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Cowboy Carter
Studio album by Beyoncé
Released	March 29, 2024 (2024-03-29)
Recorded	2020–2024
Genre	Country western classic rock rap R&B
Length	79:03
Label	Parkwood Columbia
Producer	Beyoncé D.A. Got That Dope Dave Hamelin DIXSON Killa B Atia Boggs Mamii Nathan Ferraro Nick Kobe Pharrell Williams Ryan Tedder
Beyoncé chronology
Renaissance (2022) Cowboy Carter (2024)
Singles from Cowboy Carter
"Texas Hold 'Em" Released: February 11, 2024 "16 Carriages" Released: February 11, 2024

Cowboy Carter (also referred to as Act II: Cowboy Carter) is the eighth studio album by the American singer Beyoncé. Released on March 29, 2024, via Parkwood Entertainment and Columbia Records, the album is the second installment of Beyoncé's trilogy project conceived during the COVID-19 pandemic, following Renaissance (2022). Mostly labelled a country, western and R&B album, Cowboy Carter contains elements of pop, house, Jersey club, classic rock, rap, blues, soul, rock, rhythm and blues and folk music.

Conceptually, Cowboy Carter is presented as a broadcast by a fictional radio station (called KNTRY Radio) in Texas, with country singers Dolly Parton, Linda Martell and Willie Nelson acting as radio DJs. The album also features lesser known country artists such as Tanner Adell, Brittney Spencer, Tiera Kennedy, Reyna Roberts, Shaboozey and Willie Jones, alongside collaborations with musicians Miley Cyrus, Post Malone, Rhiannon Giddens, Stevie Wonder, Nile Rodgers and Jon Batiste. Two co-lead singles supported the album—"Texas Hold 'Em" and "16 Carriages".

Upon release, Cowboy Carter was met with critical acclaim for Beyoncé's embrace of country music in context of celebrating the genre's Black roots with emphasis on the vocal performance and lyrics. Publications opined that Cowboy Carter highlighted Black musicians' place within country music, causing the listenership of Black country artists on streaming platforms and country radio to increase.

Background and development

I grew up going to the Houston rodeo every year. It was this amazing diverse and multicultural experience where there was something for every member of the family, including great performances, Houston-style fried Snickers, and fried turkey legs. One of my inspirations came from the overlooked history of the American Black cowboy. Many of them were originally called cowhands, who experienced great discrimination and were often forced to work with the worst, most temperamental horses. They took their talents and formed the Soul Circuit. Through time, these Black rodeos showcased incredible performers and helped us reclaim our place in western history and culture.

Beyoncé was born and raised in Houston, Texas, where the city's cowboy heritage and country and zydeco music played a role in her upbringing. She listened to country music from an early age, particularly from her paternal grandfather, and attended the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo every year with her family wearing western clothing. She later performed at the Rodeo four times between 2001 and 2007, and has continued to celebrate her country and Southern roots throughout her career.

Beyoncé first released a country song with the track "Daddy Lessons" on Lemonade (2016). Beyoncé, together with the Chicks (who had previously covered the song), performed the track at the 50th Annual Country Music Association Awards on November 2, 2016. The performance was largely praised by critics and gave the Country Music Association Awards their highest viewership figures in history; however, it was also met with backlash, with some country music fans criticizing Beyoncé's attendance and claiming she did not belong in the genre. The Country Music Association deleted all promotional posts about Beyoncé's performance, which was seen as succumbing to the pressure in an attempt to prevent backlash against the organization.

This experience led to the creation of Cowboy Carter. Beyoncé explained how it was made clear to her that she was not welcome in the country music space, but instead of letting the criticism force her out of the genre, it made her push past the limitations put on her. She delved into the history of country music and Western culture and researched its African-American roots. She studied "our rich musical archive" and learned from educators who had long advocated for a re-education on the black roots of country music. She also read about how, historically, 50% of cowboys were black, noting: "After understanding where the word 'cowboy' came from, I realized how much of the Black, brown and Native cowboy stories are missing in American history." This was the inspiration for her 2021 "Ivy Park Rodeo" clothing collection. Following this research, Beyoncé decided that she wanted to reclaim Americana and country music from a Black perspective, according to stage designer Es Devlin. Collaborator Rhiannon Giddens noted Beyoncé did not intend to create a typical crossover country album, but instead wanted to explore her family's roots through music.

