Beyoncé is very selective with her time when it comes to awards shows, and this year’s MTV VMAs didn’t make the cut. The artist, who released Cowboy Carter in April, chose to skip this year’s ceremony despite receiving three nominations.
It’s worth noting that the VMAs—literally the Video Music Awards—are a music video-oriented program, and Beyoncé has not released a visual component for Cowboy Carter yet. She was nominated for Song of the Year (“Texas Hold ’Em”), Best Trending Video (“Texas Hold ’Em”), and VMAs Most Iconic Performance (“Love on Top”). The latter two awards are social categories that are fan-voted. The awards all went to other artists this time.
Beyoncé last attended the VMAs in 2016. She was last seen, however, in Nantucket, Massachusetts, over the weekend at the wedding of her former personal assistant Sam Greenberg. Blue Ivy Carter joined her and her husband, Jay-Z.
Beyoncé recently spoke to GQ about her complicated relationship with fame and stepping away from red carpet appearances. “I only work on what liberates me,” she said via email. “It is fame that can at times feel like prison. So, when you don’t see me on red carpets, and when I disappear until I have art to share, that’s why.”
Earlier this summer, she reflected on the success of Cowboy Carter and the work of other Black artists in country music.
“When you are breaking down barriers, not everyone is ready and open for a shift,” she told The Hollywood Reporter in June. “But when I see Shaboozey tearing the charts up and all the beautiful female country singers flying to new heights, inspiring the world, that is exactly what motivates me.”
She added that she cares less about the numbers for this album and more about the conversation it has generated: “There was a time in my life when charts and sales excited and motivated me,” she said. “Once you have challenged yourself and poured every ounce of your life, your pain, your growth and your dreams into your art, it’s impossible to go backward. I’m very grateful and humbled for the extraordinary success of the new album.”
“I’m honored to introduce so many people to the roots of so many genres,” she said. “I’m so thrilled that my fans trusted me. The music industry gatekeepers are not happy about the idea of bending genres, especially coming from a Black artist and definitely not a woman.”
