ACM CEO speaks out after Beyoncé receives no nominations

[Pandauralife 837]

9 minutes ago, lilboyblue said:

I like Beyonce but I never really follow Beyonce as closely as Gaga. Only when she releases music. You can't expect everybody to just "get the point" because most listeners don't really care about these things. And I don't believe she's done anything yet outside of releasing the album to really educate people about these issues.

You just have to take the wins with the losses, and this type of reaction and snark will be par for the course.

I personally believe the way she was able to start the conversation about black people's place in country music is brave, and just being able to spark that is already a win. However, she was never gonna change things in a snap. At this point, it's one country album by a heretofore Pop/R&B artist. It's not much compelling even if it is one of the biggest superstars in the world.

Being snubbed out of the ACM is unfortunate, but should be expected. She will of course get pushback from the very people she's criticizing, especially in America's political climate.

So glad your response shows some thought lol. I get that you can't expect casual listeners to find the bigger message. It just sucks that it even needs to be said in the first place you know? And more so when you have ignorant people trying to discredit what contributions she's trying to make to the discourse. I'm sure if Act III is rock as a lot of people suspect, she'll get the same reaction unfortunately. 

[freebit 6,211]

I have mixed feelings. I like how they went out of their way to say this, especially in these disgusting times we are living in with the current increasingly facist climate of the US.

I understand the reclamation of country music being an important aspect, but people getting upset about her not being nominated implies that Beyonce did it at least partially for awards and recognition instead of something she just wanted to explore in a personal or creative sense, and I doubt it's that important to her to get country award validation. I mean, the Grammy was probably more important.

That last part of their statement  is right that these country music people are insular and will only vote for the people they like and worked with. Shania Twain talked once about how these people didn't really support her biggest album, Come On Over because she wasn't working with the typical Nashville people, and they saw her working with Mutt Lange as her turning her nose up at the Nashville country music ~community. With Shania being the biggest country music act at the time, and responsible for the trend of country crossing over into pop (and making a huge profit for the country music industry setting the stage for Faith Hill, The Dixie Chicks, LeAnne Womack etc.), and Come On Over being so huge, they had to nominate it, but they completely shut it out in the end, and she went home empty handed. I think with Beyonce being a world conquering star, much like with Shania, they probably thought she "had enough" recognition. 

[Flareon Voyager 130]

1 hour ago, Rat Boy said:

I love the album but it was country-influenced, it was not a country album. Also my understanding is that country musicians write their songs and play instruments which Beyonce didn’t do. 

Neither do many country artists…

[Flareon Voyager 130]

Not people here still not understanding the racism…

No wonder Trump reigns.

also, kind of funny that the CEO literally admitted that these awards are not based on any kind of merit but on connections… What a bunch of DEI hicks.

[SlowLoris 1,016]

Tbh I don't really understand people's raging, almost moral need for Beyonce to win awards ???? Awards only mean that some rich people wanna shed light on you.  The album itself defies expectations and I think that's a cool thing in itself.  I honestly am ready to rip my eyeballs out having to read someone mad about Beyonce's awards every. Single. Day.

[SEANGT 5,110]

If she wanted to be part of this community why didn't she try to spend time in it? If she hung out in Nashville and played the grand ole opry like she's been invited to, maybe it would have helped. 

https://www.instagram.com/opry/p/C3tlnotNeUA/

 

[Bronco 8,246]

Do I think its the best country or country influenced album released in the qualifying period? 

No.

Do I think its better than some of the nominees?

Absolutely.

Its beyond obvious why an org primarily based in Nashville isn't voting for a Black woman and is instead backing their friends. Its exactly why Beyonce got the backlash in 2016 and started on this journey.

I don't think of her as a country artist and never will. And I think she failed to deliver true heart and soul to most of CC and I always find the best music in country to be truly personable and emotive. But she absolutely deserved nominations for the quality of CC considering the quality standards set by the current gen of the hollow Nashville Sound.

[MACATL 1,199]

11 hours ago, Pandauralife said:

No one said she was entitled though. It's just further proving the point that this project and Black people in general are going to be shut out of mainstream country music. 

My post is mainly in response to tone deaf people who clearly aren't seeing the underlying issues to this being a problem in the first place. And it doesn't even have to be Beyoncé. In the past year since Cowboy Carter, I've seen a bunch of Black, independent country artists and it sucks to know that a lot of them are never going to get the spotlight Beyoncé is getting in the country world simply because they aren't Beyoncé.

And I'm not saying that she deserves to be nominates simply because she's making a commentary. What I'm saying is that people aren't getting the point of the project in the first place.

Also, who gets to define country music? Country music, like a lot of genres has had some evolutions, so why can't we consider Cowboy Carter country? Again, we're not having this conversation about Post Malone or even Chappell. Wonder why...

The fact that there are people up in arms and articles written about it does indeed lead one to believe that many feel she’s entitled.  
 

Should Madonna have been nominated for best R&B album at the Soul Train or Essence Awards for Bedtime Stories just because Baby Face produced it with some R&B elements?  No.  Madonna was still pop, and it was still a pop record (a great one IMO).  Same goes for Cowboy Carter.  
 

That being said, there ARE great successful black country artists (Darius Rucker, Mickey Hutton for examples).  I don’t buy into the notion that it’s racist that Beyonce isn’t nominated.  

[HausOfFreedom 4]

11 hours ago, Pandauralife said:

I think some of the people here are still missing the point of Cowboy Carter a year later. There are two main goals of the album. One is to shed light on country's roots from African-Americans. This history has been nearly completely rewritten to exclude the Black narratives from which it was born, which very clearly and scarily parallels the current social and political climate in America. The second goal was to reclaim Black spaces in country music. Obviously the backlash Beyoncé received from performing at the 2016 CMA's fueled her need to start this project and shed light on this issue. 

