Beyoncé Bounced 

One of the biggest Country Music singles was left off the ballot at the CMA’s

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Beyoncé was snubbed by the Country Music Awards, despite having one of the biggest country hits of the year with ‘Texas Hold ‘Em’ – which by the way, made her the first black woman with a country #1. When the nominees for the ceremony were announced, the star was notably absent, without a single nomination. Many celebrities and artists have weighed in with strong opinions including Beyoncé’s father, Mathew Knowles, who suggested that race may have been a factor in the CMA’s decision to exclude his daughter. He argued that, despite the album’s success, the country music industry may still be resistant to fully embracing a Black artist in the genre. 

Billy Ray Cyrus went to social media to say: “I was surprised to see @beyonce wasn’t nominated??? Her album was brilliant… her single ruled. But she knows that. She doesn’t need a trophy from the CMA… or permission …. or approval from any of their judges. ‘When ya knock em out…. Ya don’t need no judge.’ – Muhammad Ali.’”  The “Achy Breaky Heart” musician, and more importantly Miley’s dad, isn’t the first country artist to share their thoughts on Beyoncé’s lack of CMA nominations. 

Dolly Parton, an obviously beloved figure in the country music community, defended Cowboy Carter. She described the album as “wonderful” and expressed her admiration for Beyoncé’s work. However, Parton speculated that the snub could be a result of the highly competitive nature of country music and the deep-rooted tradition of rewarding long-time genre fixtures. 

It’s old news that the pop icon has been open about feeling unwelcome in the country category. She dropped a country single called “Daddy Lessons” in 2016 and performed it at that year’s CMA’s Awards alongside The Chicks. Their performance received backlash from the genre’s fans, who complained that Beyoncé was not a country artist.  “There’s a real culture of deference where you’re supposed to bow down to the gatekeepers and fall in their good graces,” said Amanda Martinez, who researches anti-Blackness in the country music industry.  Martinez is a postdoctoral fellow in the department of American studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and points to the industry’s centralization in Nashville, Tennessee. 

Cowboy Carter has been considered a reclamation of country music because it highlights Black artists’ contributions to the genre. Many folks had hoped that it would bring even more visibility to country Black artists.  Emmett Price III, dean of Africana studies at Berklee College of Music, said her album was “calling into question not only the historical and cultural roots of country and Western but also how we normalize certain cultural aspects of country culture.”  

Now matter what the take is on this album it seems heavily overlooked. “Beyoncé is gonna be just fine,” Price said. “But what does it mean for the other perhaps Black and brown or queer artists who have been marginalized, who have been pushed to the fringes because they don’t look country, or they don’t walk country, or they don’t sound country?”  

“A lot of great music is sometimes overlooked, and sometimes you don’t get nominated,” Luke Bryan explained on Sirius XM. “Everybody loved that Beyoncé made a country album. Nobody’s mad about it.” He continued, “I’m all for everybody coming in and making country albums at all that,” Luke emphasized. “Just because she made one—just because I made one doesn’t mean I get any nominations.” Later on, he followed with, “But where things get a little tricky—if you’re gonna make country albums, come into our world and be country with us a little bit,” he added. “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. But country music’s a lot about family.” 

Within the first single, ‘Ameriican Requiem’ on Cowboy Carter, Beyoncè lays it all out for her critics, seemingly referencing the backlash she faced after that aforementioned performance in 2016.  “They used to say I spoke, ‘Too country’ / And the rejection came, said I wasn’t, ‘Country ‘nough,’” she sings, “Said I wouldn’t saddle up, but / If that ain’t country, tell me, what is? / Plant my bare feet on solid ground for years / They don’t, don’t know how hard I had to fight for this.”  

Another argument for her non-imation maybe a lack of promotion.  As Billboard Magazine publicly noted, “Country radio has traditionally been reluctant to play songs that aren’t serviced to them or then actively promoted by the label.” Billboard went on to point out that Beyoncé didn’t heavily promote her 2016 crossover single “Daddy Lessons” either, which may have contributed to its lackluster performance on the country charts during that time.  

The lead single off Cowboy Carter, “Texas Hold ’Em,” had just about the biggest release boost ever. The song was first cataloged as a pop song rather than a country song and was distributed to pop stations.  It was just over a week later, when most country stations added the song to their playlists. When that finally happened, the song received radio play on 79 country music stations across the country and debuted atop Billboard’s Hot Country Songs charts.  

In conclusion, while there may be some logistical arguments behind the industry’s snub of Beyoncé that have nothing to do with identity, the CMA has a noticeable pattern of erasing and sidelining Black women, even in their own art. Beyoncé is actively aware about this organizations seemingly blockade as she refused to even attend the awards ceremony. It is hardly any wonder she distanced herself and her album from the country establishment from the start as she most likely knew -well before the rest of us- that the CMAs were not going to invite her through its gates with this project.