Beyoncé - Cowboy Carter

I'm getting Beatles vibes, not just the blackbird cover, but the sitar in American Requiem & the yaya>oh Louisiana>Desert Eagle>Riverdance medley feeling kinda like side 2 of Abby road.

I wonder why the « I » is doubled on almost all the titles but not all…

― AlXTC from Paris, Friday, March 29, 2024 2:38 AM (seven hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

i think it's only not doubled in people's names (linda martell, willie nelson, etc.). beyonce is calling this "act ii" in a series of albums that started with renaissance

The guitar track on “Blackbird” is the original McCartney guitar performance from the Beatles song… that’s a flex of sorts!

tbh was left pretty cold by this on first listen, “riiverdance” was the first one to make me really perk up. prob bcuz it’s the one that most sounds like a beyonce album gesturing at country as opposed to the other way around

renaissance on first listen just fit like a glove, it was an uncanny and thrilling experience that this album cannot match. but maybe it will reveal itself with time…

I don't need to hear "Jolene" or "Blackbird" again for starters.

Xxxp, her sash in the aforementioned vinyl special edition cover says "act ii BEYINCE" instead of "COWBOY CARTER".

it's her Aphrodite's Child album

Rain and Alliigator Tears

i appreciate her dedication to delivering maximalist statements and that she doesn't take herself too seriously. "riiverdance," "aliigator tears" and "tyrant" are my keepers, "bodyguard" is a song i def won't hate hearing on the radio. the miley duet was way better than i expected! can definitely see this being mind-blowing for folks who don't know the 60s source material, and there are way more of those folks than you might think.

"riiverdance" could've pretty easily fit on renaissance, without much tweaking.

between the “show me love” interpolation/reference on act i and the “jolene” stuff here i’m choosing to believe that she is intentionally picking, like, the most emblematic song from each genre to put her stamp on. the other explanation — pure basicness — is not as fun to imagine

this album makes a lot more sense as a full listen in light of the fact that it was supposed to be released first. it certainly seems to glide into renaissance in a way that i think flatters the final handful of songs here. you start to move away from some of the more costume-y aspects of this album overall, tho “16 carriages” still kicks ass

An album made for nippers and conferences.

Tbh having the most unimaginative covers of such basic song selections is ruining the whole concept to me.

I will admit I’m more of a lukewarm observer of the majority of her imperial period than most, but the “jolene” cover is one of the most offensively tasteless things I’ve ever heard

Agreed. Feels like she’s trolling. I heard y’all like country, anyway here’s Jolene and Blackbird.

I dunno, she changed the lyrics to Jolene to make it more bad ass & her voice alone defies "basic" for me.

“bad ass” is certainly one way to describe it…

in light of the fact that it was supposed to be released first

What's the backstory on this? I checked the Wikipedia page, but don't see it mentioned in the "Background and development" section (which is more of an essay beginning with her birth in Houston).

https://i.imgur.com/E7lmvW9.png

XP & spaghettii is freakin' operatic. Seems like more like she's bent on destroying genre trappings than just trolling country to me.

“I’m still a Creole banjee bitch from Louisianne (Don't try me).” seems pretty bad ass.

I think that was a mistake. She had the opportunity to elevate the song into a higher narrative and what she came up with was “don’t take my man Jolene, I’ll shoot you”

At least, it prompted Azealia Banks to write “who is this imaginary adversary that wants to hump on J in 2024?” which made me chuckle.

justice for dashjadoll: https://www.tiktok.com/@ytniyah/video/7338502576150875438

What's the backstory on this? I checked the Wikipedia page, but don't see it mentioned in the "Background and development" section (which is more of an essay beginning with her birth in Houston).

― let’s get intertwined (morrisp), Friday, March 29, 2024 12:51 PM (eight minutes ago)

i'm sorry i can't stop myself from saying this but... you do know how to use google right...

I do, many apologies for asking

"Jolene" was already bad-ass...

I read Parton say somewhere she wanted someone to do a Whitney Houston like take on Jolene

Didn't like Renaissance really but find this nicer and more intriguing. Maybe because, unlike house, I have only fleeting encounters with country music. Never enjoyed "Jolene" though. And I didn't get anything out of the occasional not-country songs (except "Ya Ya" - that's really good I think, even if I feel the obvious borrows may begin to irritate me).

I find it annoying Apple have spent decades refusing Beatles samples but they've seemingly let Beyonce sing over the entire original backing track of Blackbird. It's like when ABBA said yes to Madonna. Only the real important artists are good enough (or paying enough)? Idk

The Beytles

Never enjoyed "Jolene" though.

Did you think you could slide this sentence in and no one would notice?

"I Will Always Love You" on the other hand..

A straight cover of Blackbird by a black woman is an interesting response to the straight cover of Fast Car by a white man ruling the county charts last year.

Maybe if she'd covered a song by a male country artist from '80s. Like "Guitars, Cadillacs, Etc."

Well, Fast Car wasn't country either. It's like if a white dude in a cowboy hat can turn a black folksinger's song into a country hit by just singing and playing it the exact same way, why can't she do the same thing to macca's iconic folk song?

we'll see. I just can't see an R&B/Pop singer covering a Beatles song as a response to a Country artist covering an 80s Folk song.

Also: Beyonce doesn't have to respond to shit.