Cowboy Carter was over five years in the making, with Beyoncé beginning to write the album in 2019 and continuing its recording throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, which she described as her most creative period. The album forms the second installment ("Act II") of a trilogy project that Beyoncé recorded throughout this period. The first act, Renaissance (2022), is primarily a house and disco record highlighting and celebrating the Black progenitors of dance music, leading some to believe that each album of the trilogy would aim to explore the Black roots of a different musical genre. Cowboy Carter was originally intended to be released before Renaissance but Beyoncé changed the order as a response to the pandemic.

Between 2020 and 2024, Dolly Parton said on multiple occasions that she would like Beyoncé to cover her song "Jolene". She first said that "nobody's ever had a really big hit record on " in a December 5, 2020, interview with The Big Issue. She said that even though "the song has been recorded worldwide over 400 times in lots of different languages, by lots of different bands, always hoped somebody might do someday, someone like Beyoncé." On March 10, 2022, when asked by Trevor Noah on The Daily Show about her 2020 statement, she said "I would just love to hear 'Jolene' done in just a big way, kind of like how Whitney did my 'I Will Always Love You', just someone that can take my little songs and make them like powerhouses. That would be a marvellous day in my life if she ever does do 'Jolene'." After publicly showing her support for Beyoncé's 2024 venture into country in February, on March 8, 2024, in an interview with Knox News for the 2024 season opening of Dollywood, Parton said "I think she's recorded 'Jolene' and I think it's probably gonna be on her country album, which I'm very excited about..."

Composition

The joy of creating music is that there are no rules. The more I see the world evolving the more I felt a deeper connection to purity. With artificial intelligence and digital filters and programming, I wanted to go back to real instruments, and I used very old ones. I didn't want some layers of instruments like strings, especially guitars, and organs perfectly in tune. I kept some songs raw and leaned into folk. All the sounds were so organic and human, everyday things like the wind, snaps and even the sound of birds and chickens, the sounds of nature.

— Beyoncé on Cowboy Carter

Beyoncé recorded around 100 songs for the album. Each song is its own reimagined version of a Western film. These include Five Fingers For Marseilles (2017), Urban Cowboy (1980), The Hateful Eight (2015), Space Cowboys (2000), The Harder They Fall (2021), Killers of the Flower Moon (2023), Thelma & Louise (1991), and O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000).

Cowboy Carter is generally described as a country, western and R&B album and blends together various genres including blues, soul, rock, rhythm and blues, zydeco, folk, bluegrass, opera, go-go, flamenco, fado, classic rock, rap, pop, house and Jersey club. The album is presented as a broadcast by a fictional Texas radio station, with country singers Dolly Parton, Linda Martell and Willie Nelson acting as radio DJs. The album features rising country artists Tanner Adell, Brittney Spencer, Tiera Kennedy, Reyna Roberts, Shaboozey and Willie Jones, and also features contributions by musicians such as Stevie Wonder, Nile Rodgers, Raye, and Jon Batiste. The album is cyclical, with the final note looping seamlessly into the beginning of the first track (which begins "Nothing really ends") in the same manner as James Joyce's Finnegans Wake (1939), according to the The Washington Post's Shane O'Neill.

Promotion and release

Beyoncé originally intended to release Cowboy Carter as the first installment of her trilogy project, but explained that "with the pandemic, there was too much heaviness in the world", and so released Renaissance first, because " deserved to dance." The then-untitled album was first announced on February 11, 2024, during Super Bowl LVIII, when Verizon Communications aired a Super Bowl commercial, titled "Can't B Broken", in which Beyoncé tried to "break the Internet" through increasingly outlandish means, such as releasing a jazz saxophone record, performing on top of the Las Vegas Sphere, building an artificial intelligence (AI) version of herself, launching a "BarBEY" (portmanteau of Barbie and Beyoncé) collection, announcing her candidacy for a fictional political position, and flying into space for a performance. After all of the ideas proved unsuccessful, Beyoncé concluded the commercial by remarking: "Okay, they ready. Drop the new music".

Following the broadcast, Beyoncé released a teaser video for Act II on Instagram. Directed by British artist and filmmaker Nadia Lee Cohen, the video pays homage to Paris, Texas (1984), references border blasters and features Chuck Berry's 1955 track "Maybellene". The same day, the singer's official website was updated to announce her eighth studio album, with the placeholder name Act II, scheduled for release on March 29. Subsequently, the album's two lead singles, "Texas Hold 'Em" and "16 Carriages", were simultaneously made available for digital download and streaming. On March 12, Beyoncé announced the album would be titled Cowboy Carter via a teaser poster of a western saddle with a sash. With this she listed album merchandise of limited-edition CDs with a bonus track, T-shirts, and vinyl variants in red, white, blue and standard black.

