BEYONCÉ Cowboy Carter | Has Beyoncé gone Country?

Beyoncé is back with a full-length album, forged over five years and serving as the second part of the long-awaited trilogy that began in 2022 with the release of RENAISSANCE. Through her songs, the Texas singer brings us the story of all those precursors of black country, who were invisibilized for decades.

She opens a new door for them, with the hope that their work will be recognized and heard, just as hers has been during her long career. In fact, with her first single, she has already had the honor of being the first black singer to reach number 1 on Billboard’s country music chart.

The joy of creating music is that there are no rules. The more I see the world evolving the more I felt a deeper connection to purity.

With artificial intelligence and digital filters and programming, I wanted to go back to real instruments, and I used very old ones. I didn’t want some layers of instruments like strings, especially guitars, and organs perfectly in tune. I kept some songs raw and leaned into folk.

All the sounds were so organic and human, everyday things like the wind, snaps and even the sound of birds and chickens, the sounds of nature.

• AMERICAN REQUIEM: Beyoncé gives country a twist making it her own with this track that opens her long-awaited eighth album. With a gospel chorus and her voice, she confronts the rejection that black artists suffer in the country universe, in which even she was questioned and unwelcome. We are referring to the singer’s experience at the 2016 Country Music Awards and the GRAMMYs Academy’s refusal to consider her song “Daddy Lessons” for nomination in the country category. 

The criticisms I faced when I first entered this genre forced me to propel past the limitations that were put on me,” she wrote. “Act ii is a result of challenging myself, and taking my time to bend and blend genres together to create this body of work.

• BLACKBIRD: The song, written by Paul McCartney and released in 1968 by the Beatles, now joins Beyoncé’s discography. With this song, the singer honors the original intention of the composer, to show the problems of a black woman in the United States.

Beyoncé (Facebook Image)

• 16 CARRIAGES: With this track, we find the first country-style ballad 🤠 of this album. In its almost four-minute length, emotions run high as it deals with the loss of innocence at a young age and how to leave hardships behind.
• PROTECTOR: With her daughter Rumi Carter as a cameo, this song is an anthem to motherhood, with which Beyoncé conveys her love for her three children.
• MY ROSE: In just one minute, Beyoncé explores love and vulnerability through an intimate sound bathed in the influences of her Southern roots.
• SMOKE HOUR ★ WILLIE NELSON: We arrive at the first interlude of this album, which simulates a radio station change. What can we hear in these 50 seconds? The voice of Willie Nelson, a music pioneer who invites us to listen (or not) to the next track of the artist.
• TEXAS HOLD’ EM: Along with “16 carriages”, this song was one of the surprise singles released by the singer before sharing her new album. True to its title, it has strong country music influences, with heavy western sounds and a southern touch, with which Beyoncé emphasizes her love for her roots. As a curiosity, Rhiannon Giddens is the person in charge of playing the banjo and viola.

I feel honored to be the first Black woman with the number one single on the Hot Country Songs chart. That would not have happened without the outpouring of support from each and every one of you. My hope is that years from now, the mention of an artist’s race, as it relates to releasing genres of music, will be irrelevant.

• BODYGUARD: This song is a declaration of intentions and, despite the roller coaster of being in a relationship, she offers to give her lover the protection he needs, as if he were a bodyguard.

I protect you in the mosh pit
And I’ll defend you in the gossip

• DOLLY P: As a prelude to singer Dolly Parton’s famous song, she herself is the protagonist of this second interlude, which barely exceeds 20 seconds in length.
• JOLENE: Versioned by countless artists, Beyoncé brings another classic to her work with her interpretation of “Jolene”. She does it by turning it around and giving it a new meaning, where despair gives way to the strength of a bond.

• DAUGHTER: We dive right into a much more raw track, in which the Texan struggles with her darkest thoughts. Generated by Jay-Z’s infidelity, this takes her back to her childhood, with her father and physical abuse as protagonists. It is both experiences that today have given her her character, which does not make her shy away from any name and is that in the end, she has that fear of becoming like her father.
• SPAGUETTII: With the African-American country artist Linda Martell opening this song, Beyoncé gives a blow of the table demonstrating that this album is not only of this genre. Brilliantly and creatively, it reflects the versatility of her career, as well as the existence of no limits whatsoever when it comes to creating.
• ALLIGATOR TEARS: We return to a vulnerable theme, with the metaphor of crocodile tears as a reflection of the negative side of relationships, with lies, manipulation and zero regret.

• SMOKE HOUR II: In this new interlude Willie Nelson makes his second appearance, in which he talks about those things that we only dare to live when someone pushes us to do so.
• JUST FOR FUN: With the collaboration of Willie Jones, both artists talk in a very serene way about how doing things just for fun can serve to get out of the darkest wells in the worst moments.
• II MOST WANTED: Following an intimate, acoustic sound, Beyoncé and Miley Cyrus join voices on this track, a possible tribute to Gloria Carter (her mother-in-law) and Roxanne Wiltshire (the latter’s partner), who celebrated their marriage in 2023.
• LEVII’S JEANS: With a much more sensual sound, this collaboration with Post Malone brings a touch of freshness to the album, mixing country and pop.

• THE LINDA MARTELL SHOW: Linda Martell returns to lend her voice in this new interlude, in which she defends that the rules of music are there to be broken and musical genres are there not to be limited.

Why must we define or limit creation -or- creative works when the best things are born out of collaboration!?

• YA YA: Strength, that’s what this song undoubtedly conveys, serving as a celebration of the work of all the artists who participated in the Chitlin Circuit, setting aside any barriers placed on music and on black artists.
• OH LOUSIANA: This 52-second track serves as a new bridge on this album. Despite being a short song, in it Beyoncé puts her roots back in value.
• DESERT EAGLE: We continue with another interlude, a funky song with a much more erotic character, where the double entendres are used by the singer to express her desire for her partner.

Beyoncé COWBOY CARTER

• RIVERDANCE: We return again to the most classic and calmer country with this song, with which the singer invites us to enjoy dancing, loving and being much freer.
• II HAND II HEAVEN: We approach the end of the album with a song that talks about the singer’s safe place, Marfa, from which she always comes back renewed. It also talks about love, which makes her feel as if she were drunk or in heaven, with a country sound that blends perfectly with the most delicate pop.
• TYRANT: With a sound that is closer to the rap and R&B to which the Texan is accustomed and some Dolly Parton lines as a start, in this song she shows her empowerment and the control she can exercise, even if the circumstances are not favorable.
• SWEET ★ HONEY ★ BUCKIIN’: We move on to another collaboration, this time reserved for Shaboozey and with the participation of Pharrel Williams, one of his producers. In this track, also with an R&B sound and divided into three parts, the singer makes reference to the GRAMMYs Academy, which has never awarded her Album of the Year in her entire career.

Despite the fact that she is the artist with the most nominations, 88 in total, and 32 awards, she has never won this award, which makes her think about the negative side of fame.

• AMEN: With a powerful instrumental and accompanied by a gospel choir, Beyoncé closes this work with AMEN, a song to all the sacrifice and effort that has taken her to get everything she has. She is proud of it, as well as compassionate and willing to forgive, which serves to put the perfect finishing touch to this album.