At the Grammys last weekend, Beyoncé added three awards to her record-breaking register, Best Country Duo/Group Performance, Best Country Album, and Album of the Year, bringing her total to 35–the most of any artist in history. But the night was not only notable for its widening of Beyoncé’s record, it also marked a big shift towards loosening the generic constraints that have historically confined artists and limited experimentation.
In her acceptance speech for Best Country Album, Beyoncé says, “I think sometimes genre is a code word to keep us in our place as artists,” The Grammys have a history of enforcing the boundaries of genre, namely through assigning certain genres to certain demographics of artists. In 2020, Tyler the Creator made headlines for calling out the Recording Academy after his win of Best Rap Album with IGOR, saying “whenever we, and I mean guys that look like me, do anything that’s genre-bending… they always put it in the rap or urban category,” Throughout its history, the Grammys have been accused of racial bias, restricting the movement and recognition of non-white artists outside “racialised” categories like rap and R&B.
Genre-bending is a major aspect of Beyoncé’s eighth studio album Cowboy Carter, summed up by Linda Martell in the opening of “SPAGHETTII” as, “Genres are a funny little concept, aren’t they? In theory, they have a simple definition… But in practice, well, some may feel confined,” Cowboy Carter, as a fusion of Americana, country, R&B, rock, pop, etc., authenticates and celebrates this notion, paying homage to the diverse cultural and musical history of the United States. It also gives special attention to Beyoncé’s personal history–both her Texan roots and her experience on the country scene.
In 2016, Beyoncé performed the country track “Daddy Lessons” from her 2016 album Lemonade at the Country Music Awards (CMAs) with The Chicks only to be met with a hostile reception from the audience. The performance quickly became a widespread example of how Black artists are excluded from the country music scene despite the genre’s deep roots in Black musical tradition. The CMA performance is also credited as a catalyst in Cowboy Carter’s creation, referenced in the album’s opener “AMERIICAN REQUIEM” with the lines, “It’s a lot of talking going on, while I sing my song,” and “Used to say I spoke ‘too country,’ and then rejection came, said I wasn’t country enough,” And it’s safe to say the Country Music Association hasn’t changed much since 2016 as Cowboy Carter, all too predictably, was shut out of the ceremony entirely, receiving zero nominations.
At the Grammys, on the other hand, Beyoncé and Cowboy Carter received the most nominations of the night, up for eleven awards including five in country-specific categories. Of those, she took home the award for “Best Country Duo/Group Performance” for “II MOST WANTED” with Miley Cyrus and “Best Country Album.” The latter is especially pivotal as, in the entire history of the “Best Country Album” category–from its brief establishment in 1966 to its revival in 1995 to the present day–a Black artist has never even been nominated, let alone won. So, Beyoncé’s win with Cowboy Carter is massively historic.
Introducing one of Cowboy Carter’s most ambitious tracks (and my favorite), “YA YA”, Linda Martell says “This particular tune stretches across a range of genres, and that’s what makes it a unique listening experience,” This sentiment speaks to the album as a whole and is testament to why Cowboy Carter not only greatly deserved its Grammys wins but also seems to have pushed the Academy and the industry itself to reconsider its notions of genre altogether.
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