So saying that she bought the Grammy or that it's petty for people to complain about her not getting nominated in country categories for a COUNTRY album is just kinda not thought out. There's a bigger picture here that people aren't seeing. It's more than just being a part of a fandom. It's important social/political commentary she's making. 

The girls that get it, get it I guess...

Say it louder babe, we got some folks hard of hearing 📢

[Nagini 534]

12 hours ago, AsleepOnTheCeiling said:

While I don't disagree, I think it's important to note that the ACM CEO openly stated, and pretty plainly, that nominations are contingent upon the relationships of the people in the industry and not upon merit. And that he would happily have her perform (because he knows she would draw viewers) but him and his voting body do not view her worthy of being awarded despite allowing her to take up very valuable air time.

Very fair.

[Vicixs 3,463]

12 hours ago, AsleepOnTheCeiling said:

Making valid points doesn't entitle you to an award though. If the work was that great, people wouldn't be confused and they wouldn't question her deserving the award. Because the work would demand the attention and understanding from the listener. A great work of art will do 1 of 2 things for people. They will relate or they will be captivated by its beauty. And Cowboy Carter fails to do that. 

What don’t you get? It’s not about people not being “captivated by its beauty”. It is and HAS BEEN racism that’s been the issue. The uproar when she was at the CMAs in 2016 was absurd and tasteless, and it’s the same bullshit in this situation too.

 

this is coming from someone who doesn’t at all think she deserved AOTY at the Grammy’s, but it’s genuinely not hard to read between the lines here.

[Vicixs 3,463]

1 hour ago, MACATL said:

The fact that there are people up in arms and articles written about it does indeed lead one to believe that many feel she’s entitled.  
 

Should Madonna have been nominated for best R&B album at the Soul Train or Essence Awards for Bedtime Stories just because Baby Face produced it with some R&B elements?  No.  Madonna was still pop, and it was still a pop record (a great one IMO).  Same goes for Cowboy Carter.  
 

That being said, there ARE great successful black country artists (Darius Rucker, Mickey Hutton for examples).  I don’t buy into the notion that it’s racist that Beyonce isn’t nominated.  

Both of those artists have been nominated a handful of times at the CMAs COMBINED. There is obviously some racism coming into play. Especially if you take into consideration the fact the Morgan Wallen won big the same year he had RACIST controversies swirling around.

[AsleepOnTheCeiling 6,128]

42 minutes ago, Vicixs said:

What don’t you get? It’s not about people not being “captivated by its beauty”. It is and HAS BEEN racism that’s been the issue. The uproar when she was at the CMAs in 2016 was absurd and tasteless, and it’s the same bullshit in this situation too.

 

this is coming from someone who doesn’t at all think she deserved AOTY at the Grammy’s, but it’s genuinely not hard to read between the lines here.

I got all of it, what part of my statement made it seem like I'm confused? You thought she didn't deserve to win in a general category but think she should bode better in a specialized awards show? And I'm not saying the issues are mutually exclusive or even that you are wrong. We can all agree it wasn't a strong work on her behalf, so what more is there to argue? If we're gonna all agree the album is mediocre, why are having an argument over it being nominated? Before my response you quoted I even said it had nothing to do with merit and pointed out the CEO pretty openly said he wants one of their own nominated. 

[River 110,984]

Ya’ll don’t get the point he basically says that she was too entitled to start relationships with other country singers, to be part of the country music community and to campaign the album.

The social impact of the album is absolutely zero just like Renaissance did zero impact.

It’s easy to release albums to “reclaim” their black roots, but not so easy for her to speak out about it and make real impact to her people.

I guess selling whiskey and levi’s is more important 🥴

[AsleepOnTheCeiling 6,128]

13 hours ago, Pandauralife said:

No one said she was entitled though. It's just further proving the point that this project and Black people in general are going to be shut out of mainstream country music. 

My post is mainly in response to tone deaf people who clearly aren't seeing the underlying issues to this being a problem in the first place. And it doesn't even have to be Beyoncé. In the past year since Cowboy Carter, I've seen a bunch of Black, independent country artists and it sucks to know that a lot of them are never going to get the spotlight Beyoncé is getting in the country world simply because they aren't Beyoncé.

And I'm not saying that she deserves to be nominates simply because she's making a commentary. What I'm saying is that people aren't getting the point of the project in the first place.

Also, who gets to define country music? Country music, like a lot of genres has had some evolutions, so why can't we consider Cowboy Carter country? Again, we're not having this conversation about Post Malone or even Chappell. Wonder why...

Okay if it doesn't have to be Beyonce, then why even reference Beyonce? You very much made it seem like anyone that disagreed just "didn't get it" and that people defending her are more enlightened than ones saying she's not entitled to an award. Everyone here wants to argue it should be nominated until they have to defend the album. Then it's "It doesn't have to be Beyonce" and "I don't even think Beyonce deserved the Grammys for Cowboy Carter".  So which is it? Does Cowboy Carter deserve to be nominated on its merits or not? Nobody is saying that racism doesn't exist in country music, because it VERY much does. And nobody, not even the ACM CEO, is rebuking that Cowboy Carter is country. I appreciate Beyonce's intent in reclaiming the genre but I can also still think the album missed the mark and thus she doesn't deserve award recognition. But if we're gonna make the (valid) argument that the institution and the industry are racist, maybe we should make the argument with a stronger body of work backing us. 

 

Lastly, we're not having this discussion about Chapell or Post Malone because the thread is about Beyonce. I was going to tell you to go ahead and make threads on them and I'd weigh in but I honestly haven't even heard their music so that should tell you something.