S Poddar
But, in a stunning upset, this year’s Country Music Association Awards scrubbed clean the names of Beyoncé, who put out one of the year’s most successful country albums in Cowboy Carter, from their list of nominees. That album single “Texas Hold ‘Em” was expected to garner substantial recognition, but the star was entirely shut out across the board.
Meanwhile, the nominations have been dominated by Morgan Wallen and Post Malone. Wallen, with a total of seven nods, leads all nominees with entertainer of the year included. Chris Stapleton and Cody Johnson have earned five nods apiece. Malone and current entertainer of the year Lainey Wilson had four each. Wilson will again be competing for the show’s top prize, entertainer of the year, going up against Wallen, Stapleton, Luke Combs and Jelly Roll, when the awards air live on Nov. 20 from Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena.
Beyoncé’s Groundbreaking Cowboy Carter Snubbed
Beyoncé’s Cowboy Carter had some big wins this year, including spending four consecutive weeks at No. 1 on Billboard’s Top Country Albums, a first for any Black female artist. Their album’s lead single, “Texas Hold ‘Em,” also reached the number one position on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart for ten weeks, another historic feat. Besides leading the country charts, Cowboy Carter and its songs also conquered Billboard’s Hot 100 and 200 albums charts, with seven songs of the album landing in the Top 10 of the country chart. The album is made up of 27 tracks and includes features from country legends like Dolly Parton, Willie Nelson, Linda Martell, Miley Cyrus, and even Post Malone.
The album also mandated conversations on how Black artists were taking space in genres they had historically pioneered, including country music. And despite the album’s success and huge cultural impact, Beyoncé didn’t land any big CMA nominations- single of the year, song of the year, album of the year, female vocalist of the year. She even qualified for entertainer of the year, though that honor typically goes to artists who have been a fixture in country music for several years.
Voting for the CMA Awards is limited to members of the Country Music Association, which encompasses all professionals connected to the country music industry, including artists and songwriters to executives and publicists. To be eligible for the 2024 show, singles and albums must have been released or have achieved national prominence between July 1, 2023, and June 30, 2024. Final voting runs from October 1 to October 29.
A History of Tension Between Beyoncé and the CMAs
This is hardly the first time Beyoncé has faced pushback inside the country music establishment. When Beyoncé came out of nowhere to perform a country-infused “Daddy Lessons” alongside The Chicks during the 2016 CMA Awards, some praised the performance but others criticized it, even calling for a boycott of the show. In response, the CMA scrubbed Beyoncé’s performance from its website.
When Beyoncé announced Cowboy Carter’s impending release earlier this year, she implied as much, stating, “This album has been over five years in the making. 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.”
Country Success for Post Malone, Wallen’s Dominance
In contrast, Post Malone, who also entered into country music this year, came away with a handful of nominations for his work. His single “I Had Some Help,” which featured Morgan Wallen, came away with four nominations in single of the year, song of the year, musical event of the year, and music video of the year. Wallen, who already leads the nominations with seven, is also up for entertainer of the year, male vocalist of the year and another nod for music event of the year for his collaboration with Eric Church on “Man Made A Bar.”
A surging star on the heels of Beyoncé’s latest success, Shaboozey earned his first-ever CMA nods. The artist featured on two tracks off Cowboy Carter, is in contention for best new artist and single of the year with his hit “A Bar Song (Typsy).” The song has spent 12 weeks atop the country chart and is the longest-running No. 1 song of the year.
Competitive Categories
Other competitors for single of the year include “A Bar Song (Typsy),” “I Had Some Help,” Chris Stapleton’s “White Horse,” Lainey Wilson’s “Watermelon Moonshine,” and Cody Johnson’s “Dirt Cheap.” For song of the year, which honors songwriters, “I Had Some Help” and “White Horse” are pitted against Parker McCollum’s “Burn It Down” and two Johnson tracks: “Dirt Cheap” and “The Painter.” Johnson is nominated only for “Dirt Cheap, ” however. He did not contribute to the songwriting on “The Painter.”
The high-stakes album of the year category pits Kacey Musgraves’ Deeper Well against Luke Combs’ Fathers & Sons, Jelly Roll’s Whitsitt Chapel, Cody Johnson’s Leather, and Chris Stapleton’s Higher, the latter co-produced by Stapleton’s wife, Morgane.
On the eve of the 2024 CMA Awards, country music may well be at that opportunistic juncture where it makes amends for past missteps and opens its arms to unconventional country artists it once shunned-including Beyoncé-while the likes of Wallen and Malone rise through the ranks of a genre in which they’re undisputed fixtures.
