If you are not tapped into the Bey Hive, you may not have been aware that Beyoncé was releasing an album, let alone one with much country influence. Cowboy Carter is Act II of Beyoncé’s latest era following the praised Renaissance album. At a whopping 27 songs, this record explores traditional sounds of country with banjo and acoustic guitar, mixed with gospel, funk, and rap. There are truly 23 full songs with others being interludes from established country stars like Dolly Parton, Willie Nelson, and Linda Martell, the first black woman to release a country album. Along with legitimizing her work with legends, she puts her audience on to current artists in the genre like Tanner Adell, Brittney Spencer, Tiera Kennedy, and Reyna Roberts.
my favorite songs
Because I cannot go through all the songs on the album, I’ll tell you about some of my favorites. The album opens up with “American Requiem,” in which Beyoncé addresses all who questioned her from when she performed at the CMAs in 2016 to when she first hinted at the kind of album she would release. Country was heavily influenced by black Southerners and instruments like banjo were created by African slaves; still, it is hard for black artists to gain traction in this industry. Beyoncé faced much hate and backlash when she released her very first country song “Daddy Lessons” from the Lemonade album and responds directly to the criticism with this song, “If that ain’t country, tell me what is.”
The second song is “Blackbird,” a cover of the Beatles’ song “Blackbird,” with young black women in country. Already a beautiful song, the warmth of Beyoncé’s vocals and the harmonies of the other artists only added to the quality of the song. Considering the context that Paul McCartney wrote this song with a black woman fighting segregation in the South, it is very fitting that Beyonce would choose this song to cover with these women.
“I used the blackbird as a kind symbol of a black woman in the South and ‘you are waiting for this moment to arise,’ you’re finally getting your rights.”
Paul McCartney, 2005
Another song that had people talking was a rewritten version of Dolly Parton’s “Jolene.” It is infamously known that Jay Z cheated on Beyoncé, and she has written a couple songs about it, so it wasn’t too shocking that she would cover this song for her country album. However, listeners did not expect her spin where she basically tells Jolene “Check yourself before you wreck yourself.” Unlike Parton’s version that begs Jolene to stop pursing her man, Beyoncé quite literally declares “You don’t want this smoke, so shoot your shot with someone else,” and dares Jolene to try to get between “a family and a happy man.”
The next song I adored was “II MOST WANTED,” a lovely collaboration between Miley Cyrus and Beyoncé. On first listen, the beginning notes and Miley’s tone with Bey transported me to another time when I was seven or eight years old listening to “Butterfly Fly Away” by Miley Cyrus and Billy Ray Cyrus in the Hannah Montana movie. Just like that, this song moved immediately to the top of my list. I showed my mom, and she said it sounded like an older song: “Look at something from the 70s like Stevie Nicks or something, I know it’s there.” It took an hour or so for an analysis video to come up on my TikTok, stating “II MOST WANTED” interpolated “Landslide” by Fleetwood Mac; I immediately had to inform my mom. Her response: “Yes! Thank you, I’ve been racking my mind on what it is.” It was theorized that “II MOST WANTED” would be a “Telephone,” with Lady Gaga part two, but fans were even more thrilled for this duet.
I personally think that this album wouldn’t be complete without Beyoncé reminding listeners that she can do it all, and she does in “DAUGHTER” and “SPAGHETTI.” In “DAUGHTER,” Beyoncé stuns listeners by performing the opera of “Caro Mio Ben,” a known 18th-century Italian song often used in recital performances and featured in the book 24 Italian Songs and Arias. Genre whiplash is narrowly avoided as Linda Martell provides a quasi-caution at the beginning of “SPAGHETTI.” The instrumental is a bit eerie with violins playing in the background, then the bass comes in and Bey starts rapping, “I ain’t in no gang, but I got shooters and I bang, bang.” After being surprised, I am pleased especially when rereading the lyrics; her pen puts many to shame. A couple of other songs that follow suit in fusing traditional country with everything Beyonce is include “YAYA,” “SWEET HONEY BUCKIN,” and “RIVERDANCE.”
Overall, I would highly recommend you take the time to fully digest this masterful work and do a deep dive into the context and history around some of the songs. “Little Debbie” on TikTok has plenty of videos that inform you about different metaphors and signs the Parkwood camp has given. I would pay to hear “American Requiem” for the first time again and I hope you enjoy it too.