Kacey Musgraves Reacts To The Grammys Disqualifying Her From The Best Country Album Category

Kacey Musgraves’ new album has been snubbed! Not completely but a little bit, as Entertainment Weekly says that her newest release, Star-Crossed, will not be eligible for the 2022 Grammys’ Country Album category and instead will be able to compete as Best Pop Vocal Album. GASP! The country community is in a tizzy (maybe?) and Kacey has responded on social media. I guess our “Yee-haw! Princess” is now a “Yee-huh? Princess.”

A Recording Academy screening committee has reportedly decided that Star-Crossed–about the breakup of her marriage to Ruston Kelly–was a complete dip from country to pop. Kacey had previously won Best Country Album twice at the Grammys–once in 2014 for her album Same Trailer, Different Park, and in 2019 for Golden Hour. Kacey seemed to take it better than Justin Bieber did when he was “snubbed” from the R&B category–which is his opinion and not one held by anyone I’ve ever met in my human life. Kacey poked fun at her country roots with a tweet:

You can take the girl out of the country (genre) but you can’t take the country out of the girl. pic.twitter.com/dZaqoFsI7I

— K A C E Y (@KaceyMusgraves) October 13, 2021

And then Kacey showed off her country credentials on Instagram, letting her work speak for itself rather than begging people to call her R&B. She posted shots of her with Loretta Lynn, Willie Nelson, Shania Twain, Dolly Parton, George Strait, Reba McEntire, and many more. And she topped it off with a simple but clear message:

Keep in mind, nominations are not even out yet and will be announced on November 23, but outlets have reported that Universal Music Group Nashville President, Cindy Mabe, wrote a letter to the Recording Academy CEO, Harvey Mason Jr., and dragged them over this. via Billboard:

“The idea that a handful of people including competitors, who would benefit from Kacey not being in the country category, are deciding what is country only exacerbates the problem. The system is broken and sadly not just for Kacey Musgraves but for our entire genre because of how these decisions are made for music’s biggest stage. Building roadblocks for artists who dare to fight the system is so dangerous and against everything I think the [Grammys] stand for. But that’s where we are today.”

I guess on her next album she’ll just have to really country it up. Maybe if she starts a drunken bar fight while slurring a “playful” N-word they’ll let her back in.

Pic: MEGA/WENN