I have a lot of thoughts, but the most interesting moment of the album to me is the transition of Daughter (with its Italian aria as the bridge) into Spaghettii, with Linda Martell's, commentary on genre. To me, those two songs together point to how many American myths on cowboys / "the West" were created in Europe and by Europeans -- further playing with the question of genre and authenticity. I read something similar with the inclusion of the Beatles' Blackbird. Here's a British band that built upon Black music creating American folk music sounds in response to racism in the U.S. Again, where do the Beatles fit into genre? Is Blackbird "authentic"? I think the answer Beyonce is telling us, in part, is: it doesn't really matter.
i will admit even as a beyonce fan i was a bit intimidated seeing the hour plus runtime, but she fully earns it. i did add my favorite tracks to my main playlist so i could listen separately and then realized that ended up being 16 total. to me she has become a genius at making albums that flow seamlessly (renaissance) and the interludes really do add something, can't wait to see how she plays with that for live show potentially.
i did maybe expect something more straight ahead country from texas hold em, but i love the combo she ended up with! music really shouldn't feel beholden to stick inside genre boxes, and i love when artists can play with whatever sounds appeal to them, while still having a cohesive sound for an album. for the features, i do appreciate that dolly and willie were just little spoken word/backing vocals moments, and she gave the shine to shaboozey, willie jones, tanner adell, etc. like yes she's going to reference/cover the beatles, beach boys, nancy sinatra, dolly parton, but she's bringing the newer black country talent with her to do so. and i love the miley duet, their voices are perfect together.
idk how i feel yet about the post malone feature lol, i generally dislike him and tried to look past that but the lyrics are a bit too corny for me. in such a huge album though it doesn't matter to have one song i might skip most of the time.
and finally i'm seeing a ton of "this jolene version is better" "this jolene version takes the emotion out" - i personally love it and of course still love the original! it's not replacing the original forever so why not change the lyrics up for her style and vision.
I really don't call it a country album. We are in a time when artists should not be confined into one music genre. The album has aspects of country, R&B, soul, and hip hop. I think that's what makes it great. It shows Bey's versatility.
Besides the two singles - the Switched on Pop podcast episode on them is worth the listen! - “Protector” and “Most Wanted” are my favorites. I think Dolly Parton’s 23 seconds leading into Jolene is really fun, too!
A huge album in length, breadth, and the heights it reaches. As well as 1st listen, have had a joint listen and chat with a retired (do you ever) music journalist& songwriter, John D Lewis, on long drive to/from Newcastle football match at weekend - both blown away by the music and how ‘country’ has been crafted, melded, and recast into assorted jewels of such beauty that are just so not Bro/Music Row that you feel you have entered another country all together - perhaps “now’s the time to face the wind” guys?
So much still to unpick but the nods to the past with Willie & Dolly are great and the rewrite of Jolene kind of sums the whole ethos of a truly transformative album up. Sturgill’s Metamodern Sounds took us to a new but familiar place, this takes us forward again but light years
The UK press have been hugely positive too (excellent review in Daily Telegraph) and looking forward to the weekly country shows on UK radio - Ricky Ross/Bob Harris. Am gutted I missed Marissa this morning on BBC R4 on Women in Country Music & will be mid North Sea on Tuesday for DRTI webinar so🤞for repeats of both to catch up
I haven't sat with it all the way through, and this is probably more of wish fulfillment than anything else, but instead of the Willie interludes (which kind of felt like a box-checking cosign - who isn't happy to hear Willie, I suppose) I think it would have been super cool to have Charley Crockett do a couple spoken interludes to kind of create/bolster a Western narrative. His voice would be so perfect for it, and I think it could still segue into something with a drum machine perfectly.
(Living cubicle life today, will take a potential response off the air)
Compared to the excellent Renaissance, I was a little disappointed with the album at first. But there are still several excellent highlights that I will be going back to (even if I probably won't listen to the album from front to back very often). I still think "16 Carriages" is incredible and was amazed by the ambition of "Ameriican Requiem". Other favourites were "Daughter", "Just For Fun", "II Hands II Heaven" and "Bodyguard". The covers of "Blackbird" and "Jolene" didn't do a massive amount for me, but it was still cool to see her take on them.
listened to it several times. def have my faves (ya ya, jolene). back half of the album really slows down and i need to really listen to it or i tune it out. overall, this is an incredibly impressive album with so many sonic shout-outs that each time i hear it i hear something new. this will be a treasure i can go back and listen to time-and-time again and find something new each time.
I really like "YA YA", which gave me instant Outkast "B.O.B." vibes. But I think the most surprising track for me is "Bodyguard". When listening to it, I was like "Is Beyoncé doing *power pop*?"
Beyoncé did it again with part 2 of her musical trilogy, knocked it all the way out the park. Her voice is a musical instrument of gorgeousness. Cowboy Carter is its own genre and it is the product of Beyoncé's incomparable vision and imagination. My favorites so far--because this album needs repeated listens to gain truer perspectives--are: 🌟Ameriican requiem 🌟Spaghettii 🌟Ya Ya 🌟16 Carriages 🌟Just for fun 🌟II Most Wanted 🌟Sweet Honey Buckiin. I love the entire album, honestly.
