When Madonna pulled on a cowboy hat, I didn’t care if she knew anything about rodeo culture. The same should be allowed for Beyoncé, writes critic Arttu Seppänen.
Pop / Albums
Beyoncé: Cowboy Carter. Parkwood Entertainment / Columbia.
★★★
See in my mind, the record company’s fancy meeting room and conference table with a hay bale-high checklist laid out on it.
The most important thing is not to make mistakes in your life.
Beyoncé are the world’s biggest pop stars and Cowboy Carter a record made with neurotic precision down to every detail. Always starting with marketing.
Before the release of the album Beyoncé told, that he decided to make a country record after receiving negative feedback about his performance with the Chicks in 2016. The conservative division of American country circles showed Trump’s at the dawn of the reign, at that time he regained his strength and roared his racist stories.
If in this time, there is one story above the others in the marketing of art, it is the story of the victim. But no matter how much I patch up the banjo with foreclosure letters, I can’t get the very suffering victim built out of Beyoncé who lives in a $200 million home.
The starting points of classic country are in the stories of the poor and the working class, whose pain points can be found in the pitfalls of love, money and health problems, alcoholism and family breakdown. There are victims in those stories. That’s why Beyoncé also needs to prove that she belongs.
Before the release date, the sad story sets a safe landing pad for the album, with which the album will basically be received.
Before the release, Beyoncé also declared that this is not a country record, but a Beyoncé record. A Bosslady-like statement already invalidates the possible evaluation of the album in the context of country.
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The album is at its best when Beyoncé seems to be genuinely having fun.
of the United States in the world outside the country charts, where the genre boundaries of contemporary pop have exploded ages ago, this seems mostly like strawmaning. At the same time, the number one spots on the country charts are fine for Beyoncé the records to be made with them.
American Requiem is the artist’s typical pompous start to the album, where the United States is addressed as one nation and the otherness wakes you up to look around. In it, Beyoncé also references her 2016 performance when she was told she wasn’t country enough.
Beyoncé makes sure that after this album, no one can tell her that. The 80-minute and 27-song set features several guests from the industry as well as interludes that include speaking parts from well-known country stars. They each give a different validation to the disc.
Dolly Partonin and Willie Nelsonin role on the negotiating table checklist is to be on the record telling conservative white audiences that Beyoncé is country enough.
Kantrilegenda Linda Martellin the role is to tell that Beyoncé is country enough, because she also knows the history of black country. Tanner Adelin, Reyna Robertsin, Tiera Kennedy’s and Brittney Spencerin contemporary artists like
With them, Beyoncé covered the album Blackbirdin. The Beatles loan worn by ship troubadours is not included because it’s a nice song. Paul McCartney wrote Blackbirdin once because of segregation and the song spoke for black rights.
It’s one of many Blackbirdversions, nothing more. The same description fits the one borrowed from Dolly Parton To Jolene. Already on the second listen, both skip with pleasure.
Wonderfully cheeky Bodyguard is closest to the other Texas Hold ‘Em – an obvious hit like the single. You must have been listened to while doing that Gwen Stefani and Akonin paragraph The Sweet Escape. Overall, rhythmically fun and productively rich 16 Carriages stands out in comparison to the lead single.
Like In the opening part of Beyoncé’s album trilogy Renaissance (2022), the production is pure luxury and thought out down to the last drawing. There is plenty of organic music at a time when it’s easiest to do things differently, but we also rely on electronica and house influences at just the right moments.
And everything can be found because we can and know how. In Daughter catch a glimpse of the opera, Miley Cyrusin a classic country duet made with is like being shown to an artificial intelligence Thelma & Louise: make a song about it.
It’s even a little sad that Beyoncé is under so much pressure to prove herself in inspired country that Cowboy Carterilla she submits to playing by the rules dictated by scumbags who think Beyoncé isn’t country enough.
I think the English language has a suitable saying for this: who cares?
Levy creates a hyper-self-aware world with all the right intertextual references in the right places and the worst fear is that someone will come along and accuse you of pseudo-country. That’s why the record has quite a lot of recognizable country code to the point of comedy: Levis jeans, belt buckles, line dancing, whiskey and rodeos.
Because of its self-awareness, the album is even claustrophobic in places. When everything is thought out for the listener, some of the songs remain prisoners of their own meta-conversations. The 27-song album is also unhelpfully too long.
Despite all of this, it’s good that there are figures like Beyoncé in pop who want to say something with an album and create a clear world with it. An interlude playing imitating a Texas radio broadcast Chuck Berryno Elvis. Beyoncé jumps into the rodeo and is the entertainer Cowboy Carter, whose reference point is the Chitlin’ Circuit, where blacks were also able to perform during segregation.
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Before there was a list pop, now it’s a checklist pop.
Musically in terms of career and credibility, Beyoncé does the same thing as, for example David Bowie and Madonna have done before him. The possibility of eclecticism between albums is a status symbol for a superstar. Beyoncé, however, has learned from their mistakes and does meticulous work in all sectors.
It didn’t matter to me as a listener in 2000, when Madonna pulled on a cowboy hat, whether she knew anything about rodeo culture. Beyoncé should be allowed the same.
Real courage in this time would be a clumsy justification: I made a country record because country is trending and I wanted to use cool textures.
That’s why the record is at its best when Beyoncé genuinely seems to be having fun. In a mess Ya Ya:ssa he imagines himself on the Chitlin’ Circuit and lets go. Let’s quote in passing Nancy Sinatraa and Beach Boys and ass swinging.
Beyoncé was right when she said this is not a country record. Cowboy Carter is rather a testament to the pressures of the pop and entertainment industries in the age of content warnings.
Before was a list pop, now is a checklist pop. Instead of catchy hits Cowboy Carterilla the calculation is related to not being caught for a single rule violation. Maybe some redneck can be provoked From Blackbirdbut it’s only for the benefit of the record and its message.
By the end of the album, every box on the hay bale-high list has been ticked. The performance is neurotic and almost perfect. Forget the rules for love, here come the rules for pop music.