Country singer Luke Bryan has thoughts about Beyoncé’s Cowboy Carter being shut out of nominations at the 2024 Country Music Association Awards.
“Obviously, Beyoncé made a country album and Beyoncé has a lot of fans out there that have her back, and if she doesn’t get something they want, man, they come at you — as fans should do,” CMAs cohost Bryan, 48, told Andy Cohen during the Tuesday, October 1, episode of his Radio Andy show on SiriusXM. “It’s a tough thing to say. I don’t know how many albums she [sold].”
He continued, “I’m all for everybody coming in and making country albums and all that, but just because she made one … like, just because I made one, doesn’t mean I get nominations. A lot of great music is overlooked. Sometimes you don’t get nominated.”
Beyoncé, 43, dropped Cowboy Carter in March, making her formal debut in country music. Last month, the album failed to receive any nominations at the CMA Awards. (Bryan will host the CMAs alongside Peyton Manning and Lainey Wilson on November 20.)
“I think the CMA has their voting body and they vote what they think should make it,” Bryan said. “Everybody loved that Beyoncé made a country album. Nobody’s mad about it, but where things get a little tricky [is] if you’re gonna make country albums, come into our world and be country with us. Like, Beyoncé can do exactly what she wants to … but come to an award show and high-five us, have fun and get in the family too.”
Bryan further asserted that he’s “not saying she didn’t do that” but stressed the family values of the music industry.
“Country music’s a lot about family, but it ain’t always family too. We get pissed at each other too,” he quipped.
Bryan’s comments soon drew ire from social media fans.
“Luke B talking about Beyoncé is so infuriating, I don’t even know where to start. The cost of admission is high-fiving you?” one social media user wrote via X on Wednesday, October 2. “Being ‘country’ on your terms, the terms the popular white men in charge get to decide, to be a part of the ‘family?’”
A third, meanwhile, contended that “guys like” Bryan appear to “think white guys created and own country music.” The X user claimed, “They’re sucking the soul out of country. Which is why so much of current mainstream country is so meh.”
Beyoncé, for her part, has not addressed the CMAs snub but remains proud of Cowboy Carter.
“From the start of my career and on every album, I have always mixed genres. Whether it is R&B, Dance, Country, Rap, Zydeco, Blues, Opera, Gospel, they have all influenced me in some way,” the record-breaking Grammy winner said in her GQ cover story published last month. “I have favorite artists from every genre you could think about. I believe genres are traps that box us in and separate us. I’ve experienced this for 25 years in the music industry. Black artists, and other artists of color, have been creating and mastering multiple genres, since forever.”
