Blair Caldwell*
from the beginning of cowboy carter, Beyoncé has made it clear that this is not your typical country album. The opening epic, “American Requiem,” is part gospel, part Queen, and part Buffalo Springfield, with the artist explaining both her intentions and her lineage. “I used to say it was ‘too country’/And then the rejection came and I was told I wasn’t ‘country’/I said I wouldn’t ride in the saddle/But if it ain’t country, then what? Please tell me if that's country?'' she sings from the belly, after listing off her bona fide country credentials.
Just like what Beyoncé has always done, especially in the last decade of her career. cowboy carter This is a dissertation on college albums, well researched and meticulously constructed. And while she has something to prove to the music community at large, it's more of a love letter to her Southern roots than a strictly honky tonkin' romp.
It took 5 years to make, cowboy carter “'' is long but moves along easily, and the album seems to be divided into loose chapters. The first five songs are both emotional and vocally heavy, especially the Beatles' “Blackbird,” which features up-and-coming black country stars Tanner Adele, Britney Spencer, Tierra Kennedy, and Rayna Roberts. The straight cover of “ is particularly impressive. This is some of Beyoncé's best vocal work on record, with each track perfectly produced at the forefront and a warm-up for the next song. Her voice as an instrument is on full display throughout the album, but it's most impressive at the top, where she moves effortlessly through country and R&B inflections. Her single “16 Carriages'' had already given a preview of what the song was about, but nothing could have prepared her for the lullaby “Protector,'' which features her daughter Rumi at the beginning. Her gentle delivery of the promise of motherhood to her children is warmer than a shot of whiskey, and her supple fangs are wielded with admirable delicacy.
Willie Nelson's interlude with a radio DJ during the first of two “Smoke Hour” interludes is the first sign that this album is one to expect the unexpected from the artist. It is. His narration introduces the hit “Texas Hold'em,” his most straight-up country song on the entire album, followed immediately by “Bodyguard,” one of his least country moments. Masu. Shades of Yacht Rock and Christine McVie's 80's Fleetwood Mac contributions color this outstanding piece of work, about a man who wants to protect his lover while threatening a potential threat to “John Wayne.” This is a simple love song about his feelings.
Like Willie Nelson, Dolly Parton's appearance means another turn.Beyonce enters lemonadeIn a similar part of the project, she's a scorned lover, this time trying to join forces for a good old-fashioned Western showdown. She covered “Jolene,” reworking the song as a sharp warning instead of Parton's pleading original. Even if it doesn't have a huge impact on the album or the song itself, it's a cheeky and humorous song that Beyoncé isn't always afforded. “Daughter” is a more effective version of Beyoncé's violent revenge fantasy.On top of a guitar that looks like it's been pulled out kill bill She paints a picture of bloody haute couture and an equally cold attitude that she shares with her father. (And for those who aren't already captivated by her vocals, she belts out an Italian aria midway through, simply because she can do it).
With the hypnotic, bluegrass-inspired “Alliigator Tears,” Beyoncé finds love back and begins the album's extraordinary run. Her second, “Smoke Hour”, assisted by Nelson, marks the beginning of Chapter 4, which showcases her ability to make duet songs hits on country radio. Willie Jones and Post Malone are great partners, but they're nowhere near as good as Miley Cyrus. She played the Sundance Kid to Beyoncé's Butch Cassidy on “II Most Wanted,” a transcendent meeting of two great vocalists who blend into each other rather than compete for the spotlight. It's a career highlight for both.
But the biggest feature on this album is Linda Martell. Martel was the first black woman to achieve commercial success in country music, and she released one notable album before leaving the industry completely. She makes her first appearance at the beginning of “Spaghettii,” and after calling her genre a “funny little concept,” Bey goes full trap-country on the song with her genre-bending pal Shabouzi. However, after Martel appears on “The Linda Martell Show,” the album devolves into joyful chaos, with some of Beyoncé's most bizarre and eccentric musical choices.
“Ya Ya” features Tina Turner via James Brown, and covers of Nancy Sinatra and the Beach Boys. It's like a fantasy come true (not the violent revenge kind this time) for her to transform into the type of performer that she and her parents were raised in and that she has cited and imitated so often in her work. It looks like The Chuck Berry sample on “Oh Louisiana” drives that point home before going full Bette Davis funk on “Desert Eagle.” (And if rumors are true that the third act of this musical project will be rock-heavy, let's hope that's not the last hint of Davis we hear in Beyoncé's music).
Since “Riiverdance,” Beyoncé seems to be referencing or recontextualizing. renaissance, her disco masterpiece and the first act of a trilogy. There's a sacredness to the final track, with more hints of gospel and peaceful contemplation that break away from the southern, country-western feel of the rest of the album, like the serenity of “II Hands II Heaven.” . On “Sweet★Honey★Buckiin,” she travels back to her cowboy days, singing Patsy Cline's “I Fall to Pieces” over a Jersey club beat, before singing an ode to her horses.
Beyoncé's point becomes crystal clear by the time she gets to “Amen.” She is a country girl and always has been a country girl. There's no question about it, her gatekeeper is cursed. Her latest work is a history textbook that features her arguments one after the other.but cowboy carter's greatest gift is Beyoncé's complacency as she fights back against typecasting and the rules made for her and, at times, by her. Considering that the production of this album took place before hers; renaissance, exploring her Southern roots and the parameters of the person expected of her gave her the creative freedom to go even further with the incandescent dance anthem of the trilogy's first act. it is clear. Although I've been a performer for over 20 years, I feel like we met Beyoncé for the first time through these albums. When she asks, “Can you hear me?” in “American Requiem,” the answer is “louder and clearer” than ever before.
