Luke Bryan is weighing in on the discourse surrounding Beyoncé’s lack of CMA Award nominations for her Cowboy Carter album.
The country music star recently chatted with Andy Cohen on SiriusXM’s Andy Cohen Live, where the host asked him about his thoughts on Beyoncé’s snub from the nominees list.
“It’s a tricky question because, 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,” Bryan said, referencing Beyoncé’s loyal fan base, called the Beyhive.
While the “Play It Again” artist is “all for everybody coming in and making country albums and all that,” he said that doesn’t necessarily mean they’ll automatically get nominated for their work, as sometimes “a lot of great music is overlooked.”
“Just because she made one … just ’cause I make one, I don’t get any nominations,” he added.
As someone who has won two CMA entertainer of the year awards, in addition to several nominations, Bryan had a theory for why the Country Music Association voting body may have passed on the “Texas Hold ‘Em” singer.
“Everybody loved that Beyoncé made a country album. Nobody’s mad about it,” Bryan explained. “But where things get a little tricky — if you’re gonna make country albums, come into our world and be country with us a little bit. Like, Beyoncé can do exactly what she wants to. She’s probably the biggest star in music. But come to an award show and high-five us and have fun and get in the family, too. And I’m not saying she didn’t do that … but country music is a lot about family.”
Ahead of the release of Cowboy Carter in March, Beyoncé wrote on Instagram that the album was “born out of an experience that I had years ago where I did not feel welcomed” in the country music genre, “and it was very clear that I wasn’t.”
In 2016, Beyoncé faced backlash for her performance of her country-tinged song “Daddy Lessons,” with The Chicks at the 50th annual CMA Awards. While the singer received some applause, others in the country music space criticized her, with her performance even being scrubbed from the CMA website.
She continued in her statement in March, “But, because of that experience, I did a deeper dive into the history of Country music and studied our rich musical archive. It feels good to see how music can unite so many people around the world, while also amplifying the voices of some of the people who have dedicated so much of their lives educating on our musical history.
“The criticisms I faced when I first entered this genre forced me to propel past the limitations that were put on me,” Beyoncé added. “Act II is a result of challenging myself, and taking my time to bend and blend genres together to create this body of work.”
