It’s about time we had a conversation about Cowboy Carter. The album was at the forefront of many discussions over this past year, whether about its genre, credibility or acclaim, lack of visuals, promotion and streams, or plainly whether it was good.
This album at its core is about the Black experience while calling out America’s hypocrisy. Themes of Black struggle, perseverance, companionship and love all coexist on this album. From the opening track “AMERICAN REQUIEM” to “AMEN,” this album will make you look at genre and artistry differently, especially from a Black perspective. Beyoncé has never shied away from these themes in her music.
The album featured a short video titled “BEYWATCH” with “BODYGUARD” playing in the background, urging people to vote. On top of this, Beyoncé is also running “LEVII’S JEANS” commercials in collaboration with Levi’s. In addition, she did a halftime show on Christmas of last year in her home state of Texas.
The concept of this album’s genre was explored throughout the album, but it was specifically addressed in the song “SPAGHETTI.” The song starts with Linda Martell saying, “Genres are a funny little concept, aren’t they…” In theory, they have a simple definition that’s easy to understand. But in practice, well, some may feel confined.” This album isn’t conforming to a ‘typical’ country album. Cowboy Carter takes influences from folk, opera, hip-hop, bluegrass and R&B. The album injects these sounds and evolves into something more innovative that pushes the boundaries of country music.
Not to mention, Beyoncé featured legacy country artists such as Dolly Parton, and Willie Nelson while also highlighting Black country artists like Shaboozey, Tanner Addell and Linda Martell. But even that wasn’t enough for the country landscape to correct its past mistakes.
Beyoncé’s number one song “TEXAS HOLD’EM” was not played on country radio stations because it “wasn’t country enough.” On top of this, she received zero nominations from the Country Music Awards (CMA), sparking massive outrage by fans who were disappointed by the omission despite Beyoncé having a number-one song and album.
Country star Luke Bryan said, “Everybody loved that Beyoncé made a country album. Nobody’s mad about it. But where things get a little tricky…If you’re gonna make country albums, come into our world and be country with us a little bit.” Country legend Dolly Parton echoed that sentiment commenting, “I don’t think it was a matter of shutting out, like doing that on purpose. I think it was just more of what the country charts and the country artists were doing, that do that all the time, not just a specialty album.”
The country landscape remains out of touch and continues to shun any person of color who tries to break through. How did Post Malone get nominated for four CMA awards on his first album but Beyoncé didn’t get any?
Beyoncé made history as the first Black woman to have a number one country album on the Billboard 200 and have a number one song on the country charts. She had the fifth best-selling country album of the year. Beyoncé became the first Black artist to win “Best Country Album” and also took home “Album of the Year” at the Grammys, which again stirred up controversy with people downplaying her talent and album.
Beyoncé is set to go on tour for Cowboy Carter starting on April 28 of this year, and there are headlines of the tour struggling to sell out. News outlets are saying the demand for the tour was overestimated. People have also blamed Beyoncé for high ticket prices and calling her “greedy.” In reality, 94 percent of the tour has been sold out in addition to a new date added in Las Vegas.
This era of Beyoncé and this album have been wrapped in controversy since it was released, yet people are still excited about the upcoming tour, have bought tickets, and continue to stream and talk about the album. With all the outside noise and debate on whether or not it’s real country, Beyoncé gagged and broke the internet, like she always does.
