Last month, Beyoncé’s Cowboy Carter earned zero nominations for the 2024 CMA Awards. The snub was suspicious (to put it lightly) because Cowboy Carter is undeniably a country album. Not to mention, the 27-song LP debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 and Billboard‘s Top Country Albums chart simultaneously.
The 2024 CMA Awards will go on without Beyoncé on November 20, and Luke Bryan will co-host alongside Lainey Wilson and Peyton Manning. Bryan commented on Beyoncé’s shutout while appearing on SiriusXM’s Andy Cohen Live.
“It’s a tricky question because, obviously, Beyoncé made a country album, and Beyoncé has a lot of fans out there that have her back,” Bryan told Cohen. “If she doesn’t get something they want, man, they come at you — as fans should do.”
The American Idol judge continued, “It’s a tough thing to say — I don’t know how many albums did she sell? I know she had one song. So, I mean, listen, I’m all for everybody coming in and making country albums and all that. But just because she made one — just ’cause I make one, I don’t get any nominations. A lot of great music is overlooked. Sometimes, you don’t get nominated.”
Bryan saved the most controversial sentiment for last: “Everybody loved that Beyoncé made a country album. Nobody’s mad about it, but where things get a little tricky — you know, if you’re gonna make country albums, come into our world and be country with us a little bit. Like, Beyoncé can do exactly what she wants to. She’s probably the biggest star in music. But come to an awards show and high-five us and have fun and get in the family, too. And I’m not saying she didn’t do that. I didn’t know. I had never seen [her]. But country music is a lot about family.”
Upon announcing Cowboy Carter in March, Beyoncé made it pretty clear that she had never felt welcome to “come to an awards show” or “get in the family,” in the words of Bryan. Beyoncé seemed to reference an unpleasant experience she had while performing “Daddy Lessons” with The Chicks at the 2016 CMA Awards.
“This album has been over five years in the making,” Beyoncé wrote, in part, in her caption of the Cowboy Carter album cover artwork. “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. It feels good to see how music can unite so many people around the world, while also amplifying the voices of some of the people who have dedicated so much of their lives educating on our musical history.”
Appropriately, people on X (formerly Twitter) have reacted to Bryan’s take by pointing out that Beyoncé is inherently country, given that she is from Texas and the genre was build on Black musicians’ backs.
As a relevant aside, The Hollywood Reporter exclusively reported Beyoncé’s Cowboy Carter “will compete for Best Country Album” at the 2025 Grammys.
“If Beyoncé — the most decorated artist in Grammy history — earns a best country album nod, it would be her first in the genre and she would become the rare artist who has scored nominations across multiple genres at the Grammys,” THR relayed.
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