Beyoncé Deserves Better From Country Music | Opinion

Does country music have a problem with black women? What must a black woman do to be recognized and respected by the country music establishment? Beyoncé did everything and this month, it was announced she had been snubbed by the Country Music Awards, which granted her latest album zero nominations. Cowboy Carter, released in March, was the first album by a black woman to get the #1 spot in Billboard’s country music chart and the Hot 100 chart.
Moreover, the album was a protest against the mistreatment of people of color who are oftentimes overlooked yet overpoliced. On intentionally naming the album “Cowboy Carter,” the singer explained to GQ Magazine:
The album is deeply autobiographical. Cowboy Carter originated in response to the rejection and hostility the 32-time Grammy winner faced in 2016 when she performed alongside the Dixie Chicks at the Country Music Awards. Critics claimed that Beyoncé was not what country “represents.”
Why not? As Beyoncé sings in “AMERIICAN REQUIEM,” “Looka there, liquor in my hand / The grandbaby of a moonshine man / Gadsden, Alabama / Got folk down Gavelston, rooted in Louisiana. / They used to say I spoke too country / Then the rejection came, said I wasn’t country ‘nough / Said I wouldn’t saddle up, but / If that ain’t country, tell me, what is?” A prescient question.
Few question the album’s quality; it was met with overwhelming acclaim from the mainstream music press. The problem appears to be reticent critics in the country music establishment who object, sometimes quite explicitly, to Beyoncé daring to venture into the genre. Despite the critical acclaim, the album received little promotion on radio stations, with one station in Oklahoma openly objecting to the request to play her music by stating, “We do not play Beyoncé…as we are a country music station.”
Traditionally, when white artists cross over into country music—as Justin Timberlake, Bon Jovi, and Lady Gaga have all done—they are met with far less scrutiny and criticism. Moreover, white women’s forays country music have often been welcomed. When a fresh-faced Taylor Swift began her career as a country singer, she was universally praised for introducing an unlikely audience (teenage girls mostly used to bubbly pop) to the genre. Artists of color routinely face ostracism from the same mixing and matching that so many others enjoy.
Beyoncé has reflected on this problem, telling GQ Magazine:
Women of color deserve better from country music. While white singers and performers are lauded, black and brown women are treated with contempt. The cold-shouldering and outright dismissal of Beyoncé’s achievements in the genre speaks to racist tropes that obscure the contribution of people of color throughout history, and especially today even as a powerful black woman dominates the country music charts.
Being a savvy musician, Beyoncé may have anticipated that the exclusion of women of color from country music would not magically end simply because she threw her hat in the ring. But for women like me who love country music, it still feels like a disappointing reminder that such a versatile genre does not love us back.
Raquel Rosario Sánchez is a writer, researcher, and campaigner from the Dominican Republic.
The views expressed in this article are the writer’s own.