Beyonce’s latest album Cowboy Carter is starting to make its way across for fans, on Friday, March 29, and Bey’s eighth studio album has already landed in Australia.
Much buzz on social media shows that there are collabs with Miley Cyrus and Post Malone (among others) and cameos from country legends Dolly Parton and Willie Nelson. All in all, the album features a whopping 27 tracks, including interludes.
Parton and Nelson are featured on the album as DJs on the album’s conceptual KNTRY radio station, introducing various tracks.
Parton intros Beyoncé’s loose cover of her 1973 classic “Jolene,” with updated lyrics that are quite a bit more…combative. ‘Cause Bey don’t play when it comes to her man.
Country icon Linda Martell, the first known Black female country star, also appears in the interlude for the track “Ya Ya,” which features an interpolation of the Beach Boys’ hit “Good Vibrations.” And that’s not the only nod to classic rock: Bey also covers the Beatles’ beloved ballad “Blackbird,” off their White Album.
Cyrus’ voice appears on the track “II Most Wanted” while Post Malone is a guest on the track “Levii’s Jeans,” and country and hip-hop artist Shaboozey pops up on “Spaghettii.”
Cowboy Carter also includes contributions from Black country artists such as Rhiannon Giddens, Tanner Adell, and Willie Jones.
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Beyoncé kicked up her new era in February, when she surprise-dropped a pair of singles—“Texas Hold ‘Em” and “16 Carriages”—during the Super Bowl. “Act 2: Cowboy Carter” is the long-awaited follow-up to 2022’s “Renaissance,” which the singer initially revealed would be a three-part project. While the first leaned heavily on club and dance music, “Act 2” is expected to be a country album, as Beyoncé herself explained that she was inspired to dig into the genre after an incident where she did not feel “welcomed.”
Many assumed this was a reference to the 2016 performance at the Country Music Association Awards, where the star performed with the Dixie Chicks, known as that stage name at the time. The appearance caused a lot of fans in the country genre to show displeasure that Queen B had a prominent spot at the show.
In a long note posted on Instagram, Beyoncé explained that this incident inspired her to study the origins of country music. “It 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,” she said. “But, because of that experience, I did a deeper dive into the history of Country music and studied our rich musical archive.”
Work on “Act 2” began five years ago, and in addition to collaborations with Raphael Saadiq, Robert Randolph and Rhiannon Giddens, she has more surprises in store for the album.
