Yahoo Lifestyle Billy Ray Cyrus 'surprised' at Beyoncé being shut out of CMA Awards, but says she 'doesn't need a trophy'
The superstar's "Cowboy Carter" received no nominations in the annual awards show, airing tonight.
The CMA Awards may not have love for Cowboy Carter, but Billy Ray Cyrus does.
Cyrus, who won his first CMA in 1992 — Single of the Year for "Achy Breaky Heart" — and his second in 2019 for his collaboration with Lil Nas X, "Old Town Road," reignited the Beyoncé CMA snub debate with a post on Instagram praising the singer's album.
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Billy Ray Cyrus, Beyoncé"Congratulations to all CMA nominees! I'm so happy to and proud to see country music opening their doors and format to be inclusive to all people, all styles," Cyrus wrote, noting that the award he and Lil Nas X won, Musical Event of the Year, wasn't aired on the show.
"I was surprised to see Beyoncé wasn't nominated???" Cyrus continued. "Her album was brilliant ...her single ruled. But she knows that. She doesn't need a trophy from the CMA ... or permission ... or approval from any of their judges."
Cyrus, whose daughter Miley duets with Beyoncé on the album, concluded his post with a quote from Muhammad Ali: "When ya knock 'em out ... Ya don't need no judge."
Related: Saddle up, BeyHive! Here's everything we know about Beyoncé's Act II: Cowboy Carter
Cowboy Carter received widespread acclaim when it dropped at the end of March, becoming the first album by a Black woman to reach No. 1 on the Top Country Albums Billboard chart, while the lead single "Texas Hold 'Em" similarly became the first country song by a Black woman to top the Billboard Hot 100. Subsequently, the album was nominated for 11 Grammys at the 67th annual awards, making it the second most nominated album in history, behind Thriller.
Despite the critical and commercial success, the CMA Awards decided to pass on any nominations, though they did nominate breakout artist Shaboozey, who appeared on two Cowboy Carter tracks, for Best New Artist and Single of the Year for his record-breaking No. 1 hit, "A Bar Song (Tipsy)."
Some saw the exclusion of Beyoncé, after crediting the chilly reception she and The Chicks received at the 2016 CMA Awards as Cowboy Carter's inspiration, as a purposeful snub. Not so, Dolly Parton, herself a guest on the album and an honorary member of the BeyHive.
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“There’s so many wonderful country artists that, I guess the country music field, they probably thought, ‘Well, we can’t really leave out some of the ones that spend their whole life doing that,'” Parton explained back in September.
“It was a wonderful album,” Parton continued. “She can be very, very proud of, and I think everybody in country music welcomed her and thought that was good. So I don’t think it was a matter of shutting out, like doing that on purpose.”
Kelly Clarkson, however disagreed, citing her own difficulty breaking into the insular world of country music.
"I was told at a lunch, if I didn't quit pop music and just go country, I would not be played," Clarkson recalled. "I was literally told that to my face at a lunch, and I was like, 'Okay, I mean, no offense, but, like, I'm not ever gonna just pick one.'"
CMA Awards host Luke Bryan offered his own take on the Cowboy Carter cold shoulder, saying that Beyoncé ought to "come into our world and be country with us a little bit." After a BeyHive backlash, Bryan later insisted that his comments were being misconstrued.
