Beyoncé didn’t make the CMA Awards final vote. The voters explain why.

On November 21, 2024By Littum

NASHVILLE – When the CMA Awards nominations were announced in September, with Morgan Wallen leading the field with seven and Chris Stapleton and Cody Johnson close behind with five, almost as much attention was paid to who did not be nominated.

Specifically, many news outlets noted that Beyoncé received no nominations, even though the superstar’s country-themed album “Cowboy Carter” was one of the year’s biggest stories in the music business. The 27-track release debuted at no. 1 on the Billboard 200 in April, earning 407,000 equivalent album units; Beyoncé also became the first black woman to lead the Top Country Albums chart in its history. She achieved the same distinction on the Hot Country Songs chart when one of the album’s lead singles, “Texas Hold ‘Em”, hit No. 1, after it was released in February.

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But her failure to nod at the Nashville industry’s most prestigious awards show, which airs Wednesday night on ABC, reignited the discourse that started as soon as Beyoncé announced a country music project during the Super Bowl: the genre’s much-publicized lack of diversity and difficulties that artists of color (before Beyoncé, only seven black female country numbers ever to appear on the Hot Country Songs chart) has found commercial success; the never-ending debate about what defines country music; and the reasons why the CMA voting body left her the final vote.

So we decided to ask some of these voters. The CMA Awards were determined this year by 6,609 voting members, and we spoke to a small sample of 10 CMA voters across the industry — who work in radio, management, advertising, media and more — about whether they voted for Beyoncé, and why they thought. she didn’t make the list.

We also asked their thoughts on Post Malone, the rapper who released his debut country album in August and received four nominations for “I Had Some Help,” his wildly successful duet with Wallen. And we asked them who they voted for the show’s biggest award — entertainer of the year — with Wallen competing against Stapleton, Jelly Roll, Luke Combs and reigning champion Lainey Wilson. The voters spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to comment on their ballots, which are cast in secret.

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Beyonce

After Beyoncé’s rejection, some observers and fans wondered whether her team submitted her music for consideration in the first place — but, as Billboard reported, they didn’t have to because the first round of voting at the CMAs is set for nearly every category by written submissions. The second round of voting consists of the most votes from the first round of voting, and then the final vote is narrowed down to the top five in each category. (Sources told The Washington Post that Beyoncé advanced to the second round of voting in album of the year for “Cowboy Carter” as well as for female vocalist of the year.)

After all, there is some history between the two: Beyoncé appeared to shout out the CMAs in one of her few statements about “Cowboy Carter,” when she wrote on Instagram in March 2024 that the album “was born out of a experience that I had many years ago where I didn’t feel welcome … and it was very clear that I wasn’t. But because of that experience, I delved deeper into the history of country music and studied our rich musical archive.” There is much speculation that her comments were about her performance at the 2016 CMA Awards, where she performed her song “Daddy Lessons” with the Chicks and was met with a frosty reception and online backlash about how she didn’t “belong” on the show . She ended her latest Instagram post with, “This is not a Country album. This is a ‘Beyoncé’ album.”

For some listeners, this statement was enough to disqualify her from consideration. “It’s a sticky subject,” said one voter who works in the media and considers “Cowboy Carter” more of a tribute album; this voter feels that Beyoncé has an “incredible” vocal, but they did not vote for the record. “If you say it’s not a country album, okay, it shouldn’t be nominated for any country awards.”

Others echoed those thoughts, except for one publicist who believed the statement was misconstrued: “Some people in Nashville took it to say, ‘Oh, well, why should I vote for this? She herself said it wasn’t a country record.’ But I took it to mean … this is a side of who Beyoncé is.”

This publicist voted for “Cowboy Carter” and was happy to see Beyoncé get so many Grammy nominations — 11 including album of the year and country album. “I feel like when Beyoncé goes and performs country music, she’s carrying the country music flag and she’s making country music cool.” Like several other voters, the publicist liked that Beyoncé paid homage to the format’s African-American roots and included a collaboration with genre pioneer Linda Martell along with young black country artists. But the publicist also suspects that one of the main reasons Beyoncé received zero CMA nominations was because she didn’t try to instill herself in the Nashville community.

“Beyoncé hasn’t performed at the (Grand Ole) Opry, she hasn’t been a public presence in Nashville,” the publicist said. “I think there’s a belief that country artists have spent years of their lives working on their country craft, so (voters) don’t want to take away their chance for a nomination for someone who just make an album that’s country and then move on to another genre.”

