Last week, swift backlash followed comments made by Luke Bryan about Beyoncé‘s relationship to the country music community. In an interview on Sirius XM’s Andy Cohen Live, the musician stated that Beyoncé should “be country with us a little bit” and encouraged her to make an effort to integrate herself in the genre. Now, Bryan has issued a statement clarifying his words. “I respect Beyonce and I love how loyal her fans are,” he wrote on X (formerly Twitter) on Sunday evening. “I spend a lot of time supporting other artists. I want everyone to win.”
Bryan continued: “I am posting tonight based on the ridiculous nature of the headlines I have read the last couple days from an interview on the Andy Cohen show I did this week when I was promoting my album. I feel in my heart I could not let media create a false narrative. As I read thru the comments of some of you I just want to say that I encourage all of you to listen to the interview instead of reading click bait headlines. You will hear my tone and intentions which were not negative.”
In the interview, Bryan was asked to share his opinion on Beyoncé being shut out of nominations at the 2024 Country Music Association Awards. In March, the acclaimed artist released the country-influenced album Cowboy Carter, which was inspired in part by the cold response she received after performing with the Chicks at the 2016 CMA Awards. “It’s a tricky question because, obviously, Beyoncé made a country album and Beyoncé has a lot of fans out there that have her back. And if she doesn’t get something they want, man, they come at you, as fans should do,” Bryan told Cohen.
He continued: “Everybody loved that Beyoncé made a country album. Nobody’s mad about it,” Bryan explained. “But where things get a little tricky — if you’re gonna make country albums, come into our world and be country with us a little bit. Like, Beyoncé can do exactly what she wants to. She’s probably the biggest star in music. But come to an award show and high-five us and have fun and get in the family, too. And I’m not saying she didn’t do that … but country music is a lot about family.”
Following the announcement of the 2024 CMA Awards nominees, Dolly Parton — who is a featured collaborator on Cowboy Carter — made similar statements about the shutout. “There’s so many wonderful country artists that, I guess probably 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,’” she told Variety. Both comments lack the context of Beyoncé’s history with country music, which stretches back decades before that pivotal 2016 CMA Awards appearance.
In a statement shared ahead of Cowboy Carter‘s release, Beyoncé wrote: “It was born out of an experience that I had years ago where I did not feel welcomed…and it was very clear that I wasn’t. The criticisms I faced when I first entered this genre forced me to propel past the limitations that were put on me.”