The annual Grammy’s awards ceremony at the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles is always sure to conjure up some public dispute. This year, however, though there were an assortment of winners that could have been questioned, the biggest shock came in the form of Beyonce’s win for “Album of the Year” and “Country Album of the Year” with “Cowboy Carter”–an album that had its merits, but is certainly not enough for the album of the year.
It is hard to say that Beyonce even created this album. “Cowboy Carter” had 51 different writers to compile the playlist; yet, even with 51 writers, and many collaborators, the album somehow still failed to have any lyrics that went deeper than surface level sounds or that connected with a larger audience. It should be thought that with that many people working on the project, there could have been at least some substance to the tracks, but with lyrics like “I ain’t in no gang, but I got shooters, and I bang, bang,” it’s really hard to say that this is an album to beat out all others.
Albums against “Cowboy Carter” for the “Album of the Year” award were André 3000’s “New Blue Sun,” Sabrina Carpenter’s “Short n’ Sweet,” Charli XCX’s “Brat,” Jacob Collier’s “Djesse Vol. 4,” Billie Eilish’s “Hit Me Hard and Soft,” Chappell Roan’s “The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess,” and Taylor Swift’s “The Tortured Poets Department.” As the many vocal supporters of those albums have shown, any album on that list–perhaps besides Andre 3000’s instrumental album, sorry Andre 3000–was significantly more deserving of the title “Album of the Year.”
Especially Billie Eilish’s “Hit Me Hard and Soft.” Many fans, and even non-fans, of Eilish have come to support this title as the “Album of the Year,” with the most popular track in the album, “Birds of a Feather,” having 30 million more streams on its own than the entirety of the “Cowboy Carter” album.
When compared to Beyonce’s album, Eilish’s album was written solely by her and her brother, Phineas Eilish. With just the two of them writing all the lyrics and arranging the music, they were able to create an artistic display of love and desire along with meaningful, heartfelt refrains, whereas all 51 writers of “Cowboy Carter” could not.
Something should also be said about the “Album of the Year” having not just one, but multiple cover songs on the album–something that no other album in the running had in even one instance. The unoriginal remasters of Dolly Parton’s “Jolene” and the Beatles “BlackBird” were just mere carbon copies that failed to add anything new to the sonic significance of the better, older versions.
It is not that big of a stretch to award this album “Country Album of the Year,” competing against other country albums from Kacey Musgraves, Chris Stapleton, and, even, Post Malone. However, the only thing “Cowboy Carter” seems to say about country music is that it’s for a bunch of Sweet Honey Buckin, Levi Jean wearing, Texans.
Overall the message from music’s biggest night seemed to be that talent and deserving is now outweighed by fame and money. Though Beyonce’s “Cowboy Carter” was certainly a cultural moment, the execution did not meet the standard that should be required for “Album of the Year.”
