Beyonce Skips 2024 CMA Awards After Cowboy Carter Snub
The 43-year-old singer’s absence from this year’s Country Music Association (CMA) Awards is making headlines after her hit album, Cowboy Carter, was snubbed.
Despite the project taking the number one spot on the country music Billboard charts, making Beyonce the first Black woman to ever do so, Cowboy Carter received zero nominations for a 2024 award. Now the world is asking, is that why she didn’t show up to the show?
The star’s father, Matthew Knowles, and many fans and supporters alike, have been pretty blunt about their feelings on if race has played a factor in who was nominated this year.
“There’s more White people in America and unfortunately they don’t vote based on ability and achievements, it’s still sometimes a white and Black thing,” said Knowles. “In America, there’s no accountability for people not being accepting of other cultures.”
Knowles also told the story of Beyonce’s “not-so-good experience” back in 2016 when she performed with The Dixie Chicks at the CMA Awards. According to Hollywood Unlocked, “her inclusion in the group’s performance did not go over so well with the crowd and higher-ups,” and that the CMAs never apologized for the fallout and backlash that came after.
Fast-forward to 2024, there were no Black winners for a CMA award and very few nominations. Shaboozey, who was featured on Cowboy Carter and also made number one on the Billboard charts for his single, A Bar Song (Tipsy), was nominated for “Single of the Year” and “New Artist of the Year”. Ultimately, he didn’t take any awards home at the end of the night, but he did hit the stage for a grand performance to A Bar Song (Tipsy).
After receiving his first CMA nomination, Shaboozey took to X to express his gratitude for Beyonce.
“Thank you Beyonce for opening a door for us, starting a conversation, and giving us one of the most innovative country albums of all time.”
However, Luke Bryan, a country music artist himself and one of the co-hosts for the 2024 CMA Awards, has a different perspective from Knowles. According to him, Cowboy Carter failing to make this year’s nomination list has nothing to do with race or Beyonce, herself.
“Everybody loved that Beyonce made a country album. Nobody’s mad about it,” Bryan explained. “A lot of great music is sometimes overlooked, and sometime you don’t get nominated.”
Bryan added that, “I’m all for everybody coming in and making country albums … Just because she made one – just because I made one doesn’t mean I get any nominations.”
Bryan continued saying, “where things get a little tricky – if you’re gonna make country albums, come into our world and be country with us a little bit.”
Cowboy Carter is Beyonce’s eighth consecutive number-one album on the Billboard 200 Chart and was the highest-performing album since Taylor Swift’s 1989. It also earned the title for most first-day streams of a country album by a female artist on Amazon Music.