On March 19, 2024, Beyoncé revealed the album cover via Instagram, and said there would be "surprises" and collaborations on the album. On March 20, she revealed a limited edition exclusive cover, wearing a sash that reads "act ii BEYINCÉ", referencing her mother Tina's generational family surname. Taglines and film stills for the album were projected onto various museums in New York City. One of these was an unauthorized projection onto the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, who genially responded by posting Franz Marc’s 1910 painting Three Horses Drinking with the Texas Hold 'Em-inspired caption "This ain't Texas". Beyoncé also posted co-ordinates to the museum on her Instagram story.

This album has been over five years in the making. It feels good to see how music can unite so many people around the world, while also amplifying the voices of some of the people who have dedicated so much of their lives educating on our musical history. The criticisms I faced when I first entered this genre forced me to propel past the limitations that were put on me. act ii is a result of challenging myself, and taking my time to bend and blend genres together to create this body of work. I hope that you can hear my heart and soul, and all the love and passion that I poured into every detail and every sound. I focused on this album as a continuation of RENAISSANCE…I hope this music is an experience, creating another journey where you can close your eyes, start from the beginning and never stop. This ain't a Country album. This is a "Beyoncé" album.

— Beyoncé via Instagram in March 2024

On March 27, Beyoncé posted a graphic to Instagram of the album's tracklist inspired by vintage posters from the Chitlin' Circuit era. It revealed collaborations with Dolly Parton and Willie Nelson, as well as a cover of the former's "Jolene", and "The Linda Martell Show". The latter song references Linda Martell, the first Black woman to achieve commercial success in the country genre.

The CD release comes in four variants, each with a different rear cover depicting Beyonce, namely "Snake Face", "Bead Face", "Cowboy Hat" and "Blonde Hair". It has been released in Japan as of March 29.

Cover artwork

The Cowboy Carter album cover was shot by Texan photographer Blair Caldwell. Much like the cover for Renaissance—which saw Beyoncé sitting atop a stationary disco ball horse—the Cowboy Carter artwork sees Beyoncé atop a gray Lipizzan at full gallop. She rides the horse sidesaddle (in the style of royalty), dressed in a red, white and blue one-piece, a cowboy hat, and a sash reading "Cowboy Carter". She holds the horse's reins in one hand and a large American flag in the other. The imagery is reminiscent of rodeo queens, who similarly carry the flag while riding their horse after winning the title.

The album cover was a topic of discussion and dissection by critics. Francesca T Royster, professor at DePaul University and author of Black Country Music: Listening for Revolutions, wrote: "The aesthetic choice is bold and seems to be signaling the ways that Beyoncé is putting herself into conversations about nationalism, a theme very much central to discourses about country music, patriotism and authenticity, from the times of its origins." Critics suggested a variety of inspirations and allusions for the cover, including presidential portraits, Jacques-Louis David's Napoleon Crossing the Alps (1801–1805), Marina Abramović's The Hero (2001), Kehinde Wiley's Equestrian Portrait of King Philip II (Michael Jackson) (2009), the Bill Pickett Invitational Rodeo, and Eadweard Muybridge's The Horse in Motion (1878).

Critical reception

Professional ratings

Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	91/100
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic
The Daily Telegraph
The Guardian
The Independent
The Irish Times
The Line of Best Fit	7/10

Cowboy Carter received roaring acclaim from music critics upon release, as per BBC News; many reviews complimented Beyoncé's "impressive" venture into country-pop. On the review aggregator website Metacritic, the album received a weighted average score of 91 from 100 based on reviews in six publications, indicating "universal acclaim".

In a rave review, The Daily Telegraph's Neil McCormick lauded the album as a "masterpiece". He praised the fusion of diverse musical styles with country, the concept of the subject matter, lyrics, vocals and composition. Others who praised Beyoncé's artistry and statement in the album include BBC News's Mark Savage, Robert Moran of The Sydney Morning Herald, Alexis Petridis of The Guardian, and Helen Brown of The Independent.

Evening Standard's Gemma Samways considered the album a correct fusion of innovation and tradition, using the "conventions and lore" of country music as a "springboard for developing thrilling new hybrids". Will Hodgkinson of The Times termed it a "slick and starry Western epic". On the other hand, Melissa Ruggieri of USA Today described the album as Beyoncé's most personal, giving insight into her life as a mother, daughter and wife. In a counterview, Ed Power of The Irish Times felt the album is sometimes "caught in the gravity swell of its own self-worthiness", but praised its overall energetic sound.

