Kelsea Ballerini Gives Shout-Out to Beyoncé at 2024 Glamour Women Of The Year Awards

Following her 2024 Glamour Women of the Year Awards performance of an unreleased track, ‘I Would, Would You’, and a cover of Bill Withers’ ‘Lean on Me’, Kelsea Ballerini took the opportunity to toast Beyoncé's debut country album, Cowboy Carter.

Beyoncé was in attendance, reportedly entering the The Paradise Lounge at The Edison Hotel in Times Square, New York, during Kelsea Ballerini's performance. Spotting the ‘TEXAS HOLD ‘EM’ hitmaker in the crowd, Kelsea heartwarmingly made a point of underlining how impactful Beyoncé's lauded project has been on the genre.

Kelsea Ballerini reflected, “I also just wanna say, I'm a country artist, and the fact that Beyoncé made a country record changed the game. So thank you. I'm gonna go back to Nashville now!”

Endearingly, Beyoncé can be seen in the audience mouthing, “Thank you so much” in response to Kelsea. This moment feels particularly pertinent, given the fact that Beyoncé's foray into country music was not unanimously welcomed, with certain areas of the genre critical of the megastar's approach to crafting the record.

Just last week, for instance, Luke Bryan made a high-profile appearance on SiriusXM's Andy Cohen Live show, and explained the lukewarm reception Cowboy Carter received from certain groups of fans, artists and even the CMA Awards was because he felt Beyoncé needed to “come into our world and be country with us a little bit”.

Luke Bryan later took to X (formerly Twitter) to clarify that he did not mean these comments as a criticism of Beyoncé, sharing, “I am posting tonight based on the ridiculous nature of the headlines I have read the last couple days from an interview on the Andy Cohen show I did this week when I was promoting my album”.

The ‘Country On’ crooner expanded, “I feel in my heart I could not let media create a false narrative. As I read thru the comments of some of you I just want to say that I encourage all of you to listen to the interview instead of reading click bait headlines”.

Luke Bryan concluded his lengthy post by underlining, “You will hear my tone and intentions which were not negative. I respect Beyonce and I love how loyal her fans are. I spend a lot of time supporting other artists. I want everyone to win. Love yall”.

Before Kelsea Ballerini's shout-out to Beyoncé at the 2024 Glamour Women of the Year Awards in New York, the Tennessee singer-songwriter treated the intimate audience to a special live debut of her brand new track, ‘I Would, Would You’.

The lovestruck, rose-tinted offering is set to appear on Kelsea Ballerini's keenly awaited forthcoming studio album, Patterns, which will be released on October 25th. Kelsea recently confirmed she'd be dropping one more single, ‘First Rodeo’, in the lead-up to the full record's arrival, with the track being accompanied by a music video, which continues the narrative of ‘Sorry Mom’ and ‘Two Things’.

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