Last week, the nominees for the 58th annual Country Music Association (CMA) Awards were revealed and Beyonce fans everywhere absolutely lost their mind when they discovered their beloved Queen Bee had been left out of every single category.
As we saw last month, the second annual People’s Choice Country awards included Beyonce, honoring her with 17 nominations – the second most only behind Zach Bryan. Many presumed the CMA’s would follow suit, however the Association decided to make a bold statement (although the exact reason remains unclear at this moment), and left out the 43 year-old R&B singer from “country music’s biggest night.”
In a recent interview with Variety, Dolly Parton was asked about the inclusion of outside artists such as Post Malone and Beyonce stepping into the genre. And although Dolly has repeatedly welcomed and voiced her support for artists of other genres takin’ a crack at country music, it’s fair to point out that Dolly was featured on both of these artists “country” records, making it nearly impossible to have anything negative to say, even if she wanted to.
When asked about Beyonce being snubbed from this year’s CMA Awards, the 78 year-old superstar had this to say:
“Well, you never know. 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.
I didn’t even realize that until somebody asked me that question. But it was a wonderful album. She can be very, very proud of, and I think everybody in country music welcomed her and thought that, that was good. So I don’t think it was a matter of shutting out, like doing that on purpose. 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.”
While there’s some argument to be had given the fact that COWBOY CARTER was labeled as a country album, landed at #1 on Billboard’s Top Country Albums chart and scored her a record-breaking #1 country hit with “TEXAS HOLD ‘EM,” there’s one key element that should be considered while discussing this CMA “snub:” Beyoncé herself publicly said that COWBOY CARTER was not a country album:
“This ain’t a Country album. This is a ‘Beyoncé’ album.”
The CMA Awards will air live on ABC at the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tennessee at 7 p.m. CT on November 20. The entire list of nominees includes the following:
Entertainer of the Year
- Luke Combs
- Jelly Roll
- Chris Stapleton
- Morgan Wallen
- Lainey Wilson
Single of the Year
- “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” – Shaboozey
- “Dirt Cheap” – Cody Johnson
- “I Had Some Help” – Post Malone ft. Morgan Wallen
- “Watermelon Moonshine” – Lainey Wilson
- “White Horse” – Chris Stapleton
Album of the Year
- “Deeper Well” – Kacey Musgraves
- “Fathers & Sons” – Luke Combs
- “Higher” – Chris Stapleton
- “Leather” – Cody Johnson
- “Whitsitt Chapel” – Jelly Roll
Song of the Year
- “Burn It Down” – Parker McCollum
- “Dirt Cheap” – Cody Johnson
- “I Had Some Help” – Post Malone ft. Morgan Wallen
- “The Painter” – Cody Johnson
- “White Horse” – Chris Stapleton
Female Vocalist of the Year
- Kelsea Ballerini
- Ashley McBryde
- Megan Moroney
- Kacey Musgraves
- Lainey Wilson
Male Vocalist of the Year
- Luke Combs
- Jelly Roll
- Cody Johnson
- Chris Stapleton
- Morgan Wallen
Vocal Group of the Year
- Lady A
- Little Big Town
- Old Dominion
- The Red Clay Strays
- Zac Brown Band
Vocal Duo of the Year
- Brooks & Dunn
- Brothers Osborne
- Dan + Shay
- Maddie & Tae
- The War and Treaty
Musical Event of the Year
- “Cowboys Cry Too” – Kelsea Ballerini & Noah Kahan
- “I Had Some Help” – Post Malone & Morgan Wallen
- “I Remember Everything” – Zach Bryan & Kacey Musgraves
- “Man Made a Bar” – Morgan Wallen & Eric Church
- “you look like you love me” – Ella Langley & Riley Green
Musician of the Year
- Tom Bukovac (Guitar)
- Jenee Fleenor (Fiddle)
- Paul Franklin (Steel Guitar)
- Rob McNelley (Guitar)
- Charlie Worsham (Guitar)
Music Video of the Year
- “Dirt Cheap” – Cody Johnson
- “I Had Some Help” – Post Malone ft. Morgan Wallen
- “I’m Not Pretty” – Megan Moroney
- “The Painter” – Cody Johnson
- “Wildflowers and Wild Horses” – Lainey Wilson
New Artist of the Year
- Megan Moroney
- Shaboozey
- Nate Smith
- Mitchell Tenpenny
- Zach Top
- Bailey Zimmerman