The first wave of reviews for Beyonce’s first country album, Cowboy Carter, is in and they are heaping praise on Queen Bey.
Cowboy Carter is the 42-year-old Houston native’s first foray into the genre, having already garnered attention with covers of Dolly Parton’s Jolene and The Beatles’ Blackbird.
The album dropped at 12am ET/9pm PT on Thursday, and one review even claims the singer could “revive” the country music genre entirely.
That review comes from Page six Critic Nicholas Hautman, whose first line of the review is: “Country music is on life support.”
He adds that Cowboy Carter is “the revival country music so desperately needed,” calling the 27-track album “instantly timeless.”
The first wave of reviews for Beyonce’s first country album, Cowboy Carter, is in and they are heaping praise on Queen Bey.
Cowboy Carter is the 42-year-old Houston native’s first foray into the genre, having already garnered attention with covers of Dolly Parton’s Jolene and The Beatles’ Blackbird.
The album dropped at 12am ET/9pm PT on Thursday, and one review even claims the singer could “revive” the country music genre entirely.
The review adds that Cowboy Carter is a “poignant celebration of Southern values and the genre’s African-American roots,” adding that the singer stated that she recorded the album after feeling “unwelcome” while presenting at the 2016 CMA Awards.
One of the most anticipated tracks is Bey’s cover of Dolly Parton’s 1973 classic Jolene, which features Parton herself attacking the now infamous ‘Becky with the good hair’ before the track.
He adds that Bey “pours gasoline on her already fiery lyrics, with menacing twists including: ‘I can easily understand why you’re attracted to my man/But you don’t want this smoke, so shoot for someone else.'”
The review also highlights their cover of Blackbird, the 1968 Beatles classic that Paul McCartney wrote about racial tension in the American South.
“His moving performance is a milestone in his career, an impressive feat for a superstar whose catalog is filled with unforgettable moments,” he adds.
The timesWill Hodgkinson admitted that the album is “too long”, but “has a refreshing sense of fun and adventure”.
“When news hit that Beyoncé was releasing a country album, it sparked all kinds of debate about the genre’s African-American roots and its appropriation of American patriotic imagery on the cover. And she seems to have guessed it when she came up with the songs,” he added.
“There’s a lot of talking while I’m singing my song,” she sings on American Requiem, an epic that falls somewhere between country lament, psychedelic ballad, and modern pop. “Can we defend something?” She asks,” she says.
The review adds that Cowboy Carter is a “poignant celebration of Southern values and the genre’s African-American roots,” adding that the singer stated that she recorded the album after feeling “unwelcome” while presenting at the 2016 CMA Awards.
One of the most anticipated songs is Bey’s cover of Dolly Parton’s 1973 classic Jolene, which features Parton herself slamming the now-infamous ‘Becky with the good hair’ before the song.
Hodgkinson admits that the album is “stylistically all over the place,” but adds that it also “expands Beyoncé’s reach.”
The GuardianAlexis Petridis also praised the American Requiem, adding that it is more of a “state of the nation address.”
She also talked about Jolene, mentioning that Parton herself has long pushed for Bey to record her own version, commenting on the new lyrics.
He claims that Jolene boasts “a new middle octave and coda along with fresh lyrics that replace the desperate threats of the original with boastful menaces and threats.”
Petridis admits that songs like Daughter (‘a murder ballad-style narrative’) and 16 Carriages (‘recasting her early years in Destiny’s Child in Nashville-friendly terms’) can be ‘a little harsh’, although she admits that both are ‘great’. songs’.
Since the second half of the album “goes crazy,” he wonders if Bey might have been better off splitting it into two albums, though “Cowboy Carter still proves that Beyoncé is impressively capable of doing whatever she wants.”
The Sydney Morning HeraldRobert Moran of Robert Moran adds that Cowboy Carter “functions very similarly to 2022’s Renaissance, Beyoncé’s revival of dance music’s black roots,” adding that Cowboy Carter is the second album in her Renaissance trilogy.
He also praises Daughter as “an evocative murder ballad that combines flamenco and fado,” and Spaghetti, “a drill-meets-Sergio Leone cut where Beyoncé furiously sings ‘I’m not in any gang, but I’ve got shooters and bang.” bang!”‘
The Guardian’s Alexis Petridis also praised American Requiem, adding that it is more of a “state of the nation address”;
Moran adds that “I can’t wait to hear how country radio or the Grammys handle Sweet Honey Buckin, an epic song that begins with Beyonce reverently covering Patsy Cline’s I Fall To Pieces and ends singing “Buck it, like a Mechanical Bull!” over a forceful rhythm of the Jersey Club.
The BBC’s Mark Savage also echoed Beyoncé’s statement that “this is not a country album.” It’s a Beyonce album,’ as he demonstrates how she turns the genre on its head.
“Across 27 intertwined songs and interludes, Cowboy Carter throws a lasso around country’s sonic signifiers and turns them into something unique: Appalachian fiddles blend with pop melodies and lap steel guitars underline rap verses. with sub-bass that crushes the speakers,” says Savage.
She adds: “That the genres overlap so seamlessly is a testament to Beyoncé’s technical mastery, but also to her central thesis: that the marginalization of outsiders in Nashville, and of black women in particular, weakens the music in the long run. “.