By Ada Kessler

On Sunday, February 2nd, the 67th annual Grammys took place. The Grammys, often called music’s biggest night, are the most prestigious music awards there are. These awards are unique in that they are the only music awards in which nominees and winners are decided by other musicians from singers to producers to instrumentalists. There are over 75 awards, but the major awards of the night are typically as follows: Best New Artist, Song of the Year, Record of the Year, and Album of the Year. 

This year, Best New Artist went to Chappell Roan who had her breakout in early 2024. Record of the Year and Song of the Year both went to Kendrick Lamar for “Not Like Us,” his most viral diss track against Drake. Lamar was the most awarded person of the night, winning all five categories he was nominated for, leading  “Not Like Us” to become the most awarded song in the history of the Grammys according to Time. However, Album of the Year, arguably the biggest award of the night, had quite the controversial outcome. 

Many viewers expected Brat by Charli XCX, Hit Me Hard and Soft by Billie Eilish, or The Tortured Poets Department by Taylor Swift to win. Eilish had many popular songs from the album, especially “Birds of a Feather” and Charli XCX’s album generated the viral “brat summer” trend. Swift was also seen as a big contender as she has won said award four times and won it last year for album Midnights. Despite people’s predictions, none of these women won, instead, Beyoncé won for her album Cowboy Carter. 

Cowboy Carter’s win was very surprising to a lot of people given its relatively low popularity within such stiff competition. This unexpected win has some people upset as they believe other, more popular albums, should have won instead. This is far from the first time that Cowboy Carter has faced harsh criticism. Following its release on March 29, 2024, critics disliked the album, calling it boring compared to her previous album, Renaissance which was much more upbeat. 

The major gripe these critics held, however, was that they didn’t believe Cowboy Carter was a country album. This opinion has persisted among many people, especially following the album’s win of not only Album of the Year, but Country Album of the Year as well. With so many people believing this notion, it is easy to brush Cowboy Carter off as an undeserving winner, but the truth of its genre is much more complex. 

Cowboy Carter serves as more of a discussion of country music over time as opposed to a strictly country album. The album explores many different genres in this discussion including blues, pop, and even opera. These genres don’t seem to be particularly country, but that is exactly the point that Beyoncé is trying to make. In the beginning of the track “Spaghetti,” Linda Martell is heard saying “Genres are a funny little thing…In theory, they have a simple definition that’s easy to understand, but in practice some may feel confined.” 

The album is not meant to be exclusively country, it is instead a blend of myriad genres to tell a story about the evolution of country music as well as Beyoncé herself. This idea is supported by Beyoncé as well as the day Cowboy Carter released, she stated “This ain’t a country album, this is a Beyoncé album.” Despite the album not being truly country, there are still some aspects of country music present.

The most prominent of these aspects are the plethora of interludes from country music icons such as Dolly Parton and Willie Nelson. Linda Martell, the “first commercially successful Black female artist in country music” is also featured on several interludes. There also many up and coming Black country artists featured on the album such as Shaboozey, Willie Jones, Tanner Adell, Tiera Kennedy, and Reyna Roberts. Beyoncé also put a spin on the iconic country song “Jolene” by Dolly Parton and uses classic country sound in her songs “Texas Hold ‘Em,” “Two Most Wanted,” and more.

Cowboy Carter serves less as a country album and more as an ode to what country music and what it can become. In the opening song, “American Requiem,” Beyoncé sings “Nothing really ends. For things to stay the same they have to change again.”  With this album and these lyrics, Beyoncé is signaling that a new era of country music is on its way; an era that will hopefully be more inclusive and experimental as opposed to constrictive and closed off.

This album undoubtedly deserved its win of Album of the Year with its immaculate use of genre blending to discuss what country truly is. Within this discussion of country, themes of racism throughout the genre and America are revealed that are especially pertinent in today’s political climate.