Shaboozey walked the MTV VMAs red carpet as a first-time nominee on Wednesday, the latest milestone in a major breakout year for the Virginian country star.
Shaboozey was up for best new artist at the fan-voted awards show, as well as song of the summer for "A Bar Song (Tipsy)," which has reigned at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 for a whopping nine weeks.
Back in April, "A Bar Song" made history when it replaced Beyoncé's "Texas Hold 'Em" atop Billboard's Hot Country Songs. It was the first time two Black artists had topped the chart back to back — a watershed moment made even more special by the duo's recent collaboration.
Shaboozey broke into the mainstream after he earned two featured slots on Beyoncé's "Cowboy Carter," her celebrated new album that doubles as a research project about the Black community's roots and influence in country, bluegrass, blues, soul, and other quintessential American genres.
Shaboozey appears on two standout tracks, "Spaghettii" and "Sweet Honey Buckiin.'" In the days following the album's release, Shaboozey saw a 70% jump in first-time listeners on Spotify, per The Hollywood Reporter. His fellow contemporaries featured on the album, including Tanner Adell and Brittney Spencer, experienced similar boosts.
"Cowboy Carter" made chart history and inspired thoughtful conversations about systemic racism in the music industry. So it makes sense why fans and critics were outraged earlier this week when the nominees were announced for the 2024 Country Music Association Awards and Beyoncé came up empty-handed. (As Billboard reported, Beyoncé's team did not need to submit "Cowboy Carter" in order for the album to be eligible. Representatives for the CMAs didn't respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.)
While speaking with BI on the VMAs red carpet, Shaboozey said the album's cultural value is more important than recognition from industry gatekeepers.
"As artists, we don't go in, hopefully, thinking about, 'How am I gonna win this award?' You're just like, 'How do I make the most intentional, impactful music?' And that project changed a lot of people's lives, mine included," Shaboozey said of "Cowboy Carter."
"If I'm doing that for another artist, that means so much more than just a nomination," he added.
Shaboozey himself received two nods for the 2024 CMAs: new artist of the year and single of the year for "A Bar Song (Tipsy)."
Asked if he had any inclination that his year would yield so much success, Shaboozey laughed: "No!"
"I mean, how do you know? You just hope for the best, and you put your best foot forward, and hopefully, you've got people around you that encourage you and motivate you and point you in the right direction and help you out of those little ruts you get into," he said.
With "A Bar Song" in particular, Shaboozey had a feeling it could be a hit — not because that's what he set out to do, but because everyone in the studio was having fun while making it.
"When you're writing together and everyone's throwing their ideas at it, it's not feeling like, 'This is exhausting. Let's move on.' You want to keep going," he explained. "And then you send it to your team and your team is like, 'Hold up. What did you just make?' I think all those were indications that we did something special."
