Country Artist Oliver Anthony Rips Into Beyoncé’s ‘Cowboy Carter’ Album: ‘Complete Trash’

Oliver Anthony had some harsh words for Beyoncé’s country album.

The “Rich Men North of Richmond” singer shared his two cents in a December 4 YouTube video titled “What I’ve Learned from the Music Industry So Far…” Anthony—who Gucci Mane attempted to sign last year—said he took on new management after his 2023 viral success but quickly realized the team was trying to turn him into somebody he wasn’t.

“I don’t need a bunch of nerds and coffee-drinking freaks in Nashville to tell me how to live my life. I guess that was my mistake for relying on those people instead of relying on God and the people I trust,” he said. “In their own words, it was like, ‘We gotta figure out how to make you cool.’ And one of the guys I worked with, he wanted me to make some stupid fucking post about Beyoncé’s country album, about how it was good, even though it was complete trash. It makes me just want to throw up.”

Anthony said he was particularly offended by Beyoncé’s rendition of the Dolly Parton classic, “Jolene,” claiming he couldn’t even listen to the entire cut.

“It’s just total cringe,” he said about the cover. “It represents how degenerative our society has become, that a song like a Beyoncé version of ‘Jolene’ can come out and anybody actually listen to it and think it’s not just complete fucking trash.”

Anthony claimed he was asked to share a flattering post about Beyoncé and Cowboy Carter in the “hopes of them doing some kind of song together.” He suggested those kinds of requests happen all the time, as industry figures are more concerned with profit than authenticity.

“How many people do that?” he continued. “It’s so much theatrics and illusion and characterizations that are built into this whole thing to like keep people hanging on for more. And God, if it’s that bad in music, it’s gotta be bad in everything.”

The video came just months after Anthony revealed his plans to pivot away from music and focus on traveling ministry work. Although he described the music business as “a big joke,” he reassured fans he wasn’t completely abandoning the country scene.

“No, I’ll still be releasing music just like normal, I’ll just be set up legally as a ministry,” he explained. “I just have to go at it in baby steps since it’s completely DIY.”