Not a big deal. Of course nobody really cares about awards shows anyway, but there was quite the uproar when the Country Music Association announced their 2024 CMA Award nominees and
Beyoncé wasn't nominated
. Of course Beyoncé created quite the frenzy when she dropped her country-inspired album
Cowboy Carter back in March. At the time, the pop superstar 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 you can add
Carly Pearce to the list of artists who agree with Dolly that it's not really that big of a deal. Last night at the People's Choice Country Awards, Carly was asked by
E! News what she thought about Bey being "snubbed" by the CMAs - and her answer seems like it's pretty common sense:
“I think she has publicly said she did not make a country album. She was making an album, and yes, there's a lot of Western, a lot of country elements, because I think she's grounded in her roots in Texas. I don't think Beyoncé cares that she didn't get nominated for a CMA award. And I think everybody can just calm down. I think she's doing okay. She's not worried about the state of her career.” I mean, she's right. I have a hard time believing that Beyoncé, one of the biggest pop stars in the world, gives two shits about the CMA Awards. (Of course I have a hard time believing anybody actually cares about them, but that's a different story). At the end of the day, Beyoncé released a massively successful album, country artists will get some awards (if their labels can cut a deal for them to win) and next year nobody will remember anything about the 2024 CMA Awards. Can we just put an end to this discussion now?
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