On March 29th, 2024, Beyonce released her follow-up album to “RENAISSANCE” (July 29th, 2022) with an ambitious new sound differing from her known style of music.
She takes inspiration from other artists like the Beatles ‘Blackbird’ and Dolly Parton’s ‘Jolene’ but spins them in a retelling version to fit Beyonce’s style.
Beyonce has so much versatility with her music that her fans can sometimes forget where she comes from, and this album is a good way of bringing Beyonce’s fans back to her hometown of Houston Texas.
Opening the album with harmonies on American Requiem was a perfect way to open the album while showing off her range. The whole album is harmonically and melodically diverse and tells a story through the hour and eighteen minutes.
Beyonce’s 2016 album “Lemonade” might have been the beginning for this album to be released. Beyonce says the album 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.” She was referring to her 2016 appearance at the Country Music Association Awards, where she performed and was met with racist vitriol from the crowd and online after her appearance.
Her “COWBOY CARTER” project debuted at No.1 on the Billboard 200, marking her eighth No.1 album. Since its release, her new album has been breaking streaming records, Spotify announced that on March 29th, the “COWBOY CARTER” release date, it became the most streamed album in a single day of 2024.
This year’s Grammy Awards Beyonce promoted her album before the drop using no words by attending the Awards Ceremony decked out in full cowboy regalia inspired by the southern sound of her new project.
Beyonce continues to face backlash for her new sound, being herself in general, and for the use of the American flag in COWBOY CARTER’s visuals, but it is said she’s paying homage to Black Rodeo Stars so understanding the context of her use of the American flag is crucial to the entirety of her album. It also brings up a bigger conversation about the experience of Black Americans and their culture.
Beyonce is getting backlash from White Americans for “appropriating Southern music” when she’s from the South and most of the Cowboys’ ideology, style, and music were stolen from Indigenous.
But to keep it light no matter what is being said about COWBOY CARTER good or bad, it still makes Queen Bey relevant in today’s music industry which is something that hasn’t stopped happening since she stepped into the music industry.
