Latest news with #DaddyLessons
Daily Mirror
16-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mirror
Fans swear Beyoncé's historic win sparked a new Grammy award category
The Recording Academy has announced the introduction of two new categories for the 2026 Grammys, and fans are speculating that Beyoncé's 2025 win may have something to do with it The 2026 Grammys will see the introduction of two brand-new award categories, as well as the renaming of one of the biggest awards of the night. The Recording Academy announced the Grammy Awards will now include two new categories: Best Traditional Country Album and Best Album Cover. The existing best country album category will be renamed Best Contemporary Country Album. They say the updates are part of an effort to 'recognise as many deserving creators as possible' but some fans are speculating that Beyonce 's historic 2025 win may have something to do with it. In 2025, Beyoncé became the first Black female artist to win the Best Country Album award at the Grammys in her first year being nominated in the category. The moment was particularly poignant for fans as the Houston-native's song Daddy Lessons about her childhood in Texas was controversially rejected by the country music committee in 2016. The Academy's distinction between 'traditional' and 'contemporary' has fans speculating that Beyoncé's historic entrance and dominance in country music motivated the decision. Fans shared their speculation in the comments section of the Grammy's X post announcing the update. 'A black woman won best country album, NOW we need two categories? Interesting', wrote one user on X. 'OH! BEYONCE GOT THEM SHOOK,' wrote another user. One commenter pointed out that this isn't the case for categories where black-artists traditionally dominate. 'Do they have Best Traditional Rap and a Best Contemporary Rap album categories?' According to Harvey Mason Jr., CEO of the Recording Academy, the new country categories would actually put the genre in alignment with others which separate contemporary and traditional albums or performances, like R&B, pop and blues. Help us improve our content by completing the survey below. We'd love to hear from you! Speaking to Billboard, Mason said: 'It makes country parallel with what's happening in other genres. But it is also creating space for where this genre is going.' The new traditional country category will focus on: 'country recordings that adhere to the more traditional sound structures of the country genre, including rhythm and singing style, lyrical content, as well as traditional country instrumentation such as acoustic guitar, steel guitar, fiddle, banjo, mandolin, piano, electric guitar, and live drums.' Mason also told Billboard that the proposal for the new category had been submitted a number of times previously, before passing this year. Two other key changes to the 2026 Grammys include the expanded eligibility for Best New Artist to include artists who have been previously nominated in Album Of The Year, but whose contributions fell below the current 20 percent playing time threshold. This update allows acts who were credited as featured artists on projects that were Grammy nominated for Album Of The Year in a previous awards cycle to be eligible for Best New Artist consideration. Additionally, the existing Best Recording Package and Best Boxed or Special Limited Edition Package Categories have been combined into one single category: Best Recording Package. A new Category, Best Album Cover, has also been added. The 2026 Grammys nominations will be announced on Friday, November 7, 2025 with the ceremony taking place on Sunday, February 1, 2026 in Los Angeles.
Yahoo
13-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Beyoncé made country music history. The Grammys just redefined what counts.