Almost every person interviewed for this story made some variation on this point. Luke Bryan, who is co-hosting the CMAs for the fourth time, said something similar last month on Andy Cohen’s SiriusXM show. Noting the intensity of the Beyhive fan base, he said that while “everybody loved that Beyoncé made a country album” and that she’s a superstar who can do whatever she wants, “if you want to make a country album, come in in our world and be a little bit of country with us … come to an awards show and high-five us and have fun and join the family too.” (Bryan saw enough criticism afterward that he clarified that his tone and intentions were “not negative,” and after blaming the press for clickbait headlines, emphasized his respect for Beyoncé and her fans.)

Voters said they knew the snub could easily be seen as another example of the overwhelmingly white country music world being an unwelcoming place for artists of color, but many of those same voters also believe the situation is more nuanced. The genre has a long history of being suspicious when celebrities decide to “go country” as a stand-alone project, even if it’s one of the most famous music stars on the planet.

“It’s not even about kissing ass in the Nashville community, it’s just about engaging with the country music audience if you’re going to put out a country record,” said one voter. A radio personality who said “you gotta show up and be part of the community” pointed to country and hip-hop mash-up artist Shaboozey, the first black man to top the Billboard Hot 100 and Hot Country Songs chart with his smash hit “A Bar “. Song (Tipsy)” and is nominated for CMA Single and New Artist of the Year. Along the way, Shaboozey sat down with country music media and performed at CMA Fest.

Others said they felt all the fusion of genres on “Cowboy Carter,” from R&B to opera, made them vote for other albums: “There was so much that was cool about that record,” said one manager who did not vote for it. “And so much that’s not country about that record.”

And one executive said that unique perspective was exactly why they voted before record: “I just think it was an incredibly thoughtful album… people can argue all day long whether they think it’s country or not, which you can do for any artist in the genre if you want to. But I think it drew from the country in a massive way and was incredibly respectful of the roots of it. And I think the country should be a place for everyone to tell their story.”

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Post Malone

Meanwhile, nearly every voter noted that when Post Malone decided to make country music, he went all in on Nashville, spending months with some of the city’s best artists and songwriters and hitting up the Bluebird Cafe and bars on Broadway. The result was an album consisting almost entirely of duets with country stars, in addition to an extended double album (“F-1 Trillion: Long Bed”) of solo music.

The consensus among several voters was that they were pleasantly surprised by the album and that teaming up with so many of the genre’s established hitmakers paid off. “I Had Some Help” with Wallen and “Pour Me a Drink” with Blake Shelton have already reached No. 1 at country radio, and “Guy for That” featuring Luke Combs is on the rise.

“F-1 Trillion” missed this year’s eligibility window, which ended in June, but several voters said they voted for Post Malone to win at the CMAs, where “I Had Some Help” is nominated in the single, song, the music video and the musical event categories. Voters were forced to pick him for the music event simply because the song was so inescapable this year that it broke a Spotify country record for single-day streams and topped the Billboard Hot 100.

Some added that Post Malone’s omnipresence in Nashville factored into their vote; he appeared at events from radio host Bobby Bones’ annual fundraiser at the Ryman to the Country Music Hall of Fame induction ceremony honoring the late Toby Keith.

“He really wanted to be there, really wanted to be a part of it,” one manager said. A publicist added: “He’s been way too respectful to everyone, he’s kind and sweet and welcoming … he calls everyone ‘sir’ and ‘ma’am’ and he just seems so excited to be anywhere.”

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Entertainer of the year

As usual, all eyes will be on the biggest trophy of the night: Of the people The Post polled, two said they voted for Wallen, who has sold out stadiums; one publicist called his streaming and sales figures “ridiculously undeniable.” One voting member of the media acknowledged that Wallen had “a lot of controversy surrounding him” (he was banned from attending the 2021 CMAs after TMZ posted the video of him saying the n-word), but that of all the tours they saw last year, “Morgan’s show was the most entertaining.”

One manager said they voted for superstar and two-time EOTY winner Luke Combs because of his efforts to raise money for relief efforts in his home state of North Carolina after Hurricane Helene. The rest was split between Jelly Roll and Lainey Wilson, feeling it could go either way. A former rapper, Jelly Roll burst onto the Nashville scene with songs about mental health that connect with fans in a way no one has seen before and consistently sell out arenas. “He is exactly what country music needs right now. He is the healer and spiritual advisor and friend that we all need,” said a publicist.

Momentum could also lean against Wilson, who last year became the eighth female act to win the award in the show’s nearly six-decade history. Voters all brought up her impressive work ethic and how she seems to be everywhere, all the time, whether she’s on tour, on the radio, on TV or at Nashville events.

“The amount of work she put in last year was just astronomical,” said one voter. “I feel like she’s just on fire right now and nobody represents the genre better.”

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The 58th Annual CMA Awards will air at 20 Wednesday on ABC. (Available for streaming Thursday on Hulu.)