“It’s been many, many years,” Beyoncé said as she accepted the award with a slight nod to her past snubs. “I want to dedicate this to Ms. Martell,” she continued, referencing Linda Martell, the first Black female solo artist to play the Grand Ole Opry who is also featured on Cowboy Carter. “I hope we just keep pushing forward, opening doors.” And therein lies the importance of this win for this album specifically. Beyoncé should have at least four AOTYs by now (Swift currently holds the record with four) so some of the reaction to her win has called it a “career award,” given to her by the Recording Academy to make up for their past fumbles. The problem with that narrative is that it implies that Cowboy Carter is a less-deserving album than Bey’s previous offerings, which, once again, downplays her brilliance. It focuses too much on the Recording Academy and less on the work. As I wrote in my review of Cowboy Carter last year, “When Beyoncé shows us the work she did to dive deep into country music’s Black ass past through the references upon references in each track, the symbolism of every song, and the efforts to propel rising Black country stars, I refuse to dismiss this album as just a product of petty revenge or just as an urge to be embraced by the white establishment. It’s probably a bit of both, but mostly, it’s a culmination of the creativity of one of pop’s biggest music nerds.”
