‘Just a specialty album’: Dolly Parton has the worst take on Beyoncé’s CMAs snub
Dolly Parton has defended the Country Music Association Awards for snubbing Beyoncé’s Cowboy Carter, suggesting that the association was trying to recognize more seasoned country artists instead of Beyoncé’s “specialty album.”
The CMAs sparked outrage earlier this month when the 2024 nominations were released, and Cowboy Carter received zero nominations despite being one of the biggest country albums of the year. The critically acclaimed album spent two weeks in the #1 spot on Billboard 200, making Beyoncé the first Black woman to ever achieve a number-one country album.
Meanwhile, her album earned universal praise for its experimental nature and historical significance. Beyoncé debuted the album after feeling unwelcome in the industry due to the racist backlash she received years earlier from her first country track, “Daddy Lessons.” The album helped raise awareness of Black contributions to country music, a genre they have long been barred from.
Given its significance and success, there wasn’t any logical explanation for Cowboy Carter‘s exclusion. At first, many questioned whether Beyoncé even submitted her album for consideration. However, the voting process actually doesn’t require artists or their teams to submit their albums. The Association simply didn’t vote for her work. While many see the snub as evidence of the organization’s cultural bias and contentious relationship with Black artists, Parton had a different explanation.
Dolly Parton defends the CMAs over Cowboy Carter snub
In an interview with Variety, Parton weighed in on the CMAs’ controversial Cowboy Carter snub. She defended the organization, suggesting it didn’t intentionally shut Beyoncé out. Parton insinuated that it was more important for the CMAs to recognize seasoned country artists.
She stated, “Well, you never know. There’s so many wonderful country artists that, I guess probably the country music field, they [the CMAs] probably thought, ‘well, we can’t really leave out some of the ones that spend their whole life doing that.'”
Parton went on to clarify that Cowboy Carter was “wonderful” and that Beyoncé should be “very, very proud.” She also claimed that “everybody in country music” welcomed the artist. However, she then returned to the idea that there’s some kind of distinction between Beyoncé and other artists. Parton explained, “So I don’t think it was a matter of shutting out, like doing that on purpose. I think it was just more of what the country charts and the country artists were doing, that do that all the time, not just a specialty album.”
Although she doesn’t say it directly, Parton appears to imply that Beyoncé isn’t an official country artist. Instead, she believes Cowboy Carter was just a “specialty album,” making Beyoncé different from artists who have made country albums their entire life. The argument is quite strange, as the CMAs should judge albums based on their quality and musical merit, not on how long someone has been in the industry. If the CMAs did snub Beyoncé because it was more concerned with ensuring all the longtime artists were recognized, that sounds fairly biased and not something artists would defend as valid reasoning.
One can’t but think that what Parton is really trying to say is that Beyoncé isn’t a “real” country artist and, rather than a country album, Cowboy Carter is some kind of “specialty album.” It’s especially disappointing because she previously supported Beyoncé, approving the singer’s “Jolene” cover and acknowledging the singer’s country roots.
She now seems to be backtracking in order to excuse the CMA snub. Her statement leaves a lot of questions about what a “specialty album” even is. Would she use this phrase to describe Post Malone’s F-1 Trillion since it’s also his first country album? Would she use this phrase to describe Taylor Swift’s recent work since she switched from country to pop mid-career?
Artists frequently switch genres, so it’s strange to single out Beyoncé for doing this, especially since Malone took home four CMA nominations after entering his country era just this year. Social media users were quick to criticize Parton’s statement and the apparent double standard between Beyoncé and Malone.
Ultimately, Parton seems to be partaking in the same gatekeeping of the country genre that Cowboy Carter was created to challenge. She’s suggesting that the genre must be reserved for certain types of artists, and even if someone has the best country album of the year, it can still be dismissed as just a specialty album.
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