Beyoncé ‘Did Not Feel Welcomed’ by Country Music, So She Made a Country Album
When they tell you you can’t do it, do it anyway. That’s exactly what Beyoncé has done as she prepares to release her upcoming country album Cowboy Carter. The musician has never been one to shy away from anything in her life and this is no exception.
Beyoncé is one of the biggest performers on the planet, her name is known and revered across the globe and yet some people still feel that they can dictate what she can and cannot do. In the first post of a ten-day countdown to her new album, Beyoncé posted an image of her astride yet another horse, this one being far more real than her disco ball horse from Renaissance.
In the post, the artist shared her inspiration for the album started and what prompted her to create a country album, writing, “This album has been over five years in the making. It 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.”
The experience she is referring to is presumably the controversy surrounding “Daddy Lessons,” a country song on her 2016 album Lemonade. As Rolling Stone notes, the artist faced difficulty when trying to get the song considered as a Country single, submitting it for a Grammy in the country category only for it to be rejected by the Recording Academy’s country music committee. Then there was the reaction to her performance of her song at the country Music Awards alongside The Chicks, which was met with racist backlash.
Many country fans were loud in stating their opinion that she, a Black Texan woman, didn’t belong at the ceremony. The irony behind any racist insults hurled at a Black woman in Country is glaring given that the origins of country music are tied heavily to Black communities in the American South. Beyoncé also alludes to this in her statement:
“But, because of that experience, I did a deeper dive into the history of country music and studied our rich musical archive. It feels good to see how music can unite so many people around the world, while also amplifying the voices of some of the people who have dedicated so much of their lives educating on our musical history.”
The other willfully ignorant irony of not seeing Beyoncé as an artist connected to country music is that her roots are in Houston, Texas, where she was raised. Country music has inspired her work as both a solo artist and when she was a member of Destiny’s Child. But no racist naysayers are going to dictate her career to her, as this album so beautifully shows.
“The criticisms I faced when I first entered this genre forced me to propel past the limitations that were put on me. act ii is a result of challenging myself, and taking my time to bend and blend genres together to create this body of work,” her Instagram post reads.
One already-released single from the album, ‘Texas Hold ‘Em’ has landed itself at Number One on the Billboard Hot 100 as well as the Hot Country Songs, giving Beyoncé the title of the first Black woman artist to top that chart, an achievement that has left her feeling “honored.” The artist has also teased “a few surprises” fans can expect from Cowboy Carter when it’s released on March 29.
The lesson here: Don’t you dare think you can tell Beyoncé what she can or cannot do, because you’ll ultimately come out looking pretty stupid when she proves you wrong.
(featured image: Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for The Recording Academy)
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