On March 29, American singer and songwriter Beyonce released her eighth studio album Act II: Cowboy Carter, which is a follow up to her previous award winning album, Renaissance. It is a 27 track album that explores a new genre of music for the artist, country. This album has received a lot of attention due to the fact it is the artist’s first country album however it has hit number one on the Billboard Country Albums chart in the US.
The first track introduced on this album is called “Ameriican Requiem” which Beyonce utilizes deeper tones within her background adlibs to give the song an underlying message speaking to the audience. The song does share a very capturing verse line as the song becomes more soft and upbeat making it captivating to listen to.
Already within the second track of the album, “Blackbiird” shares a very contrasting introduction to the previous song. The tones of this song start off very soft spoken with very light and calming singing from Beyonce. This track is not the shortest on the album, however its repetitive verses are almost reminiscent of a lullaby as it is soothing to listen to.
Track five, “My rose” is very similar to “Blackbiird” in terms of how it highlights more of Beyonce’s vocals rather than using more upscale or the stereotypical “country” beat people may have expected. This track is only 53 seconds long and is a calming interlude. The lyrics on this song seemed to be more directed as a love song with its upbeat melody and adoring and affirmative lyrics. By this time of the track, it seems as if there are really only about two stereotypical “country” sounding songs,
The following track, “Smoke hour ⭑ Willie Nelson” is a confusing track to include on this album regarding that Beyonce included two interludes back to back. This track is more meaningful in the way it is an homage to the American country singer Willie Hugh Nelson who was a main figure of the country subgenre in the late 1960’s. Although there are no lyrics sung by Beyonce herself, it is a nice differentiation to the other tracks of how Beyonce is using her album to pay respect towards country figures who use their music to be advocates.
“Texas hold ‘em” is the seventh track on the album but also seems to be the most infamous on social media platforms such as TikTok. It is not particularly as enjoyable as the other songs in the album however it does fit under the more stereotypical upbeat country melody people expected coming from this album. It is catchy but the fact that it has been overplayed everywhere as a mockery makes it less amusing.
A song that is especially interesting is that Beyonce decided to do a cover of “Jolene” written by American singer and songwriter Dolly Parton. Although this isn’t an original song by Beyonce this cover was well done and a nice interpretation of the song with Beyonce’s deeper and slower tones. It was another nice homage Beyonce decided to include dedicated to older american country singers who shaped the foundation of country music.
“Daughter” is the eleventh song on the track which is beautifully sung by Beyonce. It has a slower tempo which is a nice change from the prior songs. It has a more sentimental tone which makes it a more captivating song to listen to. It is also interesting how Beyonce decided to add a verse of just singing opera in Italian which is a surprising element that still goes well with the melody.
The last song on the track is “Amen”, which has a more folky tone. This is a three minute song that has more recognizable sentimental songs talking about traditional american elements. This does not have an upbeat rhythm instead has some fading piano sounds and choir background singers that is a beautiful conclusion to this album.
Overall, this album exceeded expectations people may have had on social media due to Beyonce only being recognized for her presence in more mainstream pop music. This album is somewhat reminiscent of Beyonce’s Lemonade album as it has more slower tempo songs. This country album did not disappoint as it allowed the public to see how Beyonce is able to cover more than one genre while also doing a beautiful homage to American country music history.
