COWBOY CARTER – Beyoncé

★★★★☆

COWBOY CARTER is not a country album – it’s rich musical survey of the past, present, and future of the American South

After just under two months of anticipation, speculation and theorising, Beyoncé’s eighth album has finally strolled into town. With a new horse (and a new hair colour) the cover of COWBOY CARTER is worthy enough of its own review, as shown by the numerous breakdowns and think pieces – but to me it’s meaning is as clear as day: Beyoncé is here to face it all – the history, the critics and the music. Stoic and statuesque, it sets the scene for this mammoth of an album that plays out like the past, present and future musical history of the American South.

Beyoncé is right, this is NOT a country album – it’s an American one. Across its twenty-seven tracks, she weaves together country, folk, rock, psychedelic funk, trap, bounce and even opera to tell a story of reclamation. Though all of these genres would feel different from one another in any other setting, in the world of COWBOY CARTER, they feel distinctly American. The album begins with AMERIICAN REQUIEM, whose opening rotes reference the ‘1812 Overture’ by Tchaikovsky commonly played on American Independence Day, and Beyoncé lays out her intentions clear as day: ‘Nothing really ends / For things to stay the same, they have to change again… American Requiem / Them big ideas, are buried here’. Reading deeper, these opening lines are talking about racism, and in particular American white supremacy – whose face has changed from colonisers to slave masters to the KKK to the American police force. These systemic issues are still as present as ever, because at the heart all of the controversy around Beyoncé doing country music is just some ‘good ‘ol’ alienation and racism, plain as day.

It’s safe to say that ‘big ideas’ are present all across COWBOY CARTER, but not all deal with the current State of the Union. The flow of the album is chaptered by the introduction of the fictional radio station KNTRY Radio Texas, with Willie Nelson as its host. Harking back to the Mexican Border Radios of the 1930s and 40s that helped country music flourish, and bolstered the careers of early artists like The Carter Family, is the strongest concept on this album in my eyes. I wish so badly that she had leaned into this more and had structured the whole album as a radio-like broast, similar to how RENAISSANCE is structured, more or less, as a mix. But even with just the two ‘SMOKE HOUR’ interludes, as well as the other interludes, the album’s chapters are still distinguishable. ‘THE LINDA MARTELL SHOW’ introduces the latter third of the album, warning listeners that ‘this particular tune stretches across a range of genres’, setting the scene for a track-run that is some of the most compelling music Beyoncé has ever made.

In fact, what has made this album so overwhelming to breakdown is that it doesn’t sound like anything she has ever made before. I feel as thought I’m being introduced to an entirely new artist, whose musical point-of-view is so rich and detailed that’s almost hard to comprehend. Beyoncé is a music history nerd’s dream, and the more I learn about the deep references on this album the more in awe I am of the sheer gravity of her conceptual thinking. What’s remarkable is that by normal standards, RENAISSANCE was already an incredible history lesson, but COWBOY CARTER feels like a research project gone wild.

But what about the music? I LOVE IT. The more I listen to this album, the more it tickles my ears in all the way best ways. I’ll try to detail some of my favourite moments but the list is ever-growing. ‘BODYGUARD’ is a standout for me, with it’s breezy guitar and lush piano hits – it has the same carefree energy as ‘CUFF IT’, arriving at a similar time in the pacing of their respective albums. The tenderness of ‘PROTECTOR’ made me very teary eyed on my first listen and continues to be one of my favourite tracks. As predicted, ‘SWEET ★ HONEY ★ BUCKIIN’’ gave me everything I need and more, and I am obsessed with the parallels to ‘PURE / HONEY’ on RENAISSANCE (would love for HONEY to be one song that’s been split up across the albums that then gets put together somehow like Kelela’s ‘Go All Night’ from Cut4Me). But the ultimate standout for me is ‘YA YA’, which roars and soars with an energy that is so palpable you just can’t help but feel a current running through your veins. Vocally, this is Beyoncé’s best album, hands down – and what a treat that 25+ years into her career she is still finding new ways to use her voice. The guttural screeches on ‘AMERIICAN REQUIEM’ and ‘YA YA’, are insane and proves that she wasn’t joking when she said in the RWT that she has ‘transitioned  into a new animal.’ The entire track run from ‘YA YA’ to ‘AMEN’ is probably the most creative and unique section of the album and is a testament to how wild Beyoncé’s mind is.

And even though some of the tracks are straight down the middle ‘country’, she still bends and blends other Southern sounds together in a way only she can. Beyoncé works like an old master, overseeing the final product while her ‘students’ fill out the canvas before she comes in to weave it all together with the finer details. This vision allows for tracks like ‘SPAGHETTII’ and ‘TYRANT’ to exist and still feel congruent to this COWBOY CARTER world.

I would be remiss to not discuss the most special collaborations on this album for me. To have THEE Dolly Parton speak on ‘DOLLY P’ and introduce Beyoncé’s well-earned lyrical update to ‘JOLENE’ has made my day, month, year, and life. The scornful Beyoncé on ‘Sorry’ felt so alone in her rage, but with Dolly’s backing her version of ‘JOLENE’ oozes with a reassuring confidence that she will sort this hussy out and keep her man in the process. ‘II MOST WANTED’ with Miley frickin’ Cyrus just feels so incredible surreal and every time I listen to it, I’m shocked by how perfect their voices align. I didn’t even have Miley on a Wishlist of collabs for this album, but now I couldn’t imagine it without her.

This album is not perfect, and its length does hinder its listenability for non-stans. I do feel also that there are some tracks on here whose purpose is more conceptual than logical when it comes to creating a cohesive body of work. Beyoncé’s version of ‘BLACKBIIRD’ is touching and highlights McCartney’s original intention when writing the song, but in the scheme of the album it doesn’t really add much. The somewhat short ‘MY ROSE’ and ‘FLAMENCO’ are stripped back lullabies that allow Beyoncé’s vocal arranging abilities to shine but do little to advance the album or contribute to its overarching concepts. Though I am coming to not feel the length as much on repeated listens, I do think the album could’ve been stronger without them.

All in all, COWBOY CARTER is a wildly impressive take on American music styles that leaves little to be desired. I don’t even want to thinking about act iii but the only thing I know is that I am not ready. Until then, I’ll be kicking up my cowboy boots and drinking a nice cold one on a sun-soaked porch, feeling grateful for my life and for god damn Beyoncé.