Beyoncé's 'Cowboy Carter' marked a historic moment in country music. Following its release in March 2024, Beyoncé became the first Black woman to lead Billboard's Top Country Album chart since it started in 1964. Her Grammy win this year for Best Country Album was another first for Black artists. 'Cowboy Carter' asked mainstream listeners to consider how Black artists helped create and shape country music. It also sparked questions about its authenticity as real country. Many Beyoncé and Black country music fans alike hoped the attention would open doors to more diversity in the White-dominated commercial country music industry. The reality is more complicated. On Thursday, Billboard reported that the 2026 Grammy Awards will include a new category: Best Traditional Country Album. Best Country Album is being renamed Best Contemporary Country Album. The Recording Academy, which presents the awards, celebrated the decision as an opportunity to create more space for different types of musical styles to be honored. According to the a description of the category provided to Billboard, 'traditional country includes country recordings that adhere to the more traditional sound structures of the country genre, including rhythm and singing style, lyrical content, as well as traditional country instrumentation such as acoustic guitar, steel guitar, fiddle, banjo, mandolin, piano, electric guitar and live drums.' The news quickly drew criticism, with some Beyoncé fans on social media accusing the academy of gatekeeping in response to her barrier-breaking achievement. In an interview with reporter Phil Lewis, author of the 'What I'm Reading' newsletter, an anonymous music executive said that the Recording Academy's decision appears to be a clear reaction to 'Cowboy Carter.' The road to 'Cowboy Carter' began with the 2016 release of her country song, 'Daddy Lessons,' which despite its traditional arrangement and instrumentation, was immediately put to the 'country enough' test. 'All of the sudden, everyone's acting like she's moved to Nashville and announced that she's country now. Just because of this song 'Daddy Lessons,'' Alison Bonaguro, a critic for Country Music Television, wrote in a 2016 column headlined 'What's so country about Beyoncé?' Later that year, Beyoncé's viral performance of the song alongside The Chicks at the Country Music Awards led to more online debate unpacking what and whose music counts as 'real country.' Those conversations are a throughline to 'Cowboy Carter,' with some country fans disqualifying the album from their own definition of country because of its fusion with hip hop, blues and other genres. Despite the album topping country charts, the Country Music Association did not nominate the album for a single award at the 2024 Country Music Awards. But the Grammy victory — which came the same year that Beyoncé won Album of the Year for the first time — cemented the legacy of 'Cowboy Carter.' Some researchers and country music fans say it also points to the particular novelty of Beyoncé's success compared to that of other Black artists pursuing a place in the country music industry, which has taken deliberate steps to shut out artists of color for more than 100 years. 'Beyoncé is in her own category of artists. She's such a big star, she didn't have to show deference to the gatekeepers of Nashville, the traditional gatekeepers of commercial country music,' said Amanda Martínez, a historian and assistant professor of American Studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. This is not the reality for most Black artists looking to break into country music, she added. 'There have been a lot of conversations about creating more opportunities for Black artists, and I think that what we're seeing is that chapter has passed. I think that we're seeing a general moving away from pretending to be invested in creating opportunities for artists of color or addressing issues of diversity,' Martínez added. 'Cowboy Carter' included features from newer Black country artists like Shaboozey, Tanner Adell, Brittney Spencer, Tiera Kennedy and Reyna Roberts, who have leveraged that spotlight to reach broader audiences. Shaboozey, in particular, managed to have a breakout year as an independent artist in 2024, dominating the Billboard Hot 100 chart for a record-tying 19 weeks with his single, 'Bar Song.' But these singers represent a small fraction of country radio airplay, which remains a powerful platform for the genre. In February, Ottawa University researcher Jada Watson posted updated data on social media finding that in 2024, women artists received 8.39 percent of country radio airplay — a decline from 11 percent in 2022 — and Black artists received 2.8 percent of airplay. White artists represented 94 percent and White men were 81 percent. 'Despite our urging for radio to build pathways for Black female country artists alongside [Beyoncé's] 'Texas Hold 'Em,' the format failed to platform Black women. Again,' Watson wrote on Bluesky earlier this year. 'Radio played 'Texas Hold 'Em' just as much as they needed… until they didn't anymore.' Throughout country music's history, artists of color have been largely segregated and forced to challenge claims that their sound does not represent authentic country music. Black country artists and fans are doing what they can to create their own avenues. Record labels like Rosedale Collective and Origins Records were created to support Black country artists and other artists of color. The Black Opry is a community for Black artists and fans that produces country and Americana shows around the United States. It's unclear at this point whether the new change in Grammys categories will be used as another tool to police or undermine the artistry of musicians of color. Martínez said we will have to 'wait and see' which artists are celebrated moving forward. When it comes to broader systemic changes, she said: 'it's hard to be hopeful about the prospects of whatever consideration Black artists will receive from the Grammys or the CMAs.' The post Beyoncé made country music history. The Grammys just redefined what counts. appeared first on The 19th. News that represents you, in your inbox every weekday. Subscribe to our free, daily newsletter.
