Beyonce wins Best Country Album Grammy amid controversy

Beyonce is in shock to win the Best Country Album award for Cowboy Carter.

On Sunday night, February 2, when Taylor Swift announced the Grammy winner, the Texas Hold ‘Em hitmaker was caught off guard. Her eyes widened in shock after the Cruel Summer singer called out her name.

"Wow, I want to thank God that I’m able to still do what I love after so many years," the singer, widely referred to as Queen Bey, began her acceptance speech. "I'd like to thank all of the incredible country artists that accepted this, this album we worked so hard on it."

"I think sometimes genre is a Cold War to keep us in a place as artists. And I just want to encourage people to do this," she added, presumbly subtly addressing the controversy surrounding her nomination in the category.

For the unversed, some country music advocates raised eyebrows over the Single Ladies singer’s inclusion in the country categories with other original artists.

One country singer, Kelsea Ballerini, defended Beyonce’s nomination, saying if she can make pop music despite being a country singer herself, why not let the pop singers expand into the country genre?

At the Sunday awards ceremony the Crazy in Love songstress extended her heartfelt gratitude to her family, her team and collaborator before ending her speech by saying,"And I still am in shock, thank you so much for this honour."

In addition to the Best Country album category, Beyonce was nominated in another 10 categories and won Best Country Duo/group performance for her collaboration with Miley Cyrus, II Most Wanted, before the telecast.