Some critics felt that the album would fare better if it were shorter. Petridis suggested that it "might have worked better split into two separate albums", while Hodgkinson said it "would have been better off leaving the remaining seven songs for another album".

Commercial performance

Upon release, Cowboy Carter officially became the most-streamed album in a single day in 2024 on Spotify. The album also marks the most first-day streams for a country album by a female artist in the history of Amazon Music.

Impact

According to NPR, Cowboy Carter sparked conversations on the inclusion of Black artists within the country genre. Cowboy Carter marked a cultural shift for country music and made it accessible to a wider audience, according to CBS News.

BBC News' Daisy Woodward wrote that Beyoncé's embrace of country music "galvanises" the reclamation of western culture by those who have felt excluded by it and subverts the traditional image of cowboys. NBC News's Emi Tuyetnhi Tran felt the album has potential to redefine what it means to be a country artist "in the cultural consciousness".

The album spotlighted Black musicians in the country music space and boosted their listenership. Black female country musicians saw a significant increase in streams due to the album, such as Reyna Roberts (250 percent), Rissi Palmer (110 percent), Tanner Adell (188 percent) and K. Michelle (185 percent). According to NPR's Amanda Marie Martínez writes, the album revealed the "strong demand" for country music made by Black artists and a "growing community" of Black country fans. In The Tennessean, Andrea Williams opined that Beyoncé opened the door for others in country music, proving Black songwriters, producers, and musicians belong in the genre.

Programmers in a number of country stations reported that the album increased the reception of their radio stations. Beyoncé's embrace of country music and culture further ignited fashion trends and boosted sales of Western wear. Google searches for "bolo tie", "cowboy hat", and "cowboy boots" surged following the announcement of the album.

Track listing

Digital version

Physical version

Notes

• "Blackbiird" is a cover of the Beatles' "Blackbird", written by Lennon–McCartney.
• "Protector" features spoken word by Rumi Carter.
• "Smoke Hour Willie Nelson" is stylized as "Smoke Hour ★ Willie Nelson"; it also features a spoken word radio-style interlude by Willie Nelson, and snippets of "Maybellene" by Chuck Berry, "Don’t Let Go" by Roy Hamilton and "Down by the River Side" by Rosetta Tharpe.
• "Dolly P" features a spoken word voice-mail-style interlude by Dolly Parton.
• "Jolene" is a cover of Dolly Parton's song of the same name, written by Parton herself, although it features significant lyric changes.
• "Daughter" interpolates the aria "Caro Mio Ben", written and composed by Tommaso Giordani.
• "Spaghettii" features spoken word by Linda Martell, and contains a sample of Dedé Mandrake's song "Aquecimento – Vem Vem Vai Vai".
• "Smoke Hour II" features a spoken word radio interlude by Willie Nelson.
• "II Most Wanted" interpolates Fleetwood Mac's song "Landslide", written by Stevie Nicks.
• "The Linda Martell Show" features spoken word by Linda Martell.
• "Ya Ya" contains a sample of "These Boots Are Made for Walkin'", written by Lee Hazelwood and originally performed by Nancy Sinatra; it also interpolates The Beach Boys' song "Good Vibrations", written by Brian Wilson and Mike Love.
• "Oh Louisiana" contains a sample of Chuck Berry's song of the same name, written by Berry himself.
• "II Hands II Heaven" contains a sample of Underworld's song "Born Slippy Nuxx", written by Rick Smith, Karl Hyde and Darren Emerson.
• "Tyrant" features spoken word by Dolly Parton.
• "Sweet Honey Buckiin'" is stylized as "Sweet ★ Honey ★ Buckiin'"; it also interpolates Patsy Cline's song "I Fall to Pieces", written by Hank Cochran and Harlan Howard.
• "Spaghettii", "Flamenco", "The Linda Martell Show", "Ya Ya" and "Oh Louisiana" are not included on the initial vinyl pressings of the album
• indicates a co-producer
• indicates an additional producer

See also

• 2024 in country music
• Black cowboys
• African-American trail rides

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• 2024 albums
• Albums impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic
• Albums produced by Beyoncé
• Albums produced by Dave Hamelin
• Beyoncé albums
• Columbia Records albums
• Parkwood Entertainment albums
• Sequel albums
• Country albums by American artists
• Gospel albums by American artists