Although Carrie Underwood was noticeably absent from the 2025 Grammys, her presence was still felt — albeit for the most unfortunate reasons.

As fellow country star Kacey Musgraves walked onto the stage to accept her award for Best Country Song for “The Architect,” an instrumental version of Underwood’s “Before He Cheats” supposedly started playing. And fans were understandably aggravated by the odd music choice, with one user on X, formerly known as Twitter, writing, “Ok but what in the hell is that music in the background!? It sounds like trash a** Carrie Underwood. Ew.”

Similarly, another commentator expressed their disbelief at the fact that the Recording Academy apparently didn’t respect Musgraves by playing one of her songs. Meanwhile, another fan of the “Slow Burn” songstress reasoned that they were just glad that a more progressive country artist was gaining recognition instead of someone like Underwood. Meanwhile, a few of the “I’m Gonna Love You” singer’s fans took issue with the fact that Beyoncé received so many awards for her foray into country music.

After one X user wrote that they weren’t too fond of Beyoncé’s cowboy outfit at the 2024 Grammys, another quipped, “Beyoncé can TRY to be Carrie Underwood but it just isn’t working at all.” Similarly, one fan posited that the “Texas Hold ‘Em” hitmaker had only been given the trophy because the Recording Academy had a distaste for country singers like Underwood, because they support Donald Trump. In fact, one user even went so far as to suggest that Beyoncé couldn’t deliver an acapella performance as Underwood did at the president’s recent inauguration ceremony.

The Grammys have snubbed Carrie Underwood in the past

Rich Fury/Getty Images

Although some fans of Carrie Underwood may believe that her political beliefs have led the country star to become an outsider in the eyes of the Recording Academy, it’s worth noting that the “Jesus, Take the Wheel” hitmaker was actually snubbed by them long before she chose to perform at Donald Trump’s presidential inauguration ceremony in January 2025.

While fans may have loved her 2022 album, “Denims and Rhinestones,” the Grammys evidently didn’t care much for it because Underwood didn’t receive a single nomination from them that year.

Regardless, it’s safe to say that her appearance at Trump’s inauguration likely had some negative consequences. According to entertainment data analysts Luminate, less than 1,000 people downloaded the “All-American Girl’s” catalog afterwards, while Underwood’s streaming numbers saw a 6% decrease compared to the previous week’s Monday (via The Independent).

The country star had to deal with further embarrassment when she was forced to perform “America The Beautiful” acapella because of technical difficulties. And according to one Daily Mail insider, Underwood’s diva behavior put a sour note on her inaugural moment.

They claimed that the country singer threw a “hissy fit” after the event because the “Good Girl” hitmaker felt that she “was not afforded the same level of respect or admiration that previous performers […] had received.” Another confidant shared a similar story with The Sun, divulging, “How the performance was pitched to her and how it ended up going were two very different experiences.” They also asserted that the singer-songwriter was unsure if she had made the right call by performing at the historic event. Suffice it to say that one of Underwood’s most controversial moments of all time will continue to haunt her for the foreseeable future.