The Beyoncé masterful country-ish album

 

COWBOY CARTER - BEYONCÉ

    Last year I was completely obsessed with RENAISSANCE. Mostly because of my girlfriend, but also because of its unique approach to dance music and how it performed with no regards to genre, no knots were tied in an attempt to make a purely dance album, but instead an album you'll dance your heart to regardless of mood. We had R&B hits in PLASTIC OFF THE SOFA and almost gospel like vocal harmonies in most of the tracks. So when Act II was announced to be a "country album", I knew that wasn't gonna tell the whole story of the narrative. And even Beyoncé said the iconic but almost cringe-worthy sentence of "This isn't a country album, this is a Beyoncé album". She's right. We have everything we come to want of a Beyoncé album, creative hooks, vocal harmonies and a one-of-a-kind attitude.

    It all starts off with that very vocal harmony that only Beyoncé's indistinguishable timbre can garner, AMERIICAN REQUIEM. In the opener she tackles the systemic racism that often just finds ways to hide itself among the crowd, while painting over black culture, like how they did with country, and that perhaps COWBOY CARTER is a way to reclaim country as a part of black culture.

    Impressively, and much unlike Act I, Act II is a lot more open about its politics. While RENAISSANCE often led its representation through performance, like interpolating Big Freedia's “Explode" and bringing on tour a variety of gender, racial and sexual identities, COWBOY CARTER goes a step further into explicitly talking about the subjects in its music and interludes.

    The album continues with a cover of BLACKBIRD by The Beatles, a song written by Paul McCartney, that was inspired by the civil rights movement of the US in the 60's. the track features a bit of vocals from 4 other black women in country, Tanner Adell, Brittney Spencer, Tiera Kennedy & Reyna Roberts, who perform the 3rd Verse perfectly. 

    16 CARRIAGES continues the album with an epic ballad that tackles a difficult childhood, in which Beyoncé is forced to grow up quicker than her foes due to hardship and loss. The album feels really consistent sonically in the first half and the transition to other styles happens progressively on the second third of the tracklist, with BODYGUARD presenting a more Pop beat, resembling a bit of her starting years as a solo act, like Single Ladies and Crazy In Love. What ties the tracks together as a single cohesive piece is mainly the steel guitar, a staple from Country that at points is the only thing tying certain tracks to the genre, like in the brazilian funk extravaganza that is SPAGHETTII, mixing the steel guitar as a lead in itself. The track also starts with an interlude from Linda Martell talking about how genres are something to be explored with, not to be tied to.

    Genres aren't the only thing Beyoncé plays with on the album, but with a cover of Dolly Parton's Jolene, B also plays with lyrics, bringing the song to her reality, reviving a bit of the vengeful Beyoncé we saw in Lemonade. Instead of the deafeated tone Parton approached the song with initially, B takes a more protectful stance, kind of going "no, you will not take my man and I'll make sure of it." The interlude before it also hints at the line "He only want me when I'm not there; He better call Becky with the good hair" from Sorry.

    YA YA celebrates the Chitlin Circuit, a series of venues and concerts focused on the development of black culture in the US during Jim Crow. It's one of the best tracks on here with a fierce energy, really making you feel like you're at a black venue enjoying great music. It's one of the more country tracks on the later half. 

    The features Bey brings to the album are very on the money, bringing many country classics like Dolly Parton, Willie Nelson and Linda Martell. Later on the album Beyoncé also brings a bit of that millenial strength with Miley Cyrus, featuring an amazing duet in II MOST WANTED. I always thought Miley's voice was made for country (kinda like Beyoncé's herself), and their duet just prove that to me even more. The song that follows is a Post Malone feature, I haven't felt too connected to Post Malone's more Country strides, and it turns out to be an ok song, but I don't like Post's voice on it. The second to last song on the album is a feature with Shaboozey. It goes very hard, progressively more House and its easily one of my favourite tracks.

    The songs that mix the more housy beats with the acoustic guitar are easily my favourites, RIIVERDANCE is pretty much a purely house song, without much structure but with a lot of grip. On the other hand I do feel like the more acoustic and laid back tracks get more tiring with time, like LEVII'S JEANS and JUST FOR FUN. The album closes out like it started, with a beautiful vocal harmony with a bunch of Beyoncés.

    Despite the  27 track run, Beyoncé's Act II is quite an easily digestible listen for its 71 minutes, a lot of that is thanks to the incredible amount of interludes the album has, spoken passages from important names in country, short snippets that end up serving as bridges between songs... It's a very delightful listen and easily one that's gonna stick with me at least until the end of the year (I don't really have a choice, I date a beehive member).

Favourite Tracks: 16 CARRIAGES, BODYGUARD, SPAGHETTII, YA YA, SWEET ★ HONEY ★ BUCKIIN'

Decent 9/10