Beyoncé has been a force of nature in the music industry for two and a half decades. Her rich, diverse catalogue of music contains some of the most well-known songs in the world, which have defined musical eras like no other: “Single Ladies,” “Diva” (I Am…Sasha Fierce), “Crazy in Love” (Dangerously in Love), and “Formation” (Lemonade), just to name a few. Even outside of her 35 Grammys, Beyoncé’s accolades are dizzying: 30 MTV Video Music Awards, multiple NAACP Image Awards, and BET Awards, with dozens more to her name.
But despite her laurels, Queen Bey had never taken home what is considered to be the ultimate triumph in musical awards: the Album of the Year award (AOTY). At least, not until Sunday, February 2nd, 2025, when Cowboy Carter won in what many considered to be a surprise over artists like Billie Eilish (Hit Me Hard and Soft) and Taylor Swift (The Tortured Poets Department).
Beyoncé’s reaction is telling: she appears surprised that, nearly thirty years into her career, she has won the most coveted award for perhaps her least popularly received album. Predictably, discourse immediately ensued, with many claiming Jay-Z had bribed the Recording Academy’s voters and others bringing back the rumor-turned-meme about Beyoncé ordering the death of those who beat her for awards. Many complained that they couldn’t name a single song off of Cowboy Carter, and pointed to their comprehensive recall of Swift’s 31 track album as proof that another, more popular album should’ve won.
However, the Grammys have never been institutionally sound on how they award the gramophone trophies. Sometimes, popularity is rewarded; fans of Eilish only need to look back to 2020 when she accrued five awards including Album, Record, and Song of the Year. Other times, it is not. In 2022, Jon Batiste won the AOTY for We Are, an album that many viewers claimed to have never heard of. It seems there is no rhyme or reason to the Recording Academy’s criteria, but there never has been. Although Cowboy Carter’s acclaim with the public may have been underwhelming, its critical and cultural impact more than warrant its triumph.
Despite criticism that Cowboy Carter is not a country album, it is not meant to exist within the traditional confines of what classifies as country: as she said in an Instagram announcement: “This ain’t a Country album. This is a “Beyoncé” album”. Cowboy Carter was never supposed to simply be a foray into country, a historically exclusionary and sometimes racist genre. Her infusion of rock, hip-hop, rap, and pop into the album demonstrates her desire to redefine the suffocating restraints of what a genre is supposed to be (an uncomfortability she expresses in “SPAGHETTII” ft. Shaboozey and Linda Martell). And just like its predecessor, Renaissance, Beyoncé’s eighth studio album pays homage to the African-Americans that pioneered country music, and those that have persevered in the genre despite outward racism. Her wide range of features includes Linda Martell, the first commercially successful Black female country artist, and Shaboozey, a breakout Black country star. Rather than positioning herself as “the first” or “the best”, Beyoncé seeks to uplift those that came before her and give them their long-awaited flowers for creating one of the United States’ most popular genres today.
Cowboy Carter’s win comes at a precarious moment in US history. In a matter of weeks, the nation has repealed DEI initiatives, started the process to roll back decades of progress on civil rights, and tried to erase Black contributions from military history. As the country seeks to white-wash its past and present, Cowboy Carter magnifies the role of the Black community in the historical and artistic past of the United States. It speaks to the significance of African-Americans in making our nation the place it is today, and additionally forces listeners to recognize how their contributions have been, in many cases, reattributed. The message Beyoncé sends with Cowboy Carter is vividly clear: there is no aspect of American culture that has not been touched or inspired by African-Americans, and attempts to erase that will always fail. It is America’s diversity that has given it its uniqueness, its culture, and its status, and it will always be that way.
Beyoncé’s win on Sunday night mirrors that of Leonardo DiCaprio in The Revenant. It is the long overdue crowning achievement for one of the music industry’s biggest stars; more aptly a lifetime achievement than an AOTY. Yet, her win is more than even that. Cowboy Carter is a reminder that we must remember our nation’s past in all of its highs and lows. We must remember the important contributions of people of all races and ethnicities, and as Americans, must celebrate and uplift the diversity that has made America into a worldly standard.