On March 29th, 2024, Beyoncé released her eighth studio album Cowboy Carter on every music streaming platform. The album contains 27 tracks in total, which have elements of the Country, R&B, Folk, and Pop genres. The album was named ‘Cowboy Carter’ to reference Beyoncé’s roots in Houston, Texas, and is also a nod to her and her husband’s last name, Carter, and the history associated with it. Another goal of hers was to bring awareness to the history of African American cowboys, since their history has notoriously been overlooked and overshadowed by white figures like Clint Eastwood for decades. This album is act II of her three-album trilogy, following the first act Renaissance, which was released in 2022. This project has been in the making for at least 5 years, and both albums were released under Parkwood Entertainment and Columbia Records.
Beyoncé was inspired to create Cowboy Carter after she received backlash for performing with the Dixie Chicks at the 50th Annual Country Music Association Awards in 2016, because she reportedly “did not belong in the genre,” according to the more right-winged country listeners. These claims were made because Beyoncé was more so associated with the R&B and Dance genres at the time of the performance, and was also a strong advocate of the Black Lives Matter movement.
She addressed the event in an Instagram post that revealed the album’s cover art, with the caption saying “Cowboy Carter 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. My hope is that years from now, the mention of an artist’s race, as it relates to releasing genres of music, will be irrelevant… The criticisms I faced when I first entered this genre forced me to propel past the limitations that were put on me.” Her statement was met with bounds of praise from fellow artists and activists, and excitement from her fans.
Michelle Obama, former first lady, recently made an Instagram post to congratulate Beyoncé, stating that “Cowboy Carter is a reminder that despite everything we’ve been through to be heard, seen, and recognized, we can still dance, sing, and be who we are unapologetically. There’s power in our history and in our joy.”
Prior to Cowboy Carter’s release, one of the album’s singles “Texas Hold ‘Em” broke several records as it is the first song sung by a black woman to top both the Hot Country Songs chart and the Billboard Hot 100. The album as a whole found much success on the charts as well, as it became Beyonce’s 8th album to top the Billboard 200 chart. Cowboy Carter was incredibly popular on streaming platforms as well, with it becoming Spotify’s most-streamed album in a day for the year 2024, reaching 79 million streams by the end of its first day. On Amazon Music, Cowboy Carter has become Beyoncé’s biggest album debut yet, surpassing her other very popular albums ‘Lemonade’ and ‘Dangerously In Love’.
The second track of the album is a cover of a classic The Beatles song named ‘Blackbird’. It was a song Paul McCartney wrote for the Little Rock Nine, who were the first 9 children to integrate into a previously all-white public school. Beyoncé incorporated the voices of several up and coming black female artists for the same reason that the song was originally written, to inspire and uplift those who were once oppressed. Those featured on the track include singers Tanner Adell, Brittany Spencer, Tiera Kennedy, and Reyna Roberts.
On April 4th, Paul McCartney posted a photo of him and Beyoncé captioned “I am so happy with Beyoncé’s version of my song ‘Blackbird’. I think she does a magnificent version of it and it reinforced the civil rights message that inspired me to write the song in the first place… Anything my song and Beyoncé’s fabulous version can do to ease racial tension would be a great thing and makes me very proud.”
With the amount of history, hard work, and genre transcending music that Beyoncé has incorporated into the album, it is sure to become a classic and beloved part of her discography.
