Beyonce’s highly anticipated country album “Act II: Cowboy Carter” is now available.
Beyonce’s highly anticipated country album “Act II: Cowboy Carter” is now available.(IG/BEYONCÉ, CNN via CNN Newsource)
The album was released Friday, featuring a whopping 27 tracks, including the two hit singles “Texas Hold ‘Em” and “16 Carriages.”
It also features several collaborations with artists including Willie Nelson, Miley Cyrus, Post Malone, Linda Martell, Shaboozey, and more.
The album also includes several covers, including songs like Dolly Parton’s classic “Jolene,” The Beatles’ “Blackbird,” and Chuck Berry’s “Oh Louisiana.”
Last week, Beyonce said in an Instagram post that the album was born from an experience in which she did not feel welcomed.
The singer said the album has been “over five years in the making” and was “born out of an experience that I had years ago where I did not feel welcomed… and it was very clear that I wasn’t.”
Beyonce said because of that experience, she dove deeper into the history of country music and wanted to challenge herself, “taking my time to bend and blend genres together to create this body of work.”
While the singer did not say what experience she is referring to, fans have widely speculated that she is talking about the reception of her performance at the 2016 Country Music Association Awards with the Chicks, the Washington Post reported.
According to the Washington Post, many viewers argued that Beyonce didn’t belong in the genre, and much of the criticism was seen as racially and politically charged in the wake of her liberal-leaning “Lemonade” album.
But now, Beyonce has dominated the country charts with her single “Texas Hold ‘Em” – which has now spent six weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart – and more people seem to be excited about her new venture into country music.
“I feel honored to be the first Black woman with the number one single on the Hot Country Songs chart,” Beyonce continued in her Instagram post last week. “That would not have happened without the outpouring of support from each and every one of you. My hope is that years from now, the mention of an artist’s race, as it relates to releasing genres of music, will be irrelevant.”
Country music superstars like Dolly Parton have welcomed Beyonce into the genre with open arms.
“I’m a big fan of Beyonce and very excited that she’s done a country album. So congratulations on your Billboard Hot Country number one single,” Parton wrote in an Instagram post last month. “Can’t wait to hear the full album! Love, Dolly.”
“Act II: Cowboy Carter” is the second of what is anticipated to be a three-part project, following her massively successful album “Act I: Renaissance.”
“Act II: Cowboy Carter” is Beyonce’s eighth studio album.
