Every year, The Grammy Awards result for “Album of the Year” has been a topic of ongoing discussion and cause for dissatisfaction, and this year is no different. You may have overheard conversations among students at The Village School about how some believe Beyoncé didn’t deserve the “Album of the Year” (AOTY) award this time since many believe that “Cowboy Carter” is not even her best project. Compared to her previous albums, such as “Lemonade” and “Renaissance,” popular beliefs feel they were more deserving of this award, but, ironically, they never made it out of the nomination list. In fact, the influence of the music industry is a significant factor in these decisions. To be voted for by the Recording Academy members, besides the album’s popularity, an artist must also prove themself to other artists in the music industry– something that “Cowboy Carter” has succeeded in doing.
Since its release, “Cowboy Carter” has profoundly impacted the music industry and popular culture. Variety has called it possibly the most discussed album of the 21st century, while CNN even released the documentary Call Me Country: Beyoncé & Nashville’s Renaissance to explore the album’s impact on country music and the presence of Black artists in this genre. “Genres are a funny little concept, aren’t they? In theory, they have a simple definition that’s easy to understand. But in practice, well, some may feel confined”. That’s how Beyoncé predicted the controversy surrounding “Cowboy Carter” with the voice of the legendary Linda Martell – one of the first Black artists to push past racial barriers into country music. In 1970, Martell made history as the first Black female artist to achieve commercial success in country music, a genre typically associated with white performers. Half a decade later, Beyoncé continued Martell’s legacy by becoming the first Black woman to reach No. 1 on Billboard’s country music chart. With 407,000 equivalent album units sold in the first week of its release and an 8.4 score on Pitchfork, “Cowboy Carter” was a major success from both commercial and critical aspects, challenging the traditional definitions of country music.
When most people think of country music, they associate it with images of middle-aged white men, tractors, and landscapes of the American South, along with the tunes of classics like Dolly Parton’s “Jolene” or Johnny Cash’s “I Walk the Line.” Therefore, in the public mind, Beyoncé, as a woman of color, doesn’t fit into the typical country music category. While traditional country is an essential cultural facet, there is a glaring issue that remains buried underneath this celebration. The pioneers of the country genre, many of whom were Black, are often overlooked in discussions of its creation.
This lack of representation serves as a stark reminder of the systemic barriers that Black artists have faced in the music industry. To be more specific, this can be explained by how genres are defined and marketed; although music often blends different styles, genre development is tied to how record labels market and distribute music, which affects how we understand and share music today. In the early 20th century, record producers targeted audiences based on their perceived preferences, creating two major genres: “hillbilly music” (later known as country music), which was made by white artists and marketed to white listeners, and “race records” (later known as Blues or R&B), which was created by Black artists and marketed to Black listeners. However, these two separate genres often share similar styles and content. As a result, Black artists who played music that fit into the “country” category were not marketed in that way.
The history of country music is deeply rooted in Black culture, starting with the banjo, an iconic instrument in Black folk, country, and bluegrass music. According to Smithsonian Folkways Recordings, the banjo we are familiar with today actually evolved from a related family of African gourd instruments known by various names such as banjars and banias. The knowledge and memory of these instruments came from enslaved people when they were forcibly brought to the Caribbean and North America in the 1600s and 1700s when they re-created the instruments with the materials they had at hand. In the 20th century, hillbilly music would become known as country music, but the deep-rooted wound of segregation kept Black artists out of the music they started. As new country albums were created and sold, big record labels did not officially credit Black artists for their contributions to several studio albums released, therefore perpetuating an erasure of African American culture.
In contrast, white artists made country music mainstream. According to TIME, the history of whitewashed roots served as a source of inspiration for Beyoncé to tap into this new era of music. The Texan artist is not using her artistry to play around with genres, but to reclaim and redefine country music as what it is — a genre made on the foundation of Black art. The album significantly broadened the appeal of this genre, being described as a “cultural watershed” and a “historic moment” for country music. Upon its release, over 36 million people had their first time listening to country music on Spotify, and TIME Magazine also highlighted how country music is growing in popularity in the UK, where 60% of respondents reported starting to listen to country music thanks to “Cowboy Carter.” Additionally, a global study revealed that over a third of Gen Z became interested in country music after Beyoncé ventured into the genre. On Vevo, views of country music videos increased by 38%, and the number of Black young adults ages 18 to 34 listening to country music on radio grew by 40%.
Beyoncé’s birthplace of Texas has imbued her with a deep appreciation for country and Western music. However, at the height of her career, Beyoncé sought to release an album that focused on this genre despite facing criticism that she was “not country enough,” as she confided in American Requiem. “Cowboy Carter”‘s take on the subject has been praised by many artists and the American music industry, from Paul McCartney, Nancy Sinatra, Linda Martell to Dolly Parton, Reba McEntire, and Miranda Lambert. The success of “Cowboy Carter” not only helped Beyoncé win over audiences but also appealed to voters outside her familiar genre, making the win more significant.
Now, no one can stop her anymore; Beyoncé remixed The Beatles’ Blackbird, a song that McCartney wrote inspired by the Black liberation movement, with the lines: “Blackbird singing in the dead of night / Take these broken wings and learn to fly /All your life, you were only waiting for this moment to arise.”
Maybe Beyoncé has been waiting for this moment her whole life.
References:
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/08/arts/music/beyonce-cowboy-carter-billboard-chart.html
https://folkways.si.edu/songs-of-our-native-daughters
https://time.com/5673476/ken-burns-country-music-black-artists/
https://www.cnbc.com/2024/03/16/beyoncs-country-songs-are-boosting-streams-for-black-artists.html
