{"id":36783,"date":"2024-04-08T16:47:00","date_gmt":"2024-04-08T16:47:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/traklife.com\/music\/?p=36783"},"modified":"2024-04-08T16:47:01","modified_gmt":"2024-04-08T16:47:01","slug":"album-review-cowboy-carter-beyonce","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/traklife.com\/culture\/album-review-cowboy-carter-beyonce\/","title":{"rendered":"Album Review: Cowboy Carter – Beyonc\u00e9"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of talking going on\/While I sing my song\/Can you hear me?\u201d Beyonc\u00e9 sings on album opener, \u201cAmeriican Requiem.\u201d The song sounds like the beginning of a Western-epic: a languid desertscape filled with guitar strums, vintage synths, and dazzling harmonies. Beyonc\u00e9\u2019s voice is low and intent on laying down the law. Here, she sets the stage by addressing the criticism of her performing country music: \u201cUsed to say I spoke too country\/And the rejection came, said I wasn\u2019t country \u2018nough.\u201d As a Texan with familial connections to Alabama and Louisiana, Beyonc\u00e9 shifts the perspective saying that she\u2019s always been country, and maybe too<\/em> country. It is here we saddle up and begin our journey alongside the self-proclaimed Cowboy Carter. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cowboy Carter<\/em> is Beyonc\u00e9\u2019s latest album, and the second act of a promised trilogy following the 2022 dance opus, Renaissance<\/em>. With the release of \u201cTexas Hold \u2018Em\u201d and \u201c16 Carriages\u201d as singles, this was looking to be Beyonc\u00e9\u2019s first full fledged voyage into the country music realm. According to Beyonc\u00e9 herself, Carter <\/em>has been in the making for five years, and comes as a response to the backlash she received from her 2016 CMAs performance. In her statement, she explains how she delved into the history of country music in order to inform the making of the record. After journeying through Cowboy Carter<\/em>, it is clear Beyonc\u00e9 has done her research as she takes us from the club to the rodeo. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Interestingly, Beyonc\u00e9 proclaimed: \u201cThis ain\u2019t a country album. This is a \u2018Beyonc\u00e9\u2019 album.\u201d And she\u2019s right. It\u2019s something so much better than just a country album: Beyonc\u00e9 presents us with an expansive auditory landscape of American Western music. She does not constrict herself to the confines of the \u201ccountry\u201d music genre. Instead, this is a cornucopia of musical styles that draws from various regions of the South which she then places her trademark touches on. At once it all sounds so familiar, yet something so fresh, exciting, and experimental. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This grand excursion of Western sounds is filled with many places and genre styles. Beyonc\u00e9 gives us folk, country balladry, rock \u2018n\u2019 roll, yacht-rock, trap, rap, opera, honky-tonk, gospel and everything in between. This is music that covers the Southern region of this country: Texas, Alabama, Louisiana, Oklahoma, and even California. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We take a gander at the honky-tonk hoedown scene with the infectious \u201cTexas Hold \u2018Em\u201d and head over to the rodeo circuit on \u201cSweet\u2605Honey\u2605Buckiin’.\u201d On \u201cAlliigator Tears,\u201d we go down to the swamp and hear the most intoxicating, sweet-as-molasses harmonies on the record. \u201cBodyguard\u201d is a breezy \u201870s soft-rock number that sounds like taking a road trip along the sunny California coast. We\u2019re then hoisted to the desert sands on the all-too-short \u201cDesert Eagle,” an erotic interlude that has a bass groove sexy enough to satiate anyone\u2019s desires. We then end up in the dark, smokey bars of a Western town on \u201cDaughter\u201d as she laments about her loneliness and being as cold as \u201cTitanic waters.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This trek through Cowboy Carter <\/em>is shaped by interludes which feature appearances by Willie Nelson and Linda Martell. The country music legend Nelson plays a radio host for KNTRY Radio Texas on the \u201cSmoking Hour\u201d interludes. As he states, he\u2019s here to turn you on to some \u201creal good shit.\u201d Martell, a black female country music artist and the first to perform at the Grand Ole’ Opry, appears as an announcer. She comments on the \u201cfunny little concept\u201d of genres and how they can restrict an artist to a certain space in their art. Together, these two legends add a layer of country music history and a foundation from which Beyonc\u00e9 creates her vision. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Beyonc\u00e9 isn\u2019t alone on this journey through Western and country sounds. Dolly Parton appears before a cover of \u201cJolene\u201d as a sort of blessing from country music royalty. On the cover of the Beatles\u2019 folk song, \u201cBlackbird,\u201d she sings along with the voices of black female country artists including: Tanner Adell, Brittney Spencer, Reyna Roberts, and Tiera Kennedy. Together, these singers give power to the song\u2019s message especially given its roots in the Civil Rights movement. Also, there are duets with Miley Cyrus (\u201cII Most Wanted\u201d), Post Malone (\u201cLevii\u2019s Jeans\u201d), and Willie Jones (\u201cJust for Fun\u201d). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Perhaps the most interesting collaboration comes when Beyonc\u00e9 taps in Shaboozey, a country rapper from Virginia, for an assist on \u201cSpaghettii\u201d and \u201cSweet\u2605Honey\u2605Buckiin\u2019.\u201d Together, these songs present a sound that is genre-less and innovative. A sizzling southern trap beat underscores Beyonce\u2019s ferocious bars on \u201cSpaghettii\u201d while Shaboozey plays with the idea of being the cowboy outlaw. \u201cSweet\u201d is an experience that interpolates Patsy Cline\u2019s \u201cI Fall to Pieces\u201d while also incorporating a Jersey club beat that keeps it bouncing (like a mechanical bull). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unsurprisingly, the star of this rodeo show is Beyonc\u00e9\u2019s wide-ranging vocal performance. Yet, here, she’s charting new territory. \u201cII Hands II Heaven\u201d and \u201cAmen\u201d contain heavenly harmonies and some of her most gorgeous vocal work to-date.  On the dark and mysterious \u201cDaughter,\u201d she even takes things up a notch when she performs a verse from \u201cCaro Mio Ben\u201d in full operatic fashion. It\u2019s an angelic and stunning feat. On the album highlight, \u201cYa Ya,\u201d Beyonc\u00e9 puts on a show in full Tina Turner fashion. Her voice commands your attention as she lets the grit and gravel take over. The performance is unrelenting and Beyonc\u00e9 makes it sound easy. Just from listening you can\u2019t help but to feel out-of-breath yourself!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After venturing through American musical landscapes, you have experienced something more than just a country album\u2013you have experienced a Beyonc\u00e9 album. Cowboy Carter <\/em>is a synthesis of the vast musical history of the South, and a lesson in the often overlooked origins of country and Western music in black music. Beyonc\u00e9 presents us with a rich survey of sounds that have come up from the South, and makes it into something entirely her own\u2013just like she did with dance music on Renaissance<\/em>. Carter <\/em>is rich with history. It\u2019s nostalgic, yet forward-looking. Kaleidoscopic and inclusive. It\u2019s a powerful statement that helps to reframe cultural perspectives on what country music means while still giving its listeners a boot-strappin\u2019 good time. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n