Yesterday, we reported that Beyoncé was snubbed by the Country Music Association Awards after entering the country music world for the first time with her hit album Cowboy Carter. Now, Beyoncé is speaking out to defend her polarizing decision to not release music videos for her Cowboy Carter songs.
Beyoncé Defends Not Releasing Music Videos
And actually, her reasoning may be welcome to some.
“I thought it was important that during a time where all we see is visuals, that the world can focus on the voice,” Beyoncé, 43, told GQ.
“The music is so rich in history and instrumentation,” she continued. “It takes months to digest, research and understand. The music needed space to breathe on its own.”
Beyoncé went on to say that she believes visuals can “distract from the quality of the voice and the music.”
All the audiophiles out there are probably nodding their heads in agreement at that!
“The years of hard work and detail put into an album that takes over four years! The music is enough,” she added. “The fans from all over the world became the visual. We all got the visual on tour. We then got more visuals from my film.”
Related: Beyoncé Snubbed At CMA Awards, And Her Fans Are Furious
Beyoncé Snubbed By CMAs
The nominations for the 58th CMA Awards were announced on Monday morning. Fans were stunned when Beyoncé was not nominated for a single CMA Award.
This was particularly shocking given the success of Cowboy Carter. With this album, Beyoncé made history as the first black woman to ever reach No. 1 on the Billboard Top Country Albums chart. She also became the first black woman to hit the No. 1 spot on Billboard’s Hot country songs chart with “Texas Hold ‘Em,” which held the top position for a surprising ten weeks.
Before being snubbed, Beyoncé had qualified for CMA categories like single of the year, song of the year, album of the year, female vocalist of the year, and music event of the year. She even qualified for entertainer of the year, but was not able to score a nomination in any category.
Related: Beyoncé In Hot Water As Her Country Hit Is Accused Of Copying Kid Cartoon’s Theme Song
Fans Respond
Fans have let their fury over Beyoncé’s snubbing be known in a big way.
“As much as the CMAs try to, the ground breaking success and impact of Cowboy Carter will never be erased,” one user wrote on X. “Beyoncé broke records, honored country legends, and paved the way for new black country artists all while releasing a flawless country album.”
“#They can never take that away,” the user added.
“Beyoncé INSTEAD soundtracked USA Gymnastics at the Olympics. She ushered in a new gen of Black country artists into the mainstream, including Shaboozey who has been atop the B100 for 8 wks & counting,” a second user added. “Only after having a #1 country hit herself. The CMAs are low hanging fruit.”
“No one in the history of having a #1 album AND song has been completely snubbed at an award show. IN ANY CATEGORY,” wrote a third user. “Beyoncé deserved better.”
Beyoncé herself has yet to specifically address being snubbed publicly at the time of this writing. While there’s no telling if releasing music videos for her songs would have increased her chances of scoring CMA nominations, it likely wouldn’t have hurt!
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