Black America Web
13-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Black America Web
Daddy Lessons: 10 R&B Songs About Pops for Father's Day
Father's Day doesn't always come with the same bells and whistles as Mother's Day, but it should. Our dads, grandfathers, uncles, father-figures, and Black men raising families deserve their flowers too. Whether he taught you how to ride a bike, how to stand ten toes in the face of struggle, or just how to be real, there's always a song out there that captures that kind of love. RELATED: Gone Too Soon: 16 R&B Stars Who Died Under 35 This playlist is a mix of gratitude, memories, and lessons passed down. Some tracks celebrate fatherhood's strength, others sit in the complexities of it. Check out these 10 R&B songs about the special old man in your life! Daddy Lessons: 10 R&B Songs About Pops for Father's Day was originally published on 1. Gerald LeVert & Eddie LeVert – Wind Beneath My Wings The Leverts put their own soulful spin on this classic, making it a heartfelt father-son tribute. 2. Beyoncé – Daddy One of Bey's most personal tracks, this song is a soft tribute to her father and manager (at the time), Mathew Knowles. 3. Luther Vandross – Dance With My Father A gut-punch every time. Luther reflects on childhood memories and the painful longing after his father's passing. 4. Sade – Babyfather With her signature smooth style, Sade celebrates a father who's loving, present, and proud. 5. Chrisette Michele – Your Joy This jazzy ballad is about the love between a father and daughter. 6. James Brown – Papa Don't Take No Mess James wasn't just the Godfather of Soul, he was the voice of Black fatherhood for a generation. This track is a no-nonsense ode to tough love and real-life parenting. 7. Beyoncé – Daddy Lessons Another Bey track, she switches gears here. Blending country, jazz, and storytelling. This one's about strength, legacy, and the lessons she got from a daddy who prepared her for the real world. 8. Isn't She Lovely – Stevie Wonder This anthem was written for Stevie's daughter, and it's one of the most iconic celebrations of fatherhood ever recorded. 9. Bryan Andrew Wilson – Still, My Father This raw gospel-rooted song speaks to complicated relationships with dads who may not have always been there, but are still part of the story. 10. Horace Silver – Song for My Father A timeless jazz instrumental that's been sampled, studied, and celebrated across generations. Horace Silver composed this as a tribute to his Cape Verdean father.
New York Times
29-04-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Times
Beyoncé's Cowboy Carter Tour Remixes American History, and Her Own
The last time Beyoncé performed 'Daddy Lessons,' the stomping, biting number from her 2016 album, 'Lemonade,' was at that year's C.M.A. Awards, in a blistering rendition alongside the Dixie Chicks (now the Chicks). Not everyone in country music embraced Beyoncé's experimentation. 'I did not feel welcomed,' she wrote in album notes leading up to the release last year of 'Cowboy Carter,' her eighth solo album, an exploration of the many tendrils of American roots music and their connections to Black music of all stripes and generations. So it was meaningful, and pointed, that at the opening night of the Cowboy Carter Tour at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, Calif., on Monday, Beyoncé played 'Daddy Lessons' for the first time since that rejection. It came right after she sang her renovated version of Dolly Parton's 'Jolene' — approved by the country royal herself — while soaring over the rapturous crowd in a flying horseshoe. Full-circle moments don't just happen — they are the products of intention and diligence and allergy to loose threads. Throughout this roisterous and clever show, there were suggestions that loop-closing has been very much on Beyoncé's mind, along with culmination. 'Cowboy Carter' is proof of that writ large: It is album as historical remedy. And it was in part inspired by her chilly Nashville reception — if you can't join them, beat them. And beat them she did, all the way up through earning album of the year at the Grammys in February, ending a controversial career-long drought in the awards' top category (even though she is the most decorated Grammy winner of all time). That said, calling this the Cowboy Carter Tour was a mild headfake — even though Beyoncé performed most of the album's songs, it was as a purposeful reframing of this latest album as a kind of DNA-level source material that has been lurking beneath her music all along. At almost three hours long, her seventh solo headlining concert tour was a characteristic Beyoncé epic. It came alive during the second act, beginning with the sparkly 'Renaissance' flirtation 'America Has a Problem,' which she delivered from