“One of them’s Beyoncé, you can tell her we’re coming for her fuckin’ ass,” Adcock told the crowd. “That shit ain’t country music and it ain’t ever been country music and it ain’t gonna be country music.” Haven’t we been over this like, a million times already? Someone give him a copy of My Black Country.
On Monday, one day after the clip went viral, Adcock did what all men inevitably do (read: made the situation worse by attempting to explain himself). On his Instagram stories, he posted a video of himself pacing around his patchy lawn and launching into another rant.
“Ima go ahead and clear this up,” Adcock began. “When I was a little kid, my mama 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.” I’m sorry, “back in the day”??? Not only did Beyoncé perform at the Super Bowl Halftime Show in 2013, but she also made an appearance at the 2016 Halftime Show, and let’s face it: the 2024 Christmas Day Halftime Show was basically the Super Bowl. Anyway! Back to Adcock’s scintillating commentary on country music.
“But I really don’t believe her album should be labeled as country music. It doesn’t sound country, it doesn’t feel country, and 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,” he went on.
Between Alan Jackson and John Rich, Adcock’s stance is hardly original at this point. Frankly, I find the notion that Beyoncé’s Cowboy Carter—which not only won the Grammy for “Album of the Year” but is currently setting and shattering records while on tour—isn’t “country” to be as tired as their discographies. Did we not all see Beyoncé’s statement about not feeling welcome at the Country Music Awards in 2016 and subsequently delving into the origins of country music, only to discover that her ancestors set the very tone for it??? If it isn’t clear by now that she’s more country than all these men put together, then the only hope left for them is an audience who also refuses to know any better.
Maddening as it is, I do have to giggle at how these motherfuckers keep proving her point…
Like what you just read? You’ve got great taste. Subscribe to Jezebel, and for $5 a month or $50 a year, you’ll get access to a bunch of subscriber benefits, including getting to read the next article (and all the ones after that) ad-free. Plus, you’ll be supporting independent journalism—which, can you even imagine not supporting independent journalism in times like these? Yikes.
