It’s time to say goodbye to “RENAISSANCE,” and hello to “COWBOY CARTER.”
When Beyoncé announced that her eighth studio album would be country-inspired, she was met with mixed reactions. The Beyhive, her fanbase, was ecstatic, hailing her previous foray into country — 2016’s “Daddy Lessons” — as a masterpiece.
The country establishment was less enthusiastic.
Oklahoma country radio station KYKC refused to play one of the album’s singles, “TEXAS HOLD 'EM,” after a request, stating “We do not play Beyoncé on KYKC as we are a country music station.”
Beyoncé is no stranger to discrimination from the country fanbase. In 2016, to celebrate her first country release, she teamed up with The Chicks to perform “Daddy Lessons” at the Country Music Awards. The video of the performance was met with racism and vitriol in the comment section, and the video was later taken down.
That night inspired “COWBOY CARTER,” as Beyoncé said in the album’s cover art announcement, stating “This album has been over five years in the making. It was born out of an experience that I had years ago where I did not feel welcomed…and it was very clear that I wasn’t.”
“COWBOY CARTER” is the second in a three-part project that Beyoncé launched with the critically-acclaimed house and disco album “RENAISSANCE.”
Where “RENAISSANCE” was engineered in the style of a club set, with the songs flowing from one to the other seamlessly, “COWBOY CARTER” is styled as a radio broadcast, featuring different stars introducing the songs in interlude tracks.
The album opens with “AMERIICAN REQUIEM,” which might be the best opening to an album ever. This song features a powerhouse of a backing track and some of Beyoncé’s most diverse and enchanting vocals to date as she calls the audience to attention “It’s a lot of talkin’ goin’ on / While I sing my song / Can you hear me? / I said, ‘Do you hear me?’”
Following “AMERIICAN REQUIEM” is a tear-jerking rendition of The Beatles’ “Blackbird.” While the song may seem out of place at first glance, Paul McCartney explained the true meaning of the song, saying “I had in mind a Black woman, rather than a bird. Those were the days of the civil-rights movement … so this was really a song from me to a Black woman, experiencing these problems in the States — ‘Let me encourage you to keep trying, to keep your faith, there is hope.’” On the song as well are multiple Black, female country stars, including Tanner Adell, Brittney Spencer, Tiera Kennedy and Reyna Roberts.
Fans got a sneak peek at the album when Beyoncé dropped “TEXAS HOLD ‘EM” and “16 CARRIAGES” as the lead singles.
The former is a country-pop masterpiece — topping the Billboard Hot 100 and making Beyoncé the first Black woman with a number-one country song in Billboard history — while the latter is a slower ballad, where Beyoncé takes the audience through the sacrifices she’s made throughout her 26-year career.
Since its release, “16 CARRIAGES” has been overlooked compared to its partner, but the song stands out as a jewel in Beyoncé’s songwriting crown. She croons lyrics like “The legacy, if it’s the last thing I do / You’ll remember me” as she looks back on the things she’s given up to be on top.
The nostalgia doesn’t end there, as the next song, “PROTECTOR” opens with a sound bite of her six-year-old daughter, Rumi, asking Beyoncé to sing her a lullaby. Beyoncé goes on to softly sing a tribute to her children, saying that she will always be their protector even as they grow up.
“MY ROSE” serves as a 53-second conclusion of the wistful, emotional first section of the album, with “SMOKE HOUR ★ WILLIE NELSON” serving as an interlude, featuring Nelson himself acting as the radio host for KNTRY Radio Texas. Nelson queues up the boot-stomping “TEXAS HOLD ‘EM,” leading us into the next high-powered section of the album.
The “DOLLY P” interlude is a standout for the album as we hear Dolly Parton tell Beyoncé that “Becky with the good hair” reminds her of someone she once knew, called “JOLENE.”
Beyoncé puts her own spin on the country classic, referencing Parton’s iconic hit. But, Beyoncé isn’t just asking Jolene to stay away this time, she’s threatening her, “So you don’t want no heat with me, Jolene … Your peace depends on how you move, Jolene.”
“DAUGHTER” serves as Beyoncé’s most vocally impressive feat to date as she sings lyrics from the aria “Caro Mio Ben” in a full operatic voice, putting to bed any suggestion that she isn’t one of the greatest vocalists of all time.
“SPAGHETTI” is a diversion from the country theme of the rest of the album — which is the point. The song opens with Linda Martell saying “Genres are a funny little concept, aren't they? / Yes, they are / In theory, they have a simple definition that's easy to understand / But in practice, well, some may feel confined.”
The song sounds more like “MY HOUSE” than it does a country song. It’s a representation of how Beyoncé doesn’t need to conform to pre-existing genres, she creates her own. She raps on a “country” album simply because she can.
“II MOST WANTED” might’ve been the most anticipated song on the album thanks to Miley Cyrus’s feature — and it doesn’t disappoint. As two of the most recognizable voices in music today, the duo makes an emotional love song that will go down in collaboration history.
Martell makes a return to introduce “YA YA,” a song that both celebrates patriotism “My family lived and died in America, hm / Good ole USA, shit (Good ole USA)” and critiques it “Whole lotta red in that white and blue, huh / History can't be erased, oh-oh.”
Many of the album's later tracks weave together country, pop and R&B, creating a wholly-unique sound signature to the Queen herself.
The album concludes with “AMEN,” a circle back to the calls for justice in “AMERIICAN REQUIEM,” as Beyoncé finishes the song with the same verse that opened the first track, “Say a prayer for what has been / We'll be the ones to purify our Fathers’ sins / American Requiem / Them old ideas (Yeah) are buried here (Yeah) / Amen (Amen).”
As fans, we expect excellence from our favorite artists, and artists strive to deliver perfection. At this level in her career, Beyoncé has nothing left to prove, but she still strives for — and delivers — that perfection. Everything is carefully crafted, perfectly calculated and, most importantly, true to herself.
This is an album that makes you excited to be alive. It’s an album that makes you glad that music exists as an art form and that we live in an era where artists like Beyoncé are free to weave in and out of genres as they please. It’s an album that proves that Beyoncé doesn’t have peers, she has co-workers.
On “COWBOY CARTER,” Beyoncé shows that she is not simply a musician, but rather, a student of music. Listeners won’t get the full might of the album on first, second or even third listen, but that’s okay. Beyoncé makes music for those who digest music, not just those who listen to it.
This article was edited by Marina Zaczkiewicz, Sara Winick and Abigail Pritchard. Copy editing done by Luna Jinks.
