"In 2024, pop artists made their love for country music known, and, today, Grammy voters made their love known for those efforts.Pop and R&B stars dominated the country Grammy nominations, including Beyoncé, who was the only artist to receive a nod in all four country categories."The Grammy Awards, given out by the Recording Academy since 1959, are still considered the world's most prestigous award in the music business. But for years the Academy has been repeatedly critized for its decisions. For instance, rap superstar Drake said at the 2019 awards ceremony: "All you incredible artists remember this show isn't the facts it's just the opinion of a group of people who's name are kept a secret."
The Recording Academy was founded in Los Angeles in 1957 with the goal of recognizing excellence in the recording arts and sciences, cultivating the well-being of the music community, and ensuring that music remains an indelible part of our culture.
However, since membership is only possible through the recommendation of an already registered member, the recognition of popular music developments takes a correspondingly long time. Criticism of the lack of recognition of female artists or the rap genre in particular has become particularly loud in recent years. The country genre, which mostly originates from the south and midwest, also has few advocates in an organization that started out in a large city on the west coast.
All of this led to artists like Drake even boycotting the Grammy Awards. In 2021, Canadian R&B star The Weeknd also announced: "The Grammys remain corrupt. Because of the secret committees, I will no longer allow my label to submit my music to the Grammys." Only oficially submitted recordings are considered for nominations by the Recording Academy.
In 2024, Zach Bryan also stopped submitting his music for the upcoming 2025 Grammy Awards. Sources confirmed that he was not comfortable with music being turned into a competition. This does not seem to have affected his cult status however, as his tour, according to Pollstar, was not only the most successful country tour of 2024 with over 1 million tickets sold (and revenues of 200 mio. US dollars), but also the 8th most successful worldwide across all genres.
Thus, his third full-length studio album for Warner Records ("The Great American Bar Scene"), which entered the Billboard 200 pop album chart at number 2 in the summer, as well as the single 'Pink Skies', which reached number 6 on the Billboard Hot 100 pop singles chart, were not eligible for nomination for a Grammy Award.
Zach Bryan is generally considered a country singer, although he apparently doesn't see himself as such, as he emphasized again in a conversation with Bruce Springsteen in the fall of 2024: "I don't want to be a country musician. Everyone calls me it. [But] I [just] want to be a songwriter."
And somehow that connects him to Beyoncé, who also distances herself from country when she says about her album "Cowboy Carter", which was released in the spring of 2024: "This ain't a Country album. This is a 'Beyoncé' album." Nevertheless, the album is not only submitted in all 4 available country categories, but also nominated for a Grammy Award in each (Best Country Solo Performance, Best Country Album, Best Country Duo/Group Performance, Best Country Song). As well as in 7 other categories.
In other words, project "Cowboy Carter", nominated for Best Country Album of the Year, also includes nominations for Best Melodic Rap Performance, Best Pop Solo Performance and Best Pop Duo/Group Performance. Doesn't it make sense then that there were no nominations for Beyoncé and her project at the Country Music Association (CMA) Awards when see doesn't even see herself there?
Nevertheless, one has to give her credit for the fact that her album has made country music a mainstream topic in 2024. Even if many people still don't really know how to deal with it. They are probably still undecided because they know more about the artist Beyoncé than about her current album, which, in addition to the worldwide number 1 hit 'Texas Hold 'Em', has only managed to place one other top 10 single ('II Most Wanted' with Miley Cyrus) on the Billboard Hot 100 or otherwise.
The song for which Beyoncé received her Grammy nomination for Best Melodic Rap Performance is called 'SPAGHETTII'. She wrote it together with Collins Chibueze, among others. Born and raised in the US state of Virginia to Nigerian parents, he calls himself Shaboozey for the sake of simplicity because his name is too difficult to pronounce. He discovered country music through his father, but began his musical career with rap and hip hop.
After appearing with Beyoncé on "Cowboy Carter", his label EMPIRE seized the opportunity and released his already third studio album at the end of May 2024 with the telling title "Where I've Been, Isn't Where I'm Going". At that time, no one knew that the first single from it ('A Bar Song (Tipsy)') would spend 19 weeks at number 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 pop charts, beating the 2019 record set by Lil Nas X and Billy Ray Cyrus with 'Old Town Road' as the most successful chart song of all time.
