Beyoncé's album Cowboy Carter received 12 nominations at the 2024 People's Choice Country Awards and became the most streamed country album on Spotify in a single day. Despite this success, Beyoncé failed to receive a Country Music Association (CMA) awards nomination.
Beyoncé's father and former manager Mathew Knowles addressed the snub. "There's more white people in America" impacting voting patterns, he said, stopping short of calling the voters racist.
In 2016, Beyoncé faced racist backlash for her CMA performance of Daddy Lessons.
A representative for Beyoncé did not respond to a request for comment regarding the CMAs.
Beyoncé's entry into country music was described by her as "over five years in the making" and influenced by past experiences at CMA ceremonies. Her project Cowboy Carter is part of a trilogy examining the roots of American music and highlights the contributions of Black artists. Beyoncé stated it was "born out of an experience that I had years ago where I did not feel welcome."
The single Texas Hold 'Em from Cowboy Carter made history by topping the country music chart for 10 weeks. The achievement made Beyoncé the first Black woman to achieve the milestone and marked the first time two Black artists held the number one spot consecutively on the country music charts.
Shaboozey made history as the first Black male artist to top both the country chart and Billboard Hot 100, earning two 2024 CMA nominations for Best New Artist and Single of the Year for A Bar Song (Tipsy).
Beyoncé reflected on her experiences with genre acceptance in the track Ameriican Requiem. "They used to say I spoke, 'Too country' / Then the rejection came, said I wasn't, 'Country enough' / Said I wouldn't saddle up, but if that ain't country, tell me, what is?" The track also included musical allusions to Buffalo Springfield's classic "For What It's Worth."
The CMAs will air live from Bridgestone Arena in Nashville on November 20 and will also be available on Hulu the following day. The voting pool includes industry professionals.
This article was written in collaboration with Generative AI news company Alchemiq
Sources: Vulture, NBC News, BBC News, Someecards, The Blast, TMZ, PinkNews, Gulf News, The Express Tribune, Daily Mail Online, Yardbarker.