Beyoncé’s highly anticipated eighth studio album, “COWBOY CARTER,” released March 29, is a genre-defying body of work.
The 27-track album provides an immersive listening experience with a song-to-song flow that is a rare commodity for a modern album.
The versatility of the album is incredibly apparent. Despite being primarily rooted in the country genre, elements of pop, rhythm and blues, house and more genres are present throughout.
The track “AMERIICAN REQUIEM’’ opens the album with a bang with showstopping vocals and powerful lyrics. Beyoncé wastes no time addressing the motivation behind making this album.
This references her last venture into the country genre, the 2016 track “Daddy Lessons” on her sixth studio album, “Lemonade.” Beyoncé received criticism from country fans after performing the song at that year’s Country Music Association Awards, primarily due to the conservative fanbase’s resistance to her presence in the genre despite being from the south herself.
This backlash inspired Beyoncé to craft this album with the idea of amplifying Black voices in country music.
“BLACKBIIRD,” which is a cover of the famous Beatles track, features the beautiful vocals of young Black female country artists Tanner Adell, Brittney Spencer, Tiera Kennedy and Reyna Roberts in the last verse of the song and on background vocals.
Additionally, two tracks include spoken word features from Linda Martell, the first Black woman to ever perform at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville.
“COWBOY CARTER” undoubtedly cements Beyoncé’s place in the country genre. Its leading single “TEXAS HOLD ‘EM” makes her the first Black woman to ever have a Number 1 country song on the Billboard Hot 100.
A collaboration with Miley Cyrus, an artist who also famously toes the line between country and pop, on “II MOST WANTED” jumps out as one of the album’s best.
Cyrus’s low, raspy voice blends wonderfully with Beyoncé’s powerful vocals soaring above to make a collaboration the world didn’t know it needed.
Beyoncé is one of those artists whose music is without a doubt going to withstand the test of time, and “COWBOY CARTER” is no exception. In my opinion, it is her best album yet.
