BEYONCÉ’S EIGHTH LP MADE ITS DIZZYING DROP THIS SPRING, AND LEAVE IT TO SOUL-POP’S REIGNING QUEEN BEY (AND TEXAS NATIVE) TO RELEASE THE HOTTEST COUNTRY MUSIC ALBUM OF THE YEAR
BY DAN SALAMONE
Roughly 100,000,000 million words (and 5,000,000 blog posts) have already been spent singing the virtues of Beyoncé her unimpeachable talent, her movie-idol glam our/charisma, and her ability to stay relevant across four different decades (Destiny’s Child released their debut album in 1998). We won’t do that here, as we have neither the space nor the inclination to put you through a long-winded academic treatise on the metatextual genius of Beyoncé as it relates to the intersection of capitalism and third wave feminism, etc. (Not that this writer couldn’t do so if pressed.) Instead, let’s examine the freshness and brilliance (in both songs and ideas) of her eighth studio album, Cowboy Carter.
As glamorous and worldly as Queen Bey is today, it’s easy to forget she stems from deep Texas country roots (Houston, specifically). The music and lyrics in Cowboy Carter reflect the pull between who she was then, and who she is now. “They used to say I spoke too country,” Beyoncé croons. “Then the rejection came, said I wasn’t, country enough.” The rich catalogue of samples found on the album include cameos from Patsy Cline, Dolly Parton, and Buffalo Springfield, all evoking bucolic rural beauty. To counterbalance that, you’ll also hear artists like ‘90s U.K. EDM heroes Underworld (via their all-time club banger “Born Slippy NUXX”) and her famously NYC-bred husband, Jay-Z, bringing a vital urban electricity to the mix, too.
There isn’t a sour note to be found in the whole album. Covers of The Beatles’ “Blackbird” and Dolly Parton’s “Jolene” are faithful to the original songs, but finished with the gorgeous glossy dazzle that Beyoncé employs so well on her biggest hits. The real standout among all the finger-snapping enchantment is one of the album’s final tracks, “II Hands II Heaven.” It’s a country song in lyrics only, its words a kind of whiskey soaked paean to an intense physical connection with a partner who also invokes jealousy. (Is Becky-with-the-Good-Hair back?) The music is impeccably sensual early ‘00s electronica, and not just because it samples Underworld. It has the surging rush of a wild night clubbing, then ends in perfect relaxation in the after-party chillout room. It’s all the album’s moods synthesized and summarized in 352 lovely seconds.
Beyoncé