'A Bar Song (Tipsy)' interpolates the pop hit 'Tipsy' by J-Kwon from 2004 and has spent several weeks atop of the radio (Billboard Country Airplay), as well as the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart this past year. For this success, Shaboozey was nominated four times for a Grammy Award by the Recording Academy: Best New Artist, Song Of The Year, Best Country Song and Best Country Solo Performance. And even the CMA-Awards in November 2024 nominated him for Single of the Year and New Artist of the Year. Will it be more than just a one-hit wonder?
Until August 15, 2024, when Post Malone officially released his first country album, he was considered a globally respected hip-hop and pop star. The biggest pop stars of today (Beyoncé and Taylor Swift) invited him to appear on their current albums. Together with Taylor Swift and her first single 'Fortnight' from her current album "The Tortured Poets Department", Post Malone held the top of the Billboard Hot 100 pop singles charts for two weeks in May of 2024.
Just 2 weeks later he was there again. This time with 'I Had Some Help', the duet with Morgan Wallen as the first single from his upcoming album. The song spent a total of 6 weeks at number 1 (and 4 weeks at the top of the Billboard Country Airplay chart) and was named the Song of the Summer by billboard.com.
It is all the more surprising that Post Malone has been welcomed with open arms by the otherwise so restrictive country genre. People apparently believe that he has a genuine interest in making country music and not just short-term money, it was said. In fact, Posty was spotted hanging at country music events several times over the last year, allowing him to make lots of contacts.
Contacts that can be found on his new album "F1-Trillion", released on August 15, 2024, of whose 18 songs no fewer than 15 are duets with many of the most well respected stars of the country genre. The album, whose title is a reference to the popular Ford F-150 pickup truck and which is mentioned lyrically in the ironic song 'Finer Things' with Hank Williams Jr., entered at number 1 on both the Billboard 200 pop album chart and the Billboard Country Album chart. On the latter, it remained at the top for a full 6 weeks.
I got a thang for the finer things,I'm in that deer blind with a diamond ring.
My Lambo and my ammo's all camo-green.
Yeah, I got a F-1 Trillion limousine,
I got a ten-point blonde in the shotgun seat,
I got a thang, got a thang for the finer things.
The Recording Academy nominated Post Malone for a Grammy seven times based on his collaborations with Taylor Swift and Beyoncé, as well as his current album. These nominations include: Best Country Album, Best Country Duo/Group Performance and Best Country Song.
Recording Academy favorite Kacey Musgraves was also nominated three times in the four country categories for her current pop-folk singer-songwriter album "Deeper Well". Former rapper Jelly Roll also received two nominations and folk newcomer Noah Kahan is also on the list of nominees once for his duet with Keleas Ballerini ('Cowboys Cry Too').
For many, this seems to be confirmation that opening up the country genre to the general mainstream does not lead to more country in pop, but only more pop in country. Which is the reason why Nashville should always shield the genre from others and act as a gatekeeper, they say.
The most important artists in the commercial country genre of the past year include names such as Lainey Wilson, Ella Langley, Riley Green, Cody Johnson, Nate Smith, Megan Moroney, Bailey Zimmerman and Luke Combs. Of these, only Lainey Wilson received a nomination from the Recording Academy for her album "Whirlwind". For me, it is also the best album of 2024 and would have certainly deserved a Grammy nomination for Album of the Year - one of the four big, because all-genre - categories.
But as Melinda Newman writes at billboard.com: "The relative shut-out in the big four categories remains for 2025, even while country enjoys a surge in popularity and dominates the Hot 100, ... spending more than half the year combined at No. 1 on Billboard’s Hot 100."
Morgan Wallen, whose yearning current single 'Love Somebody' with its great Spanish guitar is one of my favorites of the year, also remains a black sheep of the Recording Academy. While his behavior has repeatedly been polarizing and seems to lack maturity, he has topped the radio (Billboard Country Airplay) chart five times this year and his last two albums have not left the top 10 of the Billboard 200 (hence the most popular albums in America) since 2021. So there should be little doubt that he does appeal to a correspondingly large audience and thus represents a significant part of the current musical culture.
So while 2024 was a groundbreaking year for country music in the mainstream, many opinion makers are still stuck in their disparaging views of yesterday. They will likely see their views vindicated when the Recording Academy will award artists on February 2, 2025 who come from the pop world for making the best country music.
Then it will be time to quote Drake once again in order to encourage those who were snubbed by the Recording Academy: "If you have people who are singing your songs word for word, if you're a hero in your hometown, if there’s people who have regular jobs who are coming out in the rain, in the snow, spending their hard-earned money to buy tickets to come to your shows, [then] you don't need [to win] this [award] right there I promise you. [Then] you already won."
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