Luke Bryan weighs in on Beyoncé's CMA Awards snub
"A lot of great music's overlooked."
Luke Bryan is weighing in on Beyoncé's "Cowboy Carter" album getting zero nominations at the 2024 CMA Awards.
The "Love You, Miss You, Mean It" singer -- who is returning as host for the awards show on Nov. 20 alongside Peyton Manning and newcomer Lainey Wilson -- admitted "it's a tricky question" to navigate during a recent interview on SiriusXM’s "Andy Cohen Live."
"...Obviously Beyoncé made a country album," he began. "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."
"It's a tough thing to say," he continued, going on to question how many albums she sold and noting that she "had one song," likely referring to Beyoncé's hit "Texas Hold 'Em," which debuted at No. 1 on Billboard's Hot Country Songs chart in February.
"Cowboy Carter" also debuted at No. 1 on Billboard's Top Country Albums chart -- a historic feat as Beyoncé became the first Black woman to top that chart since Billboard began tracking it 60 years ago in 1964.
Despite its success, the album was completely shut out of the 2024 CMA Awards nominations, which were announced last month.
"I mean, listen, I'm all for everybody coming in and making country albums and all that. But just by declaring that, just because she made one…" Bryan said, trailing off.
"A lot of great music's overlooked," he continued. "Sometimes you don't get nominated."
The "American Idol" judge then said the nominees are determined by the Country Music Association's voting body, who he said "vote what they think should make it."
"Everybody loved that Beyoncé made a country album. Nobody's mad about it," Bryan noted. "But where things get a little tricky … you know, if you're gonna make country albums, come into our world and be country with us a little bit."
"Beyoncé can do exactly what she wants to. She's probably the biggest star in music. But come to an awards show and high five us and have fun and get in the family, too. And I'm not saying she didn't do that," he said. "But country music's a lot about family and then there's still… but it ain't always family, too. We get pissed at each other, too."
Bryan isn't the first to weigh in on Beyoncé's perceived snub at this year's CMA Awards.
Dolly Parton, who appeared on "Cowboy Carter" and let Beyoncé cover her famous song "Jolene" on the album, told Variety that "Cowboy Carter" was "a wonderful album" that Beyoncé can be "very, very proud of," but said she didn't think "it was a matter of shutting out … on purpose."
"There's so many wonderful country artists that, I guess probably the country music field, they probably thought, well, we can't really leave out some of the ones that spend their whole life doing that," she said, later adding, "I think it was just more of what the country charts and the country artists were doing, that do that all the time, not just a specialty album."
Shaboozey, who received two nominations at this year's CMA Awards and collaborated with Beyoncé on two "Cowboy Carter" tracks, seemingly reacted to her snub in an Instagram story.
"That goes without saying" he wrote at the time. "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!"
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