“Cowboy Carter”, Beyoncé’s new album, has just been released, and country music has taken center stage. Critics are full of praise for the new music, despite some controversy. The music is a nod to the global star’s Texan roots.
A tribute to black country culture
The album contains 27 tracks and is the second act in the singer’s “Renaissance” musical trilogy. It is a powerful tribute to black country culture, with dance, soul and hip-hop in equal measure.”No one will think for a moment that this sprawling ensemble follows a single, straight path, or that it’s boring.
boring for a moment,” writes Variety. “It’s a bit like Beyoncé taking up some of the phases and evolutions that country music has gone through, redefining its boundaries, as music always has”, adds the American trade magazine.
As a first indication of its likely commercial success, Spotify announced on Friday evening on X (formerly Twitter) that “Cowboy Carter” was already the most listened-to album in a single day this year. His ode to dance, “Renaissance”, had climbed to the top of the Billboard charts on its release in 2022.
A desire to dust off the genre
Born in Houston, Texas, the 42-year-old singer’s new album aims to dust off the image of country music as the preserve of white, male artists. Probably a recipe for success, the artist continues to take pleasure in shaking up codes.
For example, she plays the hip-hop and house cards on “Sweet Honey Buckiin'”, recalling the first act of “Renaissance”, which also thumbs its nose at purists, celebrating the Afro-American influence in electro.
Recognition even came from the White House. “Beyoncé, thank you for reminding us that we should never be locked into what others think of you,” wrote Vice President Kamala Harris. “You’ve redefined a genre and reclaimed country music’s black roots. Your music continues to inspire us all.”
Country radio stations won’t play Beyoncé
But Beyoncé’s new album was not unanimously acclaimed. Despite a single, “Texas Hold ‘Em”, which topped the charts, country radio stations in the conservative South of the USA refused to play Beyoncé’s new songs.
“We don’t play Beyoncé on KYKC because we’re a country radio station,” replied one of them to fans, prompting accusations of racism. The station insists that it refused to play her tracks before listening to them, eventually adding them to its rotation.
“Expanding her already well-developed knowledge of herself”.
Over the course of the album, tracks with a festive, free-spirited, let-go sound, the artist tackles motherhood, sex, love. “It’s not just about what Beyoncé can do for country music, it’s about what her conception of country can do for her, expanding her musical empire and even her already well-developed knowledge of herself,” analyzes Variety.
“The criticism that targeted me when I first got into (country music) forced me to my own limits,” she wrote recently on Instagram. This new album “is the result of the challenges I set myself and the time I took to twist and mix genres for this work”.
Beatles and Dolly Parton covers
Young stars such as Miley Cyrus, Post Malone and Tanner Adell have joined her; but so have icons from an older generation. Among others, she covers the classic “Jolene” by absolute country star Dolly Parton and “Blackbird”, the Beatles’ song about nine black teenagers who became icons of the civil rights movement by joining an all-white high school in the American South.
Country music giant Willie Nelson also made an appearance. Beyoncé, aka “Queen B”, world-famous for tracks such as “Crazy in Love” and “Beautiful Liar”, mixes genres and history, as in her track “Ya Ya”, a psychedelic, frenzied mix of soul and dance that manages to cover both Nancy Sinatra’s “These Boots Are Made For Walkin'” and the Beach Boys.
Variety concludes with a tour de force, “with this endlessly entertaining project, she becomes a warrior for black and female pride and the darling of radio”.