an award show and high five us. And have fun and get in the family too. And I’m not saying she didn’t do that.”
Of course Beyoncé has appeared at the CMA Awards in the past, delivering a performance with the Dixie Chicks back in 2016. And it was this experience, where Beyoncé has said she didn’t feel welcome, that drove her to dive into country music.
And she also collaborated with some pretty major country artists on Cowboy Carter. So it’s not like she completely shunned the “family” when making her album. But other artists like Post Malone have spent more time in Nashville, appeared with plenty of country artists, and embraced writing with country songwriters. So I get what Luke was saying, but I also understand why Beyoncé did things her way.
At the end of the day, she doesn’t owe anybody anything – but neither do the CMAs.
