Two Article Excerpts About Beyonce's "Cowboy Carter" Winning Grammy's Album Of The Year 2024

Edited by Azizi Powell

This pancocojams post presents two article excerpts about Beyonce's "Cowboy Carter" Winning Grammy's Album Of The Year 2024.

The content of this post is presented for historical and socio-cultural purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to Beyonce for her cultural legacy. Thanks to all those who are quoted in this post.

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ARTICLE EXCERPTS

These excerpts are presented in chronological order and are numbered for referencing purposes only.

ARTICLE EXCERPT #1
From https://variety.com/2025/music/news/beyonce-grammy-album-of-the-year-win-cowboy-carter-1236294687/ "Beyoncé Finally Wins Album of the Year, as ‘Cowboy Carter’ Takes Grammys’ Top Prize" By Chris Willman, Feb 2, 2025
…"Although it was ultimately a multi-genre album, “Cowboy Carter” was a concept album in representing Beyoncé’s take on how country music has much of its roots in Black music, and how Black performers continue to make their way in that genre, including guest stars on the album ranging from newcomer Shaboozey to Black country pioneer Linda Martell.

Beyoncé became the first Black woman to win album of the year since Lauryn Hill did it with “The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill” in 1999.

“Cowboy Carter” had been widely predicted as a winner for album of the year by a majority of prognosticators — but nervously, given what a sure thing major albums of hers like “Lemonade” had been in the past. The win had been forecast all the way back when the album came out last March, with Variety asking in a headline days after its release: “Is Beyoncé’s ‘Cowboy Carter’ an Unstoppable Frontrunner for the Album of the Year Grammy?”

The cultural import of the album proved indomitable — along with the factor of people just liking it — even against a lineup of one of the strongest fields in the category in years.

[…]

It was Beyoncé’s second turn at the podium Sunday night. Earlier in the prime-time telecast, she had been handed the country album of the year trophy by presenter Taylor Swift. In the pre-telecast premiere ceremony, she also won a third award, for best country duo/group performance, honoring her duet with Miley Cyrus, “II Most Wanted.”

Beyoncé came into the ceremony as both the most nominated artist of all time and the most awarded artist in Grammy history, yet fans lamented that she had a history of not coming through in the top three all-genre categories. Although she won song of the year in the past, she had never won album of the year or record of the year before Sunday night.

It was her being denied album of the year in the past that especially stuck in fans’ craw — and, vocally, her husband Jay-Z’s. When “Lemonade” lost out to what was considered a lesser Adele album, that singer apologized to Beyoncé that night for beating her, saying it was Bey who really deserved the award.”

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ARTICLE EXCERPT #2
From https://www.billboard.com/music/awards/beyonce-cowboy-carter-deserved-aoty-grammy-win-lifetime-achievement-award-dont-dismiss-1235891405/  "Beyoncé’s ‘Cowboy Carter’ AOTY Grammy Victory Feels Like a Lifetime Achievement Award – But Don’t Just Dismiss It as One"

First and foremost, this is a win for Cowboy Carter, not just vindication for Queen Bey's past losses.

By Kyle Denis, 02/3/2025

…"At long last, the First Lady of Music – as dubbed by one Clive Davis – had finally won the industry’s most coveted prize.

With her victory, Beyoncé not only extended her lead as the most-awarded artist in Grammy history (35 wins), but she also joined Natalie Cole (Unforgettable With Love, 1992), Whitney Houston (The Bodyguard, 1994) and Lauryn Hill (The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, 1999) as just the fourth Black woman to ever win album of the year as a lead artist. It’s that nugget of history, coupled with her litany of egregious General Field snubs that made this moment such a sweet one to witness.

But let’s be careful not to let “overdue” narratives completely obfuscate the artistic merit of Cowboy Carter…As far as many are concerned, Cowboy Carter’s win is equivalent to a lifetime achievement award; a mea culpa of sorts for snubs of years past.

There’s nothing inherently wrong with that framing, but it does belie the fact that Cowboy Carter would have deserved to win whether it was Bey’s first album of the year nod or her tenth. Less than two years after flipping the dance-pop world on its head with Renaissance, a record that illuminated the Black queer roots of dance music and culture, Beyoncé strutted into yet another new genre and made it completely her own, while venerating some of its most respected (and overlooked) pioneers.

She opened the album with “Ameriican Requiem,” a Buffalo Springfield-nodding tour de force that served as a musical funeral for not just the most limiting visions of America, but also the overwhelmingly white country music establishment that unfairly made themselves the gatekeepers of who can lay claim to country music, aesthetics and identity. Over the 26 subsequent tracks, she assumed and illustrated different Western motifs and characters (the sheriff, the damsel in distress, the outlaw, etc.), ending with “Amen,” an anthem of hope for a new, limitless vision of America that interpolates the album opener.

[…]

We don’t even have to get into the historic chart achievements of the era or the cultural impact it had across fashion and business – Cowboy Carter is worthy enough based solely on its 27 gorgeous songs.

Not a single one of the other nominees for album of the year boasts the archival ambition, depth of research, courage, experimentation, soul and sheer scope of Cowboy Carter. The album is closer to a master’s thesis than a standard pop album, but it’s also relentlessly fun.

[…]

Yes, this win is a vindication of her past losses, a tribute to her towering career, and a nod to the Black women before her who were denied time and time again, but above all, it’s a win for Cowboy Carter specifically – and that’s the most important takeaway from last night. 

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