Let’s Be Clear: The CMAs Don’t Deserve Beyoncé
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Maya Angelou once said: “When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time.” It’s a wise quote that can be applied not only to people, but also to institutions.
Today, the Country Music Association revealed the nominees for the 2024 CMA Awards, which featured mainstays including Morgan Wallen, Lainey Wilson, Chris Stapleton, and Kacey Musgraves. Most notably absent from this year’s list, however, was Beyoncé, whose eighth studio album, Cowboy Carter—one of the buzziest and best-selling releases of the year—was completely snubbed. Released in March, the 27-track collection marked the Houston superstar’s first official foray into the genre (she has dipped into it on previous albums) and featured collaborations with country legends new and old, such as Willie Nelson, Dolly Parton, Post Malone, Miley Cyrus, and even Linda Martell. Lead single “Texas Hold ’Em” was one of the superstar’s biggest radio hits in recent years. Like any Beyoncé project, Cowboy Carter sparked debate and discussion, but more importantly, it also fully launched a new guard of young Black country stars—including Tanner Adell, Brittney Spencer, Tiera Kennedy, Reyna Roberts, and Shaboozey—into the musical stratosphere. Shaboozey, who appeared on two of the album’s tracks, had one of the biggest country songs of the year himself, with “A Bar Song (Tipsy),” and was recognized with two CMA nominations, for Single of the Year and New Artist of the Year.
Sometimes institutions like the CMAs don’t know how to measure impact, especially in the case of groundbreaking work like Cowboy Carter. Over the last three decades, Beyoncé has shown us that her work isn’t meant to fit into restricted, arbitrary industry-produced boxes. She has always established her own standards. After all, just ahead of the release of Cowboy Carter, she said: “This ain’t a Country album. This is a ‘Beyoncé’ album.” Maybe the CMAs took that to heart.
But whether you’re a die-hard Beyoncé fan or not, there is no debating the musical, lyrical, and vocal excellence of Cowboy Carter. To me, such a blatant snub only tells me the CMA nomination committee members couldn’t bear the thought of a Black woman who doesn’t fit their idea of a country star sweeping the biggest categories of the night—so they opted not to recognize her at all. She also dared to say, via Cowboy Carter, that country music and Blackness are intrinsically linked; well, that seems not to fit their status quo either. The CMAs aren’t exactly known for pushing the cultural envelope. And in any case, it’s clear that Beyoncé’s intentions for Cowboy Carter stretched much farther than solely award recognition.
“When you are breaking down barriers, not everyone is ready and open for a shift,” she told The Hollywood Reporter in a statement earlier this year. "But when I see Shaboozey tearing the charts up and all the beautiful female country singers flying to new heights, inspiring the world, that is exactly what motivates me.”
Beyoncé is surely not bothered by not appearing on the list of CMA nominees, and maybe we shouldn’t be either. Culture-shifting work transcends the limited scope of award ceremonies, and maybe it’s time we start moving past that too. That’s the only way you make it into the future, after all.
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