Kelsea Ballerini has defended Beyoncé and Post Malone receiving country Grammy nominations, believing that they did indeed make country albums and songs. And I have to agree.
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As we've previously reported, Beyoncé is set to make Grammy history with Cowboy Carter despite the album receiving no love at the CMA Awards, and from the industry in general. As Beyoncé and Post Malone are mainstream artists, many country fans out there don't think their country albums qualify as proper country. Kelsea Ballerini thinks otherwise.
Ballerini visited the Fierce: Woman in Music podcast, where she defended her view.
"To me, you don't have to be a country artist to make a country record," she said. "Those don't have to exist in the same plane. I'm a country artist, but I've done pop songs. That's okay. So why isn't it okay the other way around? That doesn't make sense."
"[The Best Country Album] category, to me, represents what country music has been this year," she continued. "That's what the [Country] Album of the Year category should represent: what has happened in country music and been successful and groundbreaking this year. I don't really understand the other opinions other than, like, it's amazing to have huge, respected artists in other genres come in and celebrate ours."
"I don't understand why that would be anything but great."
Kelsea Ballerini Thinks It's Okay For Artists To Stretch Out
Kelsea Ballerini brought up that her recent track, "Deep," is more of a pop song than a country song, because she was inspired by SZA. "I was like, 'I wanna do a fun SZA-inspired sound,'" she said.
"If I'm influenced by it, I wanna let myself go there."
And why shouldn't she, and other artists, not be able to?
Just because a country enjoyer may not particularly enjoy Beyoncé's "TEXAS HOLD'EM," doesn't mean it's not a country song. To quote myself, dividing and drawing country music will only harm the art more than help it, so excluding country songs just because the artist isn't a country artist isn't helpful.
Although she sticks up for Cowboy Carter and F-1 Trillion, she doesn't know which album will win the category.
"I'm really eager to see how all of the categories, but especially country [categories], shake out this year. There's no one in that category that it shouldn't go to."
