On your heels Country singer Luke Bryan thinks Beyoncé’s CMA Awards exclusion means the pop icon “should be a little country with us.” During an interview on Sirius XM Andy Cohen LiveThe multi-platinum selling singer said he felt Beyoncé, who released the album, had a country slant Act II: Cowboy Carter in March should integrate into the country scene. “Beyoncé can do exactly what she wants. She is probably the biggest star in music. But come to an awards show and give us a high five. And have fun and be part of the family too,” he suggested, before adding, “And I’m not saying she didn’t do that.” Cohen told him he “understood” where he was coming from.

Bryan’s comments are similar to views Dolly Parton shared about Beyoncé’s CMA snub (Beyoncé covered Parton’s “Jolene”). Cowboy Carter). In September, Parton opened up diversity That’s what she thought Cowboy Carter is a “wonderful album” that Beyoncé should be “very, very proud” of. But she also speculated that “there are so many wonderful country artists that, I guess in the realm of country music, they probably thought, ‘We can’t really leave out some of the ones who spend their whole lives doing this.’ ‘.”

Bryan may have forgotten that Beyoncé’s last appearance at the CMAs in 2016, the announcement of her performance sparked a #BoycottCMA trend, and her “Daddy Lessons” performance with the Chicks (formerly Dixie Chicks) polarized country music fans. Black Opry’s Tanner Davenport attended the show and claimed they heard a woman say, “Get that black bitch off the stage!” during the performance; This person probably didn’t want her to give her a high five offstage.

To Cowboy Carter In opener “Ameriican Reqiuem,” Beyoncé recalls the moment when she sings, “There’s a lot of talking/While I’m singing my song/Can you hear me?/I said, can you hear me?”

When explaining Cowboy Carter’s Beyoncé suggested in her creative genesis that her 2016 performance was the opposite of “fun.” She noted, “It came out of an experience I had years ago where I didn’t feel welcome… and it was very clear that I wasn’t. The criticism I faced when I first got into this genre forced me to overcome the limitations placed on me.”

Beyoncé’s lack of CMA nominations, as some expected, continues her somewhat controversial relationship with major awards shows. Despite winning more Grammy awards than any other act in history, she has yet to win the Grammy for Album of the Year, a fact her husband Jay-Z highlighted in a lengthy Grammy speech earlier this year. “I don’t want to embarrass this young lady, but she has more Grammys than anyone and has never won album of the year. So even by your own standards, it doesn’t work,” he said. Cowboy CarterWith “Texas Hold ‘Em,” she became the first black woman to top Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart, but received no CMA nominations.