Country star skewered by fans after calling out revered album: ‘It just ain't country'
The musician criticized the highly acclaimed project during a live performance that was captured in a now viral video.
'There are only three people in front of me on the Apple music country charts, and one of them's Beyoncé,' Adcock said in the video that was posted to social media on Monday. 'You can tell her we're coming for her.'
The singer went a step further by adding, 'that (expletive) ain't country music and it ain't ever been country music.'
Adcock later clarified his comments in another video posted to his Instagram the same day with the caption, 'It just ain't country.'
'When I was a little kid, my momma was blasting some Beyoncé in the car. I've heard a ton of Beyoncé songs, and I actually remember her Super Bowl Halftime show being pretty kick ass back in the day,' Adcock said.
'But I really don't believe that her album should be labeled as country music. It doesn't sound country. It doesn't feel country,' he continued. 'I just don't think that people that have dedicated their whole lives to this genre and this lifestyle should have to compete or watch that album just stay at the top just because she's Beyoncé.'
Beyoncé's 'Cowboy Carter' achieved major critical and commercial success. The album made Beyoncé the first Black woman to top Billboard's Top Country Albums Chart, and was also her eighth consecutive No. 1 album on the Billboard 200.
In addition, Beyoncé became the first Black artist to win a Grammy Award for Best Country Album. 'Cowboy Carter' also took home the coveted Album of the Year award at the ceremony in February.
Despite earning the most nominations (11) at the 2025 Grammy Awards, 'Cowboy Carter' did not receive any nominations at the 58th Annual Country Music Association Awards. This fueled speculations that the CMAs was against honoring Black musicians in the genre.
'There's a real culture of deference where you're supposed to bow down to the gatekeepers and fall in their good graces,' Amanda Marie Martinez, a postdoctoral fellow in the department of American studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, told NBC News last September.
Beyoncé previously expressed not feeling welcomed by the country music community in an Instagram post promoting 'Cowboy Carter.' The 43-year-old said that experience drove her to dive deeper 'into the history of Country music.'
She further defended 'Cowboy Carter' by writing 'This ain't a Country album. This is a 'Beyoncé' album.'
Many fans sided with Beyoncé by showing their support for her on Adcock's Instagram post.
"@gavinadcockmusic her album is not at the top just because she is Beyoncé. It's on the top because it's good," one comment reads. 'If you feel it's unfair to compete with her, work harder and make better music instead of blaming her for your failure.'
'It's so wild to me that we continue to have this conversation,' another Instagram user commented, citing the crossover successes of artists such as Post Malone, Machine Gun Kelly and Jelly Roll.
'[They] have all genre jumped from what most would say is typical black music and they are not part of this same conversation,' the user wrote. 'I thought as an artist you grow and change and that can include the type of art you create. Why can they do it, but she's not country? This is coming from someone who isn't even a huge Beyoncé fan.'
Other Instagram users jumped to Adcock's defense, leaving comments including, 'I couldn't agree more' and 'I like Beyonce BUT this is NOT country music.'
One user wrote, 'Gavin speaks what we true country fans all think! He just has the balls to speak it.'
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