Despite drawing on the kitsch and fun of '70s and '80s country music, Cowboy Carter it has an air of melancholy, a quality that echoes through the scores of songs in minor keys about loneliness on the spectrum. But there's also a musical theatricality, like when Beyoncé and Miley Cyrus “Leather and Lace” across outlaw country on the ride-or-die track “II Most Wanted.” Or on the amazing 'Ya Ya', where the electrifying live band is in funky mule mode while Bey kicks, squirms, pulls and shimmies her way through a working man's life. “Red all over that white and blue…History can't be erased,” he says, before calling out the racial wage gap and predatory mortgage company Fannie Mae along with a sample from country and rock creator Chuck Berry. roll Suspension, as with Renaissance, is to dance through the pain and “keep my Bible on the dash.” They are not permanent solutions, but at least it will make sure you have a good time doing it.
The sound of live instruments is unique to Beyoncé, but the versatility of her voice remains incredible. On tracks like “Protector” and “Daughter,” her high notes are occasionally shaped like slide guitar, a breathy technique that's distinctly country, but only sounds natural when a singer is in complete control, as Beyoncé always is. The looseness of the acoustic instruments suits her, particularly when she lets herself languish in the wetness of a song like “Alliigator Tears” or sings in her lower register on “Just for Fun.” He doesn't need to go back over a horse for the sentiment to resonate.
Beyoncé's persona has become an American icon, and her size tends to overshadow everything in front of her, regardless of the medium. The side effect of this is that some of Cowboy CarterHis songs feel small and inappropriate for Beyoncé's stature. “Levii's Jeans,” her signature duet with Post Malone, is a pale attempt at modern country that already has was used in a marketing ploy; the Fleetwood Mac undertones in “Bodyguard” feel stock for an album of his Cowboy Carterhis ambitions. On the buzzy “Jolene” cover, requested and co-signed by Dolly herself, Bey transforms his plea into a warning, putting the power back into her own hands (and dubbing herself “Louisiana Creole banjee bitch,” another thread between Acts I and II). “Jolene” is also one of the most covered songs in history, a choice that requires confidence that, at least in those three minutes, it will belong to you. Like her version of Donna Summer's “I Feel Love” at the end of it Renaissance“Jolene” remains on loan.
But Cowboy Carter is another volume in Beyoncé's years-long project to surface and pay homage to black culture, the way she showed the queer dance underground. Renaissance and HBCU media Returning home. It's still crazy that it can spark this kind of dialogue on such a massive scale. For weeks, both social and mainstream media have been locked in debates about the history of black country musicians, a sort of corrective to the American music canon. On gospel album closer “Amen,” a companion to “Ameriican Requiem,” he refers to the fact that the United States was built by enslaved blacks—”The statues they made were beautiful/But they were lies of stone”—and circles back to the motive his incident Cowboy Carter: that what he experienced at the CMAs is part of an America that, you may have heard, is in trouble. Although lyrics like “Can we stand for something?” may be vague, her message is pretty clear. Beyoncé, too, is American, so you should.
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