Country star Gavin Adcock is not happy with Beyoncé’s success on the charts.
At a recent concert, the 26-year-old “Need To” singer was filmed complaining that Beyoncé’s Cowboy Carter album was ahead of other artists on Apple Music’s country chart.
“One of them’s Beyoncé, you can tell her we’re coming for her f****in’ ass,” he said to cheers from the crowd. “That s*** ain’t country music and it ain’t ever been country music and it ain’t gonna be country music.”
After the clip went viral on social media, Adcock posted a video on Instagram on Monday promising to “clear this up.”
“When I was a little kid, my mama was blasting some Beyoncé in the car,” Adcock said. “I’ve heard a ton of Beyoncé songs, and I actually remember her Super Bowl halftime show being pretty kick ass back in the day. But I really don’t believe that her album should be labeled as country music.”
He continued, “It doesn’t sound country. It doesn’t feel country. And I just don’t think that people that have dedicated their whole lives to this genre and this lifestyle should have to compete or watch that album just to stay at the top just because she’s Beyoncé.”
In the caption of his Instagram post, Adcock wrote, “It just ain’t country.”
Beyoncé’s Cowboy Carter was a huge critical and commercial success, making her the first Black woman to top Billboard’s Top Country Albums chart and the first Black artist to win Best Country Album earlier this year at the 2025 Grammys.
The 43-year-old previously explained that the idea for Cowboy Carter “was born out of an experience that I had years ago where I did not feel welcomed [by the country music scene] and it was very clear that I wasn’t.
“But, because of that experience, I did a deeper dive into the history of Country music and studied our rich musical archive.”
“This ain’t a Country album,” she wrote at the end of her post. “This is a ‘Beyoncé’ album.”
In the comments of Adcock’s post, Beyoncé fans slammed the country artist.
“You guys! He’s 25 years old and he’s dedicated a whole three years to this,” one person wrote sarcastically. “He shouldn’t have to compete with people who are legendary multi-genre artists with a house fully of Grammys! [sic] Gavin should only have to compete with other drunken viral video stars who need five songwriters to finish one mediocre EP for their country music pivot.”
“How is beyonce not country when she’s from Texas? Is Texas not country no more? Or is it because she’s black please let me know,” added another.
“Exactly the point! You will NEVER be on that level at any point in your life,” wrote a third.
Others pointed out that Post Malone had successfully transitioned from pop-R&B into the country music genre with only a fraction of the criticism Beyoncé has received.
“Post malone did the same thing she did, what’s the difference,” one noted.
Adcock is next set to open for controversial country artist Morgan Wallen on four of the singer’s I’m the Problem Tour shows in Miami Gardens and Toronto.
