Country singer Gavin Adcock doesn’t believe Beyoncé’s Grammy-award winning album Cowboy Carter is a country record, adding that he thinks other artists shouldn’t have to “compete” with her on the charts “just because she’s Beyoncé.”
In a now viral video of Adcock during one of his recent concerts, he told the audience that there were “only three people in front of me on the Apple Music country charts, and one of them’s Beyoncé.” He went on to question the 35-time Grammy winner’s latest album that notably picked up the coveted award of album of the year Grammy, saying it “ain’t country music.”
“You can tell her we’re coming for her fuckin’ ass,” he said of Beyoncé topping him on the charts. “That shit ain’t country music, it ain’t ever been country music and it ain’t gonna be country music.”
The post’s virality led Adcock to address the controversy with a follow-up video. On Instagram Monday, he said that he doesn’t “believe her album [Cowboy Carter] should be labeled as country music.”
“When I was a little kid, my mama was blasting some Beyoncé in the car. I’ve heard a ton of Beyoncé songs and I actually remember her Super Bowl Halftime Show being pretty kick-ass back in the day, but I really don’t believe her album should be labeled as country music,” he said. “It doesn’t sound country, it doesn’t feel country, and I just don’t think that people that have dedicated their whole lives to this genre and this lifestyle should have to compete or watch that album just stay at the top just because she’s Beyoncé.”
Adcock was nominated for new artist of the year at this year’s Academy of Country Music Awards, and Beyoncé notably did not pick up any nominations for that show.
Beyoncé is no stranger to criticism of how her music is categorized. The “Texas Hold ‘Em” singer has been candid in her inspiration for Cowboy Carter emerging after she “did not feel welcomed” into the country genre in the past.
“[Cowboy Carter] 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,” she wrote on Instagram ahead of the record’s release. “But, because of that experience, I did a deeper dive into the history of Country music and studied our rich musical archive. It feels good to see how music can unite so many people around the world, while also amplifying the voices of some of the people who have dedicated so much of their lives educating on our musical history.”
Since Cowboy Carter’s arrival, Beyoncé has continued to shatter records. She notably became the first Black woman to top Billboard’s Top Country Albums chart, and at the Grammys, she earned her first album of the year win, became the first Black woman to win best country album and the first Black woman to win a country Grammy in 50 years, all for Cowboy Carter.
