Introduction
A Cowboy Hat, Two Halftime Shows, and One Big Question: Lainey, Beyoncé, and Miranda Lambert’s Line That Calmed the Fire
The internet loves a side-by-side comparison. Give it two similar stage moments, a few matching camera angles, and a hashtag-ready accusation—and suddenly a performance becomes a courtroom. That’s the energy behind “Did Lainey Wilson copy Beyoncé? Some Beyoncé fans think so, as they are comparing Lainey’s performance at Snoop’s Halftime Holiday Party last week to Beyoncé’s Christmas halftime show from last year.” It’s a headline built for quick judgment, where “inspired by” and “stole from” get treated like the same thing.
But if you’ve followed music long enough, you know this debate is as old as show business itself. Pop, country, soul, rock—every genre borrows, echoes, and reshapes what came before. Sometimes it’s intentional homage. Sometimes it’s coincidence: a similar outfit choice, a familiar staging trick, a lighting concept that’s trending in live production. And sometimes, yes, artists and teams chase what worked because the audience responds to big, clear imagery. The more a performance is designed for viral clips, the more likely it is to resemble other viral clips. That doesn’t automatically equal copying. It often equals the reality of modern television spectacle.
What’s fascinating here is how quickly the conversation turns into something bigger than Lainey versus Beyoncé. It becomes a debate about who gets to stand where, and who gets to wear what—especially when cowboy aesthetics, Southern imagery, or “country-coded” styling enters a mainstream stage. That’s where Miranda Lambert’s phrase lands like a bucket of cold water on a room that’s getting too hot: “Nobody Owns the Cowboy Culture” — Miranda Lambert Words Stop a Brewing Feud Cold.
There’s wisdom in that line, particularly for older listeners who’ve seen cycles of musical fashion come and go. The cowboy symbol has never belonged to one artist, one genre, or one fan base. It’s a shared American icon—sometimes romanticized, sometimes criticized, often misunderstood, but undeniably woven into music history. Country performers have used it for generations, and pop performers have stepped into it too, whether for storytelling, tribute, or pure theatrical contrast. In a world where boundaries blur more every year, the question isn’t “Who owns the look?” It’s “What are you trying to say with it?”
If Lainey Wilson’s halftime moment reminded some viewers of Beyoncé’s earlier show, that might be worth discussing with nuance: production choices, creative direction, cultural references, the difference between a concept and a signature. But turning it into a feud can flatten what music does best—connect people through familiar language, even when the accents differ.
In the end, the healthiest take may be the simplest: great performers influence the stage the way great songs influence the radio. And when the noise gets loud, Miranda’s reminder still holds—clear, steady, and hard to argue with: “Nobody Owns the Cowboy Culture” — Miranda Lambert Words Stop a Brewing Feud Cold.