'Cowboy Carter': Beyoncé's big win at the Grammys and its political weight

FRANCE 24 English

In this edition of Entre Nous, we take a look at Beyoncé’s big win at the Grammy Awards. Not only did she finally take home Album of the Year, she also became the first Black woman to win Country Album of the Year. We discuss how her winning album, "Cowboy Carter", is widely seen as a political record, one that both embraces and thumbs its nose at country music. Finally, we look ahead to what's next for the music icon.  Watch moreGrammy Awards: 'Cowboy Carter' finally earns Beyonc&#233; Album of the Year  Visit our website: http://www.france24.com  Like us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FRANCE24.English  Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/France24_en

Transcript

00:00I've got Solange Mougin on set with me now who's dressed very appropriately to tell us a bit more

00:04about Beyoncé. Solange. That's my Queen B look. Yeah, tell us. It's true that this was a significant

00:10night for Beyoncé and it's true that even before winning Album of the Year, Beyoncé was already

00:15the Grammy Awards most celebrated artist of all time. She had a record 99, she has a record 99

00:20nominations. Prior to the ceremony she'd won 32 times and now she's won 35, more than any artist

00:27ever. But most of these wins were not in the big categories of Best Album, Song, Record of the Year

00:33and New Artist. She did win Best New Artist in 2010 for Single Ladies but there has been much

00:39discussion in recent years about why this most sought after prizes don't generally go to her.

00:46Last year her husband Jay-Z even called out the Recording Academy when he received a Lifetime

00:51Achievement Award saying quote, even by your own metrics it doesn't work. We want you to get it

00:57right, at least get it close to right. So this may be a bit of a return on that and I'll discuss the

01:03political element of this win in a minute but Beyoncé's album is, as Beyoncé's album, is very

01:10much a response to these issues of racism and misogyny in American music, in the industry and

01:16specifically in the country music world. But first a little bit more on why last night was so

01:21significant for Queen B, which is how the Beehive, or her fans, call her. When Beyoncé accepted her

01:27prize for Best Album she said it with a bit of a giggle saying it's been many many years and

01:32indeed this prize did elude her. She'd been nominated four times, lost each time. She is

01:38also the first black woman now this century to have won it and the fourth overall. Another sweet

01:44note, she became the first black woman to ever win Best Country Album as you mentioned, which in

01:49itself is also a sort of strong message of sorts. All right, well let's get a bit more into that

01:53message. So the album's called Cowboy Carter. It's a country music album but it's also been widely

01:57praised for breaking down barriers. Yeah, there is the the musical element of course, the album's

02:02mixing of genres, playing around with country music themes like trucks and whiskey and

02:07and cowboys. Texas, Beyoncé is from Texas. While also including historical reckonings and jokes

02:15about all of this and pushing as well the definition of what country music is and what

02:20Americana music is and can be while reminding listeners of the black and immigrant heritage

02:26that helped shape American music. So there is this musical element but also many people view this

02:31album as a direct political response to big country or the country music industry which has

02:38remained a very white and a very male world. Let me give you a few examples of this. According to

02:44studies by the University of Ottawa the percentage of songs by women that are played on country radio

02:49stations was around 9.87 percent in 2023. The number of songs by women of color was just seven

02:57hundredths of a percentage point or 0.07 percent. Now the music world is not suddenly discovering

03:03this. Back in 2015 there was something called tomato gate which was when a radio host said

03:10indeed that women's songs should not be played back to back but should be the garnish or the

03:14tomato on the salad of men's songs. There has been a lot of pushback against and outrage against this

03:21but not much has changed since then. A case in point of this was this year's country music awards

03:26where Beyoncé was not nominated in a single category despite being high up on the country

03:32music and billboard charts. So this album is a response to that. It lays bare the injustices of

03:38big country by creating a praised country album. It essentially says yes a black woman can make an

03:44excellent country album and stop whitewashing country music. Its roots come from U.S. immigrant

03:50and black history and that is also a response to the current political situation in the United

03:55States where the president is pushing D.E.I. or he's purging rather D.E.I. or diversity equity

04:02and inclusion programs. He's getting rid of them. It comes at a time when racism in America

04:07is on display and thus the legend of Cowboy Carter this album may in turn be a sort of response to it.

04:14Solange, just to wrap up, Beyoncé also made some big announcements about the future before the

04:18Grammys. Tell us about this. Yeah, the Queen Bee's fans were expecting a big announcement mid-January

04:24but that was postponed because of the L.A. fires. There was quite a bit of speculation

04:31about whether it would be another album as this is the second in what is expected to be a trilogy

04:36looking at black heritage in American music. There was also speculation about whether she

04:41would announce a world tour or not. Keep in mind Beyoncé is someone who sold 60,000 seats for her

04:46Paris show in just 45 minutes. Wow. There's quite a bit of money and excitement about this but prior

04:53to that to the announcement there was nonetheless some skepticism about whether a country music

04:59album could actually take the global stage and work and right before the Grammys Beyoncé confirmed

05:04that yes she is taking Cowboy Carter worldwide but on a smaller tour with only a handful of cities

05:10at least for now. On her announcement with its signature code bending visuals she wrote she's

05:17she coming and Beyoncé is indeed coming for the country music world but she's also coming or

05:22stepping out for her fans too. And I was also happy to see very quickly there Paris. She's

05:27coming to Paris. Thank you so much for that Solange for that look at Beyoncé who had that

05:32great night last night at the Grammys. Thank you so much.

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