The 2024 CMA Awards left many unsurprised-in fact, most of them left question marks whenever the list of nominees was concerned. While Beyoncé had a critically acclaimed, country-infused album titled Cowboy Carter, which saw huge commercial success, the songstress failed to get any nominations. This is after her recent sweep on other country music ceremonies, such as the People’s Choice Country Awards. This move by the CMA has raised several eyebrows about how country music is-inclusive and the way artists who push the boundaries are treated.
Released at the end of 2023, Cowboy Carter marked the firm plunge of Beyoncé into country and Americana. The album was historic, catapulting Beyoncé as the first Black woman to ever reach the top of the Billboard Country Albums chart since its establishment back in 1964. Cowboy Carter sat number one for weeks and received critical acclaim from both often-disapproving country purists and pop critics alike. At the heart of this both critical and commercial success lay the album’s lead single “Texas Hold ‘Em,” a perfect mix between Southern storytelling and bluesy guitar riffs.
It was relatable to listeners across genres, finding its way onto most radio stations and making Beyoncé relevant to the country music scene. The success of Cowboy Carter has been framed as groundbreaking, which is rare in a genre that’s largely impervious to outsiders, especially artists of color. Beyoncé’s country crossover wasn’t only impactful commercially, but it was cultural: it was a part of challenging the long-standing perceptions of what country could be and who could make country music.
Beyoncé’s foray into country music has been pretty contentious. Her first prominent foray into the genre came in 2016 when she performed “Daddy Lessons” at the CMA Awards with the Dixie Chicks. The performance was polarizing-many lauded her adventurous entrance into a genre outside of where she’d typically be found, while segments of the country music community reacted in outrage over her place within the tradition of country music. The backlash was strong enough that Beyoncé would later cite it as one of her most challenging career moments.
It’s within that complicated relationship with country music that one places the context of her absence in this year’s CMA nominations. While Cowboy Carter has definitely been successful, perhaps the wounds of that 2016 backlash remain too deep for the intolerance of her latest work to be swept aside. It begs a broader question: Has country music truly welcomed in the diversity and change Beyoncé represents, or does it still buck against artists who refuse to stay within its lines?
The CMAs’ winners are voted for by a pool of industry executives, artists, and songwriters, many of whom do tend to skew traditional in their taste for country. Beyoncé’s single Cowboy Carter broke all sorts of records and really did push the boundaries of genre, but perhaps didn’t quite connect with the tastes of the more conservative CMA base. Country has often been criticized for its slow, sometimes grudging acceptance of its outliers.
This is further put into perspective when compared with other nominees. Problematic artiste Morgan Wallen secured seven nominations this year, consolidating the more traditional sounds of country music. Meanwhile, Post Malone, an artiste similarly known for genre-crossovers, was recognized for his country-infused collaborations, proving that some crossovers indeed are welcome-provided, of course, they fit within the CMA’s comfort zone. But Beyoncé’s deeper challenge to country music’s conventions, both in sound and identity, may have pushed her outside the limits of what the CMA’s voting body was ready to reward.
Beyoncé’s absence in the nominations for the 2024 CMA Awards speaks tons about what is happening in country music. That her wins elsewhere is proof that her work does indeed resonate with a greater country music audience, but the actions of the CMA would seem to indicate a lingering reluctance, deeper in the genre’s core, to open entirely to diverse voices, mainly those challenging tradition.
