Kacey Musgraves' latest album, Star-Crossed, is more pop than country, and any objective and informed person who listens to the album for purely musical content, regardless of their opinion of Kacey Musgraves or her role in the country genre, would easy to come to conclusion.
Nonetheless, in the polarizing time we live in, the recent Grammy Awards decision To remove star-crossed from consideration in the country category about the pop awards for the upcoming awards in January 2022 has sparked another firestorm, with widespread allegations against both the Grammy Awards and country music in general for being run by misogynistic gatekeepers who Kacey Musgraves for their outspoken nature continues to target certain issues and for being a woman.
It's important to note here that “Country Music” as a genre didn't make a choice when it came to Kacey Musgrafen. This was simply a decision by a Grammy Awards screening committee, much like Billboard unilaterally made the decision to remove Lil Nas X from the country charts. But somehow the entire genre is burdened with these decisions.
Still, the idea that the Grammy Awards for women, or specifically exclude Kacey Musgraves, is utterly absurd, baseless, and wholly unsupported by the numbers zooming out and looking at the Grammy Awards track record over the past few years.
In an attempt to break through all weird rhetoric and opportunistic misrepresentations, here is a breakdown of the Grammy's track record on Kacey Musgraves, The Grammy Awards, Best Country Album category specifically, and all major awards in general.
1. The previous three winners of the Grammy "Best Country Album" were all women
Correctly. In 2021, the winner for best country album was Miranda Lambert's Wildcard. In 2020 Tanya Tuckers was While I'm Livin '. And in 2019 it was Kacey Musgraves' Golden Hour. This means that the organization we learned from is actively working to exclude women – and Kacey Musgraves in particular – has recognized women in the same category of best country album that is currently being debated, including the one, for three consecutive years Awarded the award to Kacey Musgraves. If the Grammy's master plan is to shut women out, and Kacey Musgraves in particular, they're sure to do a bad job.
2. In 2021, ALL nominees for the Grammy's "Best Country Album" were women.
Shocking, isn't it? In 2021 it would have been impossible for a solo male or a group of men to win the supposedly exclusive Best Country Album category at the Grammy Awards because there were no nominees. The nominees were Miranda Lamberts Wildcard, Brandy Clarks Your Life Is A Record, Ashley McBrydes Never Will and Nightfall by the female front woman Little Big Town. Incidentally, Brandy Clark is a member of the LGBT community.
3. The last time Kacey Musgraves qualified for the Grammy Awards, SHE WON FOUR GRAMMY AWARDS and THREE in the country category.
Due to the alleged exclusion of women and Kacey Musgraves by the Grammy, she was still able to win for the best country album, the best country song for “Space Cowboy”, the best country solo performance for “Butterflies” and also won the greatest award given in all of popular music, the Grammy's All-Genre Album of the Year for the Golden Hour. So the Grammy Awards did all of this for Kacey Musgraves, and then for no reason other than sexism and exclusion did they choose to get her out of country viewing in 2022? Seems pretty strange.
4. Kacey Musgraves was nominated for NINE Grammy Awards and WIN SIX of them.
Again, this is pretty shocking when we think the Grammy Awards (and country categories in particular) have it for Kacey Musgraves. Along with the four awards she won in 2019, Kacey Musgraves also won Best Country Album for Same Trailer in 2014, Different Park, won Best Country Song for "Merry Go & # 39; Round" in 2014 and also became a songwriter nominated for song "Mama & # 39; s Broken Heart," recorded by Miranda Lambert in 2014. Musgraves was also nominated for All-Genre Best New Artist in 2014, and her 2016 album Pageant Material was also nominated for Best Country Album nominated. Kacey Musgraves is one of the most nominated and award-winning artists at the Grammy Awards in Country Music for the past eight years.
5. All of Kacey Musgraves' previous albums were nominated for Best Country Album by Grammy, and two of the three won the award.
Again, it's very hard to argue that Kacey Musgraves or women are excluded from the Grammy Awards when all three of Kacey's previous albums were nominated for best country album and won two of the three. Oddly enough, however, that particular fact is being used by some specifically against the Grammys as evidence that Musgraves is being purposely excluded this year. But what would the motive of the Grammy Awards be? Wouldn't Kacey's story mean the Grammy Awards would be extra careful with that decision? In fact, they were.
6. Three separate Grammy committees decided "Star-Crossed" by Kacey Musgraves, and all three committees decided it was pop.
We now know from coverage by Variety and Billboard that Star-Crossed was considered at the Grammy Awards by three separate screening committees. When the country committee decided that the album was not enough land to meet the requirements, they sent the album to the pop committee, which listened to the album and approved the country committee's decision. In other words, not only did the country committee think the album was pop, the pop committee thought it was pop too.