behind a Lucite lectern, followed by 'Spaghettii,' one of the most ferocious and fun songs on 'Cowboy Carter.' That led to 'Formation,' by now a crucial entry in her canon, and before long, 'Diva,' which made clear the connections between her politics and her physicality: Freedom reigns in both. By the time Beyoncé arrived at the fifth section, which began with 'Jolene' and 'Daddy Lessons,' she appeared to be, improbably, gaining strength. On 'Bodyguard,' her voice was ostentatious. Her ease of motion on 'Tyrant' and 'Thique' was luminous. She was well past the two-hour mark when she landed on the slick 'Texas Hold 'Em,' by far the most successful single on 'Cowboy Carter.' (Though that album had a gangbusters release week, it did not spawn many broad-impact singles, certainly not by comparison to earlier Beyoncé albums. ) This was the platonic ideal of a Beyoncé country song that might have feasibly been embraced by the country mainstream, but Beyoncé — performing from the hood of a semi truck — upended it here, blending it into the rollicking 'Crazy in Love.' That was one of several new-old partnerships in her set: 'II Most Wanted' and 'Blow'; 'Thique' and 'Bills, Bills, Bills'; 'Spaghettii' and 'Flawless.' The music on 'Cowboy Carter' she was underscoring wasn't just American roots music, but also Beyoncé roots music, dating all the way back to Destiny's Child. There were visual and sonic echoes of earlier tours and live shows, too: a red lip couch previously used on The Beyoncé Experience; her version of 'Before I Let Go,' the Maze featuring Frankie Beverly classic she revisited on 'Homecoming'; and wholesale set pieces from the Renaissance World Tour, down to the stars of vogueing working the stage. (Kudos especially to Honey Balenciaga.) She'd sprinkle in bits of hip-hop songs — David Banner's 'Like a Pimp,' Goodie Mob's 'Cell Therapy,' BigXthaPlug's 'The Largest' — making even more plain the threads she's stitching between genres and generations. Even though the musicology lessons dominated her performance, Beyoncé's true subject was the mutability of American iconography, and how to put it to work in her favor. That began with wardrobe — she played various stripes of cowgirl throughout the night, from regal to down-home. The crowd dressed for the occasion, of course: fringed leather chaps, silver cowboy boots, denim dusters, neckerchiefs, sashes that read 'Cowboy Carter' or, in some cases, ones that replaced Beyoncé's surname with the wearer's. Outside the stadium, vendors were selling cowboy hats and folding fans: 'Got that good snap,' one promised, spreading it out to read 'Bey-Haw.' At the merchandise stands, you could buy, for $75, a T-shirt depicting Beyoncé sitting side saddle and pointing a shotgun, next to the phrase 'Never ask permission for something that already belongs to you.' That phrase flashed onstage when she was singing 'The Star-Spangled Banner' early in the night. She wore an American flag dress for the night's finale, 'Amen,' and just before that, she was hoisted around the stadium in a red car, with a flag at her side. Reverence was just one of her postures, but not one she wore for long. At the end of the show, a huge bust of the Statue of Liberty appeared onstage with a bandanna covering its mouth, as if protecting itself. One video sketch found a giant Beyoncé stomping past the White House — wonder who's hanging out in there? — then drawing a wink from the Lincoln Memorial. Beyoncé has long been friskier than she gets credit for, but now, she appears looser than ever: At various points in the interstitial videos, she was smoking a cigarette, a cigar, a joint. She played along with the memes and mash-ups that trickle up to her from the Beyoncé-stan internet. Like she was on her Renaissance World Tour — a stadium show she mounted just two years ago — she was joined onstage for several songs by her daughter Blue Ivy, who serves as a backup dancer for her mother as well as a narrative foil and fan magnet. (Rumi, Beyoncé's other daughter, appeared onstage during 'Protector.' Her mother, Tina, was in the audience as well.) That was part of a family through line during this show that extended in both directions, past and future. Toward the end of the night, the huge screens onstage filled with childhood photos, old rehearsal videos, the clip where Beyoncé revealed her baby bump on MTV, singing at Barack Obama's inauguration, and so on. This, too, felt like the closing of a loop. A valedictory address. For more than two decades, Beyoncé has worked to redefine the boundaries of what a pop star can achieve, and how. She set bars, then leaped over them. But what do you when you run out of goals, win all the accolades, become one of one? Accept that your future may well be a remix of your past — and that's a whole new gift.
