Beyoncé's Cowboy Carter Album Sparks Racial Debate With New Grammy Categories

The Recording Academy has announced some new categories as the industry prepares for the 2026 Grammys. One of which is the sole new country category: Best Traditional Country Album— which means the existing country album category will now be the Best Contemporary Country Album category. Many believe the change was prompted after Beyoncé took home wins for Best Country Duo/Group Performance, Best Country Album, and Album of the Year for COWBOY CARTER. On X, one user noted that this was the second time the Recording Academy introduced new categories following Bey winning in music categories outside of Hip-Hop, R&B, and pop. Culture historian Mikeisha Vaughn tweeted, “Beyoncé won Best Country Album, so they had to rename/create new categories like Best Contemporary Country Album + Best Traditional Country Album in an attempt to differentiate from “traditional” (white) country music. Go racism!

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