Kelly Clarkson is sharing her thoughts on Beyoncé getting snubbed by the 2024 CMA Awards.

The 43-year-old entertainer’s album Cowboy Carter, which made history after it spent four weeks on top of Billboard’s Top country albums chart, making her the first Black woman to achieve the feat, was noticeably snubbed from the awards show, despite qualifying for several categories.

In a new interview, Kelly, 42, reacted to Beyoncé not receiving any nominations and also shared her own challenges within the country music genre.

“I kind of find it fascinating, because I feel like those songs were everywhere,” Kelly told NBC10 Boston.

Kelly went on to say that country music is a “hard” genre to break into, noting that she had her own struggles several years ago when she released several country music songs.

“That’s a hard industry, even for me,” Kelly explained. “I was told at a lunch if I didn’t quit pop music and just go country, I would not be played. I was literally told that to my face at a lunch, and I was like, ‘OK, no offense, but I’m not ever gonna just pick one.’”

Kelly admitted that her own refection from the country genre made it difficult to cope with as she “grew up on country music,” being from Texas.

“I imagine Beyoncé did too. We’re both Texans, so you can’t escape it growing up there,” she added.

“It just seemed like the door was closed unless I was all-in and had to leave every other genre behind, which I don’t think people like me, or even Beyoncé, are capable of doing that,” Kelly said. “It’s not even a desire or a want, it’s just like, we love dabbling. Why limit yourself?”

Kelly then said that she eventually accepted her career path and found happiness in her achievements.

“At the end of the day, I’ve always kind of learned in this industry, it’s not necessarily about the awards, and it’s not necessarily about any of that, really. People are showing up, right? You’re massive,” Kelly said, referring to Beyoncé.

“People are showing up to my concerts, they like hearing the country stuff from me, they like hearing the pop, they like hearing all the different things,” she continued. “I’m sure they do with her as well. I think the real win there is that you don’t even need the award.”