However, due to the high profile character of Kacey Musgraves and her track record as a contender and winner of the Grammy Awards, the Grammy Awards were also hit by their "core" committee that names the awards, which includes some of the greatest heavy hitters and experts in the organization. They also thought the album was more pop than country.
Even if supposed “gatekeepers” in the country committee or supposed rival representatives in the country committee were actively working to expel Kacey Musgraves, why did the pop committee accept that? Why did the core committee confirm this decision? These bodies have nothing to do with country music and still stuck to the decision.
7. The song "Camera Roll" by Kacey Musgraves was rated acceptable by the Country Grammy Committee.
Correctly. So again, the same Grammy committee accused of sexism and gatekeeping against Kacey Musgraves allowed one of the tracks on the album to be considered for nomination in the country category. Why should they do this if their concern is to be marginalized?
"Camera Roll" is a rather sedate, reduced song that is accompanied by an acoustic guitar. While it may be difficult to call the song "country," it is also not as exclusively pop as the rest of Star-Crossed's tracks. You could certainly call the track poppy. But out of respect for Kacey Musgraves, the Grammy Awards accepted the song in the category in which she submitted it.
That said, consistency at the Grammy Awards is a fair concern. Maybe they could have sent "Camera Roll" to Pop too. But the fact that they no longer suggest the Grammys make judgments by content, not artists or their identity. Otherwise they would have moved Kacey Musgraves to pop completely.
This is also a good place to underline that Kacey Musgraves and Star-Crossed are still eligible for the Grammy Awards in the Pop and All-Genre categories. She still has the same chances of winning Grammy Awards as she did in years before. You have just changed the genre category specifically for your album.
8. Kacey Muysgraves won the SUPERFECTA of Awards (CMA, ACM, Grammy, All-Genre Grammy) for her previous album, Golden Hour.
Understand that there are major magazines and prominent music critics and journalists out there proclaiming that country music has always excluded Kacey Musgraves. Meanwhile, Kacey Musgraves won the unprecedented Superfecta of Country Awards with her final album, namely Country Music Association Album of the Year, Academy of Country Music Album of the Year, Grammy Award for Best Country Album, and Grammy & # 39 ; s all-genre album of the year.
Only two other titles in over 50 years of history have succeeded in this feat – Taylor Swift's album Fearless from 2008 and the soundtrack of O Brother Where Art Thou from 2000. This achievement puts Kacey Musgraves in an extremely elite class and would be impossible with country music as a whole or an awards organization specifically working to rule them out.
9. All major awards combined, Kacey Musgraves has accumulated an incredible 17 wins and 46 nominations over the past 8 years.
Put simply, Kacey Musgraves is one of the most acclaimed country music artists of the past decade, surpassed only by Chris Stapleton and only nominated by Miranda Lambert, though Kacey has won more awards than Lambert recently. A strong case for Kacey Musgraves to be the most critically acclaimed country artist of the past decade – an odd label for someone who is purposely left out of the genre. And that includes major awards like the CMA's Album of the Year, Singer of the Year, and Song of the Year, specifically for Kacey's song "Follow Your Arrow," although that song is specifically cited as one of the reasons why Country Music is working to exclude them.
10. Conclusion:
When you look at the track record of Kacey Musgraves, awarding organizations, particularly the Grammy Awards, and more specifically the Grammy's Best Country Album category, it becomes extremely clear that there has been absolutely no effort or point in her career to remove her from exclude the competition. In fact, the opposite is true. These organizations have stepped up to fill the void of attention left by the lack of support from country radio to ensure Kacey Musgraves and her posts aren't overlooked.
Claims that Kacey Musgraves will be barred from receiving awards is false, irresponsible, and arguably dangerous as she misrepresents her legacy. Kacey Musgraves has reached incredible heights through her country award wins and her Grammy Awards in particular. Trying to shut these achievements off so that allegations of sexism and marginalization can be leveled does Kacey's legacy a disservice.
Furthermore, characterizing the Grammy Awards as excluding women or Kacey Musgraves from award competitions proves that there will never be enough inclusion for some critics. If women have won the last three Grammy awards for best country album, when only women and a female frontal band were nominated in the category last year, and Kacey Musgraves won four specific Grammy awards the last time she attended, there are literally none Wise Women and Kacey Musgraves at the Grammy Awards in the album category.
Star-Crossed by Kacey Musgraves is a pop album. Because of this, it moved from country to pop at the Grammy Awards. All other allegations against the Grammy Awards or country music in general are wholly unfounded and are not supported by any evidence or history of the organization.
