Beyoncé Is Coming for You, Country Radio
Get with the program, country radio.
Beyoncé is going country on her forthcoming album, Act II, on March 29, and she already released two country songs (on Super Bowl Sunday). But it’s not clear yet how country radio stations will respond as a whole.
An entire country album is a change in direction for Beyoncé although she has dabbled in country in the past. And country radio is traditionally slow to change. There is no shortage of popular, vibrant Black and female country artists today, but they are under-represented on country radio. This is a format about which a notable music consultant once said infamously in 2015, “If you want to make ratings in country radio, take females out,” which caused controversy but little substantial change to actual music programming to even the gender imbalance. This has not stopped some outstanding female country artists such as Kacey Musgraves and Margo Price to achieve break-out success. And Black country artists have established themselves if country audiences are willing to find them beyond radio:
Beyoncé’s power and talent could change things at least while Act II is shaping conversation. Some other major artists — notably Lana Del Rey — are also going country in 2024, but no one at Beyoncé’s level. And there’s also the Beyhive factor. Her powerful fan base on social media gives her leverage that few artists in any genre possess. When on February 13 a small country station in Oklahoma, KYKC, declined to play her new country song “Texas Hold ‘Em” at a fan’s request, the Beyhive got wind of what happened and went ballistic. KYKC was flooded with emails and phone calls.
Amid the uproar, the KYKC station manager explained to a local news affiliate that Beyoncé’s new singles had just dropped days ago, and typically KYKC does not add new songs right away. Instead, the station follows the lead of bigger stations in Oklahoma City to see which artists are charting. But the Beyhive changed the rules, and Beyoncé was playing on KYKC that afternoon.
In the aftermath of the incident with KYKC, country radio stations seem to be going on a PR campaign of sorts to appear open minded to Beyoncé’s country music. As Brian Philips, chief content officer at Cumulus Media, said to Variety about Beyoncé’s new music, “Why wouldn’t we play this? This is a gift.” His comment was typical of the many country radio programmers falling all over themselves to roll out the red carpet after the Beyhive buzzed KYKC. And yet, you have to wonder how supportive they would been before the incident had occured and magazines jumped on the story.
Black artists who cross genres into country (as opposed to Black country artists) have seen some notable success, including Ray Charles, whose Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music was a landmark; Lionel Richie, whose 2012 album Tuskegee was his first Number 1 since 1986; and Darius Rucker, who successfully reinvented himself from a pop to country artist. But as Chris Willman of Variety observed,
One thing that does remain true since a decade ago is the complete absence of Black women who’ve had hit records in the country format, even as Black men like Kane Brown, Darius Rucker and Breland have enjoyed big chart successes. Programmers have been prone to say, year after year, that the format is eager to welcome a Black female star, but the right singer with the right charisma with the right, undeniable song has not come along… a contention that Mickey Guyton fans and others would argue against, of course. It’s the backdrop against which an introduction into the format by Beyoncé is inevitably viewed by many, even if her sudden entree as an existing megastar introduces a whole different set of variables.
Act II will be big — it already is, and we’re weeks away from the drop date. Just Google “Beyoncé country” to see how many conversations the release of Beyonce’s two country singles has sparked just days after they were dropped. Some serious genre busting is going to light up the music world come March 29. Let’s see if country radio is ready.