I have a lot of thoughts, but the most interesting moment of the album to me is the transition of Daughter (with its Italian aria as the bridge) into Spaghettii, with Linda Martell's, commentary on genre. To me, those two songs together point to how many American myths on cowboys / "the West" were created in Europe and by Europeans -- further playing with the question of genre and authenticity. I read something similar with the inclusion of the Beatles' Blackbird. Here's a British band that built upon Black music creating American folk music sounds in response to racism in the U.S. Again, where do the Beatles fit into genre? Is Blackbird "authentic"? I think the answer Beyonce is telling us, in part, is: it doesn't really matter.
i will admit even as a beyonce fan i was a bit intimidated seeing the hour plus runtime, but she fully earns it. i did add my favorite tracks to my main playlist so i could listen separately and then realized that ended up being 16 total. to me she has become a genius at making albums that flow seamlessly (renaissance) and the interludes really do add something, can't wait to see how she plays with that for live show potentially.
i did maybe expect something more straight ahead country from texas hold em, but i love the combo she ended up with! music really shouldn't feel beholden to stick inside genre boxes, and i love when artists can play with whatever sounds appeal to them, while still having a cohesive sound for an album. for the features, i do appreciate that dolly and willie were just little spoken word/backing vocals moments, and she gave the shine to shaboozey, willie jones, tanner adell, etc. like yes she's going to reference/cover the beatles, beach boys, nancy sinatra, dolly parton, but she's bringing the newer black country talent with her to do so. and i love the miley duet, their voices are perfect together.
idk how i feel yet about the post malone feature lol, i generally dislike him and tried to look past that but the lyrics are a bit too corny for me. in such a huge album though it doesn't matter to have one song i might skip most of the time.
and finally i'm seeing a ton of "this jolene version is better" "this jolene version takes the emotion out" - i personally love it and of course still love the original! it's not replacing the original forever so why not change the lyrics up for her style and vision.
I really don't call it a country album. We are in a time when artists should not be confined into one music genre. The album has aspects of country, R&B, soul, and hip hop. I think that's what makes it great. It shows Bey's versatility.
Besides the two singles - the Switched on Pop podcast episode on them is worth the listen! - “Protector” and “Most Wanted” are my favorites. I think Dolly Parton’s 23 seconds leading into Jolene is really fun, too!
A huge album in length, breadth, and the heights it reaches. As well as 1st listen, have had a joint listen and chat with a retired (do you ever) music journalist& songwriter, John D Lewis, on long drive to/from Newcastle football match at weekend - both blown away by the music and how ‘country’ has been crafted, melded, and recast into assorted jewels of such beauty that are just so not Bro/Music Row that you feel you have entered another country all together - perhaps “now’s the time to face the wind” guys?
So much still to unpick but the nods to the past with Willie & Dolly are great and the rewrite of Jolene kind of sums the whole ethos of a truly transformative album up. Sturgill’s Metamodern Sounds took us to a new but familiar place, this takes us forward again but light years
The UK press have been hugely positive too (excellent review in Daily Telegraph) and looking forward to the weekly country shows on UK radio - Ricky Ross/Bob Harris. Am gutted I missed Marissa this morning on BBC R4 on Women in Country Music & will be mid North Sea on Tuesday for DRTI webinar so🤞for repeats of both to catch up
I haven't sat with it all the way through, and this is probably more of wish fulfillment than anything else, but instead of the Willie interludes (which kind of felt like a box-checking cosign - who isn't happy to hear Willie, I suppose) I think it would have been super cool to have Charley Crockett do a couple spoken interludes to kind of create/bolster a Western narrative. His voice would be so perfect for it, and I think it could still segue into something with a drum machine perfectly.
(Living cubicle life today, will take a potential response off the air)
Compared to the excellent Renaissance, I was a little disappointed with the album at first. But there are still several excellent highlights that I will be going back to (even if I probably won't listen to the album from front to back very often). I still think "16 Carriages" is incredible and was amazed by the ambition of "Ameriican Requiem". Other favourites were "Daughter", "Just For Fun", "II Hands II Heaven" and "Bodyguard". The covers of "Blackbird" and "Jolene" didn't do a massive amount for me, but it was still cool to see her take on them.
For anyone interested, I wrote more extensively about the LP here: https://open.substack.com/pub/tomwilliamswrites/p/what-critics-got-wrong-about-beyonces?r=62ss3&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true
listened to it several times. def have my faves (ya ya, jolene). back half of the album really slows down and i need to really listen to it or i tune it out. overall, this is an incredibly impressive album with so many sonic shout-outs that each time i hear it i hear something new. this will be a treasure i can go back and listen to time-and-time again and find something new each time.
I really like "YA YA", which gave me instant Outkast "B.O.B." vibes. But I think the most surprising track for me is "Bodyguard". When listening to it, I was like "Is Beyoncé doing *power pop*?"
Beyoncé did it again with part 2 of her musical trilogy, knocked it all the way out the park. Her voice is a musical instrument of gorgeousness. Cowboy Carter is its own genre and it is the product of Beyoncé's incomparable vision and imagination. My favorites so far--because this album needs repeated listens to gain truer perspectives--are: 🌟Ameriican requiem 🌟Spaghettii 🌟Ya Ya 🌟16 Carriages 🌟Just for fun 🌟II Most Wanted 🌟Sweet Honey Buckiin. I love the entire album, honestly.