Beyonce: The Impact of 'Cowboy Carter' on Country Music and the Grammy's Album of the Year

For my first blog post, I thought it would be perfect to talk about the music event of the year (so far)–the Grammys!

The Grammys happened on Sunday, and everything's coming up, Beyoncé! Beyoncé took home three awards: Best Country Album and Album of the Year for Cowboy Carter, along with  Best Country Duo/Group Performance for II Most Wanted. With these wins, she has 35 Grammys and has been nominated 99 times. 

Beyoncé via Instagram

This marks the first time Beyoncé has won Album of the Year, making her only the fourth Black woman in history to achieve this honor and the first to do so with a country album in the 67 years of the Grammys. Cowboy Carter featured legendary country artists like Dolly Parton and Willie Nelson, along with rising Black country artists like Shaboozey and Tanner Adell.

Of course, backlash followed. It seems to always follow when it comes to black women succeeding in anything they do, and Beyoncé winning Album of the Year is no different. Many people voiced their opinion that Beyoncé should not have won Album of the Year because Billie Eilish’s album had more sales and streams. 

In today’s day and age, no one wants to make this conversation about race, but I do! Cowboy Carter is a project that explored the history of country music in America and brought to light the genre that has been whitewashed for years. If you don’t believe me, look at the origins of country instruments like the banjars, or the whitewashed term banjo, that originated in Africa. 

Even today, when Beyoncé released “Texas Hold Em,” mainstream radio stations played it 49 times in the first two days, while country radio stations only played it twice, according to CNBC. And let's not forget the criticism she faced when she performed “Daddy Lessons” with The Chicks at the 2016 CMA. Oh, and did I forget to mention that she wasn’t nominated at all for Cowboy Carter at the CMAs despite it winning Country Album of the Year? Beyonce even addressed these musical stereotypes in her acceptance speech, “I think sometimes genre is a code word to keep us in our place as artists, and I just want to encourage people to do what they're passionate about and stay persistent.”

The criticism Beyoncé faced in the days following the Grammys is nothing new for black women. But as Doechii said in her acceptance speech for Best Rap Album, “Don’t allow anybody to project any stereotypes on you that tell you that you can’t be here, that you’re too dark or that you’re not smart enough or that you’re too dramatic or you’re too loud. You are exactly who you need to be, to be right where you are, and I’m a testimony.” 

So, I encourage anyone that reads this to not dismiss Cowboy Carter and the history of country music in America because of the deeply rooted stereotypes that are placed on black women. Because I bet if you take a closer look at history, you will be surprised to discover that black women have long been the backbone of this country. But that is a discussion for a later post. XO