Grammy season came and went, and this year brought its fair share of controversies. The most popular of these controversies, seen all over social media and several news outlets is Beyoncé’s album “Cowboy Carter” winning the Country Album of the Year award. This award, typically awarded to seasoned experts in the country genre, was awarded to a so-called “country novice” this year. Along with winning Country Album of the Year, “Cowboy Carter” also won Album of the Year.
Along with awards for her newest album, Beyoncé also won the Grammy award for Best Country Duo for her song “II MOST WANTED” with Miley Cyrus. This somber ballad garnered only 106 million streams due to its simple lyrics and lack of vocal showcasing from either artist. Fans expected a more experimental track rather than a typical serenade.
Beyonce’s album, boasting a sprawling twenty-seven-song tracklist, was fairly disappointing. The album contains a whopping three covers, an unusually high number for an Album of the Year recipient. Many believe that the album lacked emotion or lyricism, taking into account the fact that there are over sixty credited writers on this project. After listening to the album, it’s a very touching and symbolic piece of work, but not country enough to win the Country Album Award, or innovative enough to win the Album of the Year.
Supporters of Beyoncé argued that since her previous, more popular albums “Lemonade” and “Renaissance” didn’t take home the Album of the Year award, this year was her chance for redemption. While these albums were objectively fantastic and should’ve deserved an award, the Grammys don’t work that way. Other albums being “snubbed” for certain awards doesn’t mean that worse, more recent albums get to be awarded in their place. Beyoncé had 32 Grammys before this year’s ceremony, so it was obvious that her work had not gone without its fair share of appreciation.
Critics of the awards argued that other albums deserved the spotlight. For example, many argue that Chris Stapleton’s album “Higher” was the appropriate choice for the Country Album of the Year, seeing as he has been a country star for far longer than Beyoncé, and his album was a good representation of his vast experience. Billie Eilish should’ve won the Album of the Year award, seeing as her work was filled with raw emotion and depth. Her album, “Hit Me Hard and Soft”, was arguably one of the best of 2024.
Others believe that her wins may have had something to do with the fact that Jay-Z publicly expressed his negative feelings about the Grammys at last year’s awards. He argued that Beyoncé should’ve won at least one Album of the Year award, seeing as she had the most Grammys in history but had yet to attain that specific one. His speech seems slightly self-absorbed, as there have been many brilliant artists who have yet to win a Grammy at all.
In terms of streams on Spotify, the most popular song on Billie Eilish’s Album, titled “Birds of a Feather”, has a little under 2 billion streams. The most streamed song on Beyonce’s album, “Texas Hold ‘Em”, has around 612 million streams, only about a third of Eilish’s listeners. While the Grammys aren’t a popularity contest, the number of streams is a good indicator of how many people enjoyed each song. “Texas Hold ‘Em” is one of the worst non-country songs to ever be released. Unlike some of Beyoncé’s other songs, the lyrics are completely meaningless and the overall sound is incredibly annoying.
Some examples of the more shallow lyrics include, “So park your Lexus and throw your keys up”, and “Hoops, spurs, boots”.This sounds like a parody of an actual country song. Most, if not all, real country songs don’t include stereotypical lists of words associated with being country, such as “spurs, boots”.
At the end of the day, the Grammys should be solely about rewarding the best music in each category. With so many fantastic albums being ignored by the critics, it’s clear that there should be a change in the requirements that it takes to win. Beyoncé’s underwhelming album creates lots of valuable discussion on the awards’ credibility.