2024-03-29 14:31:32
image copyrightBeyoncé / Instagram
Caption,
With her single Texas Hold ‘Em, Beyoncé became the first black singer to top Billboard’s country music chart.
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“This is not a country album, it’s a Beyoncé album,” was what the singer herself said regarding her new work, Cowboy Carter, which was released this Friday.
And critics and fans around the world have confirmed that the new album – which is inspired by the country music of the rural regions of the southern United States – shows that Beyoncé is “impressively capable of doing whatever she wants,” as he highlighted. Alexis Petridis, music expert for the British newspaper The Guardian.
The popular singer’s eighth studio album includes duets with Miley Cyrus and Post Malone, as well as covers of Dolly Parton’s Jolene and The Beatles’ Blackbird.
Country singers Willie Nelson and Linda Martell also appear.
Page Six critic Nicholas Hautman calls it “the renaissance country music desperately needed.”
image copyrightBeyonce / Parkwood
Caption,
On Cowboy Carter, Beyoncé includes duets with Miley Cyrus and Post Malone, as well as covers of Dolly Parton’s Jolene and The Beatles’ Blackbird.
For Hautman, the new album has all the elements to be a period album as it is a “moving celebration of southern values and the African-American roots of the genre.”
“She didn’t disappoint,” one fan commented on X, while another social media user called Beyoncé’s voice “the best of her career.”
“I didn’t feel welcome”
The new album was preceded by two singles – Texas Hold ‘Em and 16 Carriages – that shook the traditional foundations of country music.
Both singles became instant streaming hits, and with Texas Hold ‘Em, Beyoncé became the first black singer to top Billboard’s country music chart.
It also topped the UK Singles Chart for the first time in almost 14 years.
image copyrightBeyonce / Parkwood
Caption,
For some experts, the 27-song album feels “a little long.”
However, Nashville, considered the cradle of country music in the United States, reacted indifferently, as if with a shrug, giving it modest airplay on the city’s country radio stations.
It was pretty much what Beyoncé expected.
Being born in Texas, she might have assumed that country music is a genre of her idiosyncrasy, but last week she wrote on her Instagram account that her new album “was born from an experience I had years ago in which I didn’t feel welcome”.
It is likely that he was referring to his performance at the 2016 Country Music Awards, for which he received a lot of criticism.
In her post, Beyoncé stated that the experience, without directly referring to that night, prompted her to “dive deeper into country history.”
image copyrightGetty Images
Caption,
Beyoncé has been able to add country music to the impressive repertoire of musical genres she has performed throughout her career.
The verdict
Mark Savage, BBC correspondent and music critic, said: “Cowboy Carter is an explosion of memorable, engaging songs that are theatrical, lugubrious, playful, amorous, whimsical and carnal, often at the same time.”
He added that throughout its 27 songs (which some experts consider make the album too long), it manages to capture the “sonic elements of country and turn them into something unique.”
For Savage, the fact that the genres overlap perfectly demonstrates Beyoncé’s technical mastery, but also her central thesis: “the marginalization of outsiders in Nashville, and of black women in particular, weakens the music in the long term.” ”.
“The mere fact that Beyoncé plays in the field of country is a statement: ‘This music should be for everyone, damn the gatekeepers,’” added the BBC specialist, citing a melody with which Beyoncé closes the album.
“Old ideas are buried here. Amen.”
*Incorporates texts by Noor Nanji and Mark Savage.
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