Genres are a funny little concept aren’t they?
At the 2025 Grammys, Beyoncé’s wins for Album of the Year and Best Country Album sparked a lot of controversy across social media. Many critics described a myriad of reasons as to why she shouldn’t have won in these categories, but fans on social media rallied behind her nonetheless. After reviewing many of the critical claims I saw on social media, I am here to address the two biggest claims as to why Beyoncé was undeserving of these accolades.
Claim #1 – Billie Eilish should have won Album of The Year for “HIT ME HARD AND SOFT.”
Viewers were shocked at “COWBOY CARTER”’s win, which is surprising to me considering this win was predicted by esteemed music publications like Variety, Rolling Stone and Billboard. I loved Eilish’s album and I thought it was a great body of work. The production, vocals and lyrics were very well done. However, Eilish did not even win in her own category for Best Pop Vocal Album. and Album of The Year winners almost always win their own category. Despite this, I didn’t see Sabrina Carpenter face any backlash for her win over Eilish in this category. “HIT ME HARD AND SOFT” ” is a great album, but it was relatively safe for Eilish. The album resembled her other bodies of work very closely and she didn’t take the same artistic risks that Beyoncé did. Beyoncé ventured into a whole new genre and tested the boundaries of it in order to make the genre her own. Critics also argued that “HIT ME HARD AND SOFT” should have won because it earned more streams than “COWBOY CARTER.” This is true, “HIT ME HARD AND SOFT” received a lot more streams than “COWBOY CARTER” did, but Album of The Year has never been about the numbers. It is about the body of work, what the work says and what implications it has in the societal sphere. I am not saying the discourse around “HIT ME HARD AND SOFT” is without merit, but there are valid reasons why “COWBOY CARTER” took home the Grammy.
Claim #2 – “COWBOY CARTER” is not country and therefore should not have won Best Country Album.
To quote the intro of “SPAGHETTII,”, a track off “COWBOY CARTER” featuring country legend Linda Martell and an up-and-comer in the genre, Shaboozey, “Genres are a funny little concept, aren’t they?” This spoken-word intro by Martell also touches on the fact that while genres are framed as a simple and understandable concept, many artists feel constrained by its rigid confines. Genre bending is nothing new in country music. In our lifetimes we saw it first with Taylor Swift with her albums “Fearless,” “Speak Now” and “Red” all having overtly pop influences. We then saw more genre bending with the introduction of rap and R&B beats to country music. Fast forward to the present day where we have artists like Morgan Wallen and Post Malone who frequently use R&B influence in their country music and yet no one criticizes them for not being “country enough.” The ridicule that “COWBOY CARTER” has faced for not being country enough is reserved exclusively for Beyoncé for some reason. Beyoncé even addressed this double standard and the backlash she was expecting to receive from putting out a country album, especially in the intro track to the album, “AMERIICAN REQUIEM,” She wrote, “They used to say I spoke, ‘Too country’, And 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?” In this song, and throughout the entire album, she references growing up in the South and her “country” upbringing. She sings about traditional country themes and utilizes staples of the genre, like banjo and fiddle instrumentation. Yet, critics will still say this is not “country enough.”
The backlash that Beyoncé faced for these wins was ridiculous. Grammy viewers have opinions every year about who wins and who loses, but the level of negativity aimed at Beyoncé specifically was unique to just her. In addition to the claim I addressed above, many critics said they hadn’t even listened to “COWBOY CARTER,”and that is the issue with almost all of the criticism this album faced – they weren’t listening.