Entertainment
Kacey Musgraves speaks out as Grammys exclude her album from country music category
Kacey’s latest album will not be eligible for country album of the year (Picture: Dan MacMedan/Getty Images)
Kacey Musgraves has hit out at the Grammys after her latest album Star-Crossed was deemed ineligible for the country music category.
The 33-year-old is one of country music’s biggest stars and has previously won three Country Music Association Awards and three Academy of Country Music Awards, as well as five Grammys from country music categories.
However, the Recording Academy has excluded Star-Crossed from eligibility for the country album of the year category at the 2022 Grammys.
Kacey reacted to the news by sharing a picture of herself as a child in a pink cowboy hat to Twitter and Instagram with the caption: ‘You can take the girl out of the country (genre) but you can’t take the country out of the girl.’
On Instagram, the High Horse singer then shared a video of her and country icon Loretta Lynn singing You’re Lookin’ At Country at the 2014 CMA Awards, and wrote: ‘Ain’t that right, @lorettalynnofficial?’
Kacey proceeded to share pictures of herself with country icons Willie Nelson, Shania Twain, Dolly Parton, Ronnie Milsap, George Strait,Pam Tillis, Martina McBride, Reba McEntire, Alan Jackson, Kris Kristofferson, Le Ann Womack and Brooks & Dunn, tagging the artists in each snap.
Kacey went on to share pictures of herself with country legends (Picture: Instagram)
She ended her story by sharing a photo of herself and her guitar, with her two middle fingers raised.
The decision to exclude Star-Crossed from the country album category was decided at the Recording Academy’s annual screening committee meeting, where submissions are reviewed to make sure they are placed in the appropriate category.
Members of the screening committees can reject recordings if they do not feel they fit into the genre, though they remain eligible for the all-genre album of the year category.
Cindy Mabe, president of Universal Music Group Nashville, wrote to Recording Academy CEO Harvey Mason Jr. denouncing the decision, writing: ‘This decision from the country committee to not accept star-crossed into the country albums category is very inconsistent and calls into question the other agendas that were part of this decision.’
Mabe added: ‘Sonically, it’s got more country instrumentation than Golden Hour which won Country Album of the Year in 2019. To compare Golden Hour to star-crossed, both albums were produced by Ian Fitchuk, Daniel Tashian and Kacey Musgraves. Both albums were mixed by Shawn Everett. On Golden Hour, Ian, Daniel and Kacey wrote 7 of the 13 songs and on star-crossed they wrote 11 of the 15. Both albums complete each other with Golden Hour telling the story of falling in love and star-crossed telling the conclusion of the breakup. There is no departure in sound from these two projects.’
While the album will not be eligible for the country category, the song Camera Roll from the album was submitted and accepted for the best country song category.
Star-Crossed debuted at No. 1 on Billboard’s Top Country Albums chart and, as well as number three on the all-genre Billboard 200.
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Kacey has won five of her six Grammys from country categories – best country album for Same Trailer Different Park and Golden Hour in 2014 and 2019 respectively, best country song in 2014 and 2019 for Merry Go ‘Round and Space Cowboy, and the 2019 award for best country solo performance for Butterflies.
Golden Hour also won album of the year in 2019.
This decision mirrors the controversy over Lil Nas X’s country rap song Old Town Road being excluded from the country charts, sparking debate over what makes a country song.
Billy Ray Cyrus eventually joined the song with a featured verse, and the song sat atop the Billboard Hot 100 for 19 weeks.
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