Kacey Musgraves’ ‘star-crossed’ Ruled Ineligible For Best Country Album Grammy

Musgraves (Photo: Adrienne Raquel)

KACEY MUSGRAVES’ latest album, “star-crossed,” is ineligible for consideration in the GRAMMY AWARDS Country album category. BILLBOARD broke that news today, reporting that UNIVERSAL MUSIC GROUP NASHVILLE Pres. CINDY MABE fired off a letter of protest to RECORDING ACADEMY CEO HARVEY MASON.

The decision about how to categorize “star-crossed,” which was jointly released on SEPTEMBER 10th by UMG NASHVILLE and INTERSCOPE RECORDS, “was made last week during the RECORDING ACADEMY’s annual screening committee meeting, where submissions are reviewed to make sure they are placed in the appropriate category,” BILLBOARD reports. “Members of the screening committees can reject recordings if they do not feel they fit into the genre, though they remain eligible for the all-genre Album of the Year category.”

In her letter to MASON, which BILLBOARD obtained, MABE calls the committee’s decision on the album’s status “very inconsistent” and said it “calls into question the other agendas that were part of this decision.” She added that removing MUSGRAVES from the Country category, “actually does harm to a format struggling with change and inclusivity overall.”

According to BILLBOARD, “She further accuses the members of the screening committee of playing politics,” writing, “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.” Read her whole letter here.

Despite the committee’s decision about the album, track “Camera Roll” was “submitted and accepted for the Best Country Song category,” BILLBOARD reports.

THE 64th annual GRAMMY AWARDS are set for JANUARY 31st, 2022. Nominees will be revealed on NOVEMBER 23rd.

« see more Net News