{"id":22,"date":"2025-02-16T17:51:22","date_gmt":"2025-02-16T17:51:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.uww.edu\/korysblog\/?p=22"},"modified":"2025-02-16T17:51:22","modified_gmt":"2025-02-16T17:51:22","slug":"beyonce-country-musics-big-night-at-the-grammys","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.uww.edu\/korysblog\/2025\/02\/16\/beyonce-country-musics-big-night-at-the-grammys\/","title":{"rendered":"Beyonc\u00e9 & Country Music’s Big Night at the Grammys"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

On February 2, 2025, Beyonc\u00e9 had one of the most historic moments of her career as she won the Grammy award for Best Country Album for her album Cowboy Carter<\/em>. Beyonc\u00e9 became the first Black artist to win this award, which many consider a turning point for a genre that has historically turned away artists of color. However, country music fans, particularly fans who live in rural areas, are less impressed than those who are reporting on this historic win.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Argyle, Wisconsin, is a rural town in Lafayette County. The town\u2019s population is just below 800 people, and many of these people live on or near a farm. Many country songs tend to boast about the perks of living a rural lifestyle, something that the residents of Argyle know a lot about. When talking to a few Argyle residents about Beyonc\u00e9\u2019s win, I was met with shaking heads and answers of disappointment. It was immediately clear to me how rural people felt about Beyonc\u00e9\u2019s win.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Claire Mathys, a 20-year-old college student whose hometown is Argyle, discussed her disinterest in Beyonc\u00e9 winning this category. Mathys acknowledged that she already had a negative bias toward Beyonc\u00e9, but she also expressed that there were other options in the category that she would have rather seen as the winner, specifically Chris Stapleton. Mathys explained her reasoning further by stating, \u201cIt kind of seems like giving the \u2018best fruit award\u2019 to a tomato \u2013 yes, it’s technically a fruit by definition, but what about strawberries?\u201d She expressed how Beyonc\u00e9\u2019s attempt at country music felt disingenuous because of the superstar power that Beyonc\u00e9 has, compared to the mostly blue-collar approach to country music from other artists. Another country music fan from Argyle, Cole Makos, was more blunt, stating that Cowboy Carter <\/em>is not a country album and that country music audiences did not want Beyonc\u00e9 to win this award. Rather, he believed that the Grammys felt pressured to give Beyonc\u00e9 this award. Makos also added that Shaboozey, another Black artist in country music who had a monumental year in 2024, may have more influence on aspiring Black artists than Beyonc\u00e9 does; he admitted, though, that country music will likely not change its unspoken viewpoints surrounding Black artists given the history of the genre, even though he does believe that diversity is necessary in country music.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, not all rural Wisconsin music fans are upset about Beyonc\u00e9\u2019s win. Jaylyn Makos of Janesville is a big Beyonc\u00e9 fan, even though she admitted that she was not a particular fan of Cowboy Carter<\/em>. She stated that she is a fan of country music, but did not particularly enjoy Beyonc\u00e9\u2019s venture into country music because it did not sound like the Beyonc\u00e9 she is used to. Nonetheless, Makos was still fine with Beyonc\u00e9 winning the Best Country Album category because of the ever-changing state of the genre. She noted how some country songs were even nominated in pop music categories. Additionally, Makos was excited about a Black artist winning the category, pointing out how white R&B artists rappers like Jelly Roll and Post Malone are succeeding in country music today. She finished by stating how much of an inspiration it was to see Beyonc\u00e9 win this award category, noting how an artist should feel comfortable stepping out of their comfort zone to make the music they want to make.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To many, country music still represents the lifestyle of a rural American, perhaps a farmer, hunter, or fisherman. However, country music has gradually changed over the years, and a lot of country music that is being made today does not focus on stereotypical country themes. Beyonc\u00e9\u2019s Cowboy Carter <\/em>stirred up controversy for not being \u201ccountry\u201d enough, which is a conversation that is equally important to both sides of the argument. Regardless, Beyonc\u00e9\u2019s foray into country music has been objectively successful, but its subjective value can only be determined by those who choose to indulge in the fine details of such a conversation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On February 2, 2025, Beyonc\u00e9 had one of the most historic moments of her career as she won the Grammy award for Best Country Album for her album Cowboy Carter. Beyonc\u00e9 became the first Black artist to win this award, which many consider a turning point for a genre that has historically turned away artists […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17929,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uww.edu\/korysblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uww.edu\/korysblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uww.edu\/korysblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uww.edu\/korysblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/17929"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uww.edu\/korysblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uww.edu\/korysblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uww.edu\/korysblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22\/revisions\/23"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uww.edu\/korysblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uww.edu\/korysblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uww.edu\/korysblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}