Eight studio albums, over 200 million records sold, 35 Grammy wins and 99 nominations, Beyonce is the most awarded and most nominated individual in history. She is the most versatile musician of our time. Last weekend, Beyonce won her first ever Album of the Year award for her most recent album, Cowboy Carter. 

This album was an iconic move into country music, where she geniusly and methodically blended folk, soul, and R&B. Musically and lyrically, the album was a masterpiece. On top of the technical quality, Cowboy Carter is also symbolically incredibly culturally important, serving as a reminder that country music is an inherently Black space, that music can be fluid, and that an album– as so many of hers do– can tell a story. 

Beyoncé’s assertion of herself into the country space has made room for the successes of several other Black country stars in recent years. A genre with deep roots in the Black community (like SO much of today’s popular music), country music over the past century has been co-opted by white people in America. The album was not particularly well received by big names in country music, despite being a genuinely and objectively good album. 

In a final word to this “controversy” over whether or not Beyonce has the right to make country music, the Recording Academy awarded Cowboy Carter both Album of the Year and Best Country Album and this years’ grammys. This alone is incredibly important. With this win, she became the first ever black woman to win the award for Best Country Album. However, in headlines and social media comment sections, we see persistent attempts to undercut these accomplishments, with harsh scrutiny to undermine Beyoncé as the artist of our time. People Magazine’s headline reads: “Beyoncé’s Daughter Blue Ivy Nudges Her to Stand Up to Accept Grammy Award”. The New York Times reports “Beyoncé, Grammy Underdog No More”, and CNN says “The Grammys Gave Beyoncé the Night the CMAs Did Not”. To be quite honest, this is ridiculous. Is she not being grateful enough? Has she complained too much? The idea that the recording academy gave Beyonce this honor when she had to prove herself twelvefold, and then prove herself again, is frankly absurd. 

But such is the nature of Black female success. To be recognized as a ‘great’ anything as a Black woman, we must be not satisfactory, not exemplary, not better than, but superlative, and even then, the recognition does not come uncontested. These headlines are so reflective of this broader sentiment that Black women are solely tokens to be celebrated on the philanthropic whim of the rest of society, in this case, the music industry. This is infuriating, frankly, because Black women ARE the music industry. Black women are constantly pushing the limits of music, performance, and genre, and have been reshaping the landscape of music for centuries with no thanks at all. 

I woke up on Monday morning to dozens of comment sections on Instagram and Tiktok filled with Billie Eilish fans complaining that her album, Hit Me Hard and Soft, should have won the AOTY award, and furthering conspiracy theories that Beyoncé has somehow been pulling the invisible strings of the music industry, and killing those who do not support her. Because– of course! She can’t just be a good singer. She can’t just be a good dancer, she can’t just produce hundreds of chart-topping songs. She must be involved in some kind of nefarious activity. Meanwhile, Billie Eilish has been expressing support and respect for Beyonce for YEARS. As a matter of fact, many of the other most popular and most talented musicians of today grew up influenced by Beyoncé. 

Another popular critique of Beyonce winning the award for Best Country Album has been the idea that she is simply “not country”, a statement that can easily be decoded to mean that she is not white. “Country” is a genre of music, and Beyonce released an album that was 27 tracks of country music, only not well received because her Blackness is inconsistent with the stereotypical silhouette of a country singer– and that alone deterred many listeners from even giving the album a chance.  

At awards shows, there are always winners and losers. Fans will always believe that their favorite artist or song or movie got snubbed, and someone will always say that the winner did not deserve the award. The difference between this situation and the norm, is that there’s an undertone of disgust and an urge to slight Beyoncé in a way that is consistent with the treatment of Black women in broader society. There’s an instinct to find the negative in an objectively positive moment, that has threatened to sour such an important cultural and musical milestone. 

For a juxtaposition, last year when Taylor Swift also made history winning her fourth AOTY, headlines read: “Taylor Swift makes history”, “Taylor Swift Breaks Record”, and simply “Taylor Swift wins Album of the Year”. But this year, Beyonce won! So now, the Beyhive can stop complaining, and we may go another quarter of the century before the next Black woman receives the same accolade, since we’ve been held over for now. This is the picture of Black success: holding your head high through a sea of mouths spewing whatever they can concoct to dispel any illusion of your worth.