"Respond" wasn't the best word to use to make my point: this album is about deconstructing genre expectations, of race in country in particular as she's talked about leading up the the release. So if she's looking at Fast Car as the biggest song in country music as she's putting this album together, I would imagine that the fact that it was written by black female folk singer would play into her decision to take an iconic white male folksong, about black civil rights, no less and play it straight to see how country radio would react.

I like the album a lot, but the “Jolene” cover is a major misfire. The lyric change removes the almost supernatural sense of dread that makes the original so special.

I think what I'm getting stuck on is the fact that neither Beyonce nor the Beatles are Country artists, so why would a straight cover of a Beatles song, with no Country bells and whistles, be expected to do well on Country radio?

I dunno, why did Fast Car do so well last year? It sounds pretty similar to Blackbird to me.

It has drums for one things.

Also Electric guitar

i.e. Nashville session ninjas

Ok you got me. I don't listen to country radio and frequently talk out of my ass, but still, I'm fascinated by Beyonce's choices on this record & Blackbird & Jolene don't seem like necessarily bad choices to me.

I will listen some more but … on first pass this strikes me as, erm, well intentioned. A few plausible keepers but mostly kinda dull.

based on info that has leaked out from
some collaborators — and honestly based on what her collaborators have consistently said about her work process in the post-4 era — it seems like most if not all of this album finished like 3-5 years ago, i would caution against viewing any of the songs as responses to anything that happened in the last 1-2 years

black female pop artists having been releasing straight covers of Beatles songs for like 60 years, i have a hard time hearing B's "Blackbird" as some kind of boundary-smashing statement of intent. The version is good though, the underlying song is indestructible and her decision to play it straight works in her favor

otoh i agree that "Jolene" is embarrassing, it tops the list of songs that dont need to be badassified and the harder she tries the goofier she sounds

This version of Blackbird is straight up lifted from the Glee version which is kinda lol

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l-cZ_ElJ1oA

My two cents from the hot press:
- Tends to be overloaded with crap (layers, ad libs), struggles to find its rhythm, compromises readability
- Bodyguard is a breath of fresh air
- Nobody needs a cover of Jolene and I'm already looking at the time

Covering Jolene feels like when Pat Boone did his heavy metal album and was like "What are the Heavy Metal songs? Crazy Train? Okay."

pat boone was ozzy's next door neighbor in the "the osbournes" era

I enjoyed this album but would be more tempted to listen to it all through again if they'd snipped a good twenty minutes from the second half

Sorry. Even if it’s very spotty it’s still one of the most interesting “event” pop albums I’ve heard in ages.

Most of the complaints in this thread is about Jolene tbh.

I like a lot: Daughter, Bodyguard, Ya Ya, Alligator Tears, II Hands II Heaven and 16 Carriages…

I’ll probably end up trimming and resequencing half of this album for subsequent listens thru the year and forget about the rest of it.

Ok, Alfred, so… Spotify artist shuffle just played me “all night” from Lemonade. So, I can’t define what vulnerability in pop context is for me but I’d say that this song sounds vulnerable to me.

I don’t really care about Beyonce and Jay Z’s private life… this is a song about forgiving those you love and it works for me even when removed from any personal context. It has a more universal and relatable thing going on. This is the sort of Beyonce song I do connect with and I guess I just wanted more of that side of her in here because it would’ve been a great match with the country angle.

I love "All Night"!

i gotta say i think the song w/ miley is amazing. even as someone who has loved a lot of miley music i rolled my eyes a bit at her being on this album but no this is the absolutely ideal use of her. that leathery, weathered quality to her vocals really pairs perfectly w/ this song about everlasting, expansive, speeding down the highway in a convertible kinda love. it's also the gayest song beyonce has ever recorded, like on a literal level? on first listen i just read it as a thelma & louise kinda thing but i can't hear it as anything other than a love song between two women, and i think prob one of her best love songs and ballads. i typically find her pretty saccharine in that mode (something like "1+1" being an exception) but i think she nailed this one

it reminds me a lot of "shallow" actually which is another piece of would be schlock balladry that is so expertly done that it ends up as just purely great

texas holdem is the worst song on this album by some margin, and primarily because of the millenial whoop hey bvox and handclaps which make it sound like the Lumineers or some shit.

As a poker player, based on what I see on Instagram stories I think there will be a lot of new players/rubes from that hit song.

Besides 16 carriages and texas hold em that were released previously the most streamed songs so far are the Miley collab (which isn’t surprising) and the Jolene cover. Miley collab and Bodyguard should be singles.

I get why Texas Hold Em is popular since it’s really catchy but yeah I think it’s one of the worst things in here and it does sounds like the fucking Lumineers.

it's also the gayest song beyonce has ever recorded, like on a literal level?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AWpsOqh8q0M

(agree the miley song is a highlight)

texas hold em is catchy, but apart from it being only a mild improvement on the lumineers the lyrics are inane

can i tell you guys a secret?

beyonce being compared to the lumineers is incredibly congruent to how i've felt about her since the beginning. the way you guys cringe at the intentionally overbearing nature of everything about the stupid fucking corny ass lumineers perfectly articulates how i've always felt about beyonce. no malice, it's just music for a different audience.

xpost Also the first line negates the title. It's like "I ain't single. I ain't a lady."

the difference is that beyonce is usually good to listen to

Lumineers only have like one corny type of song tho, Beyonce knows how to be corny in different styles.

CRTL-F "New Jersey" not found

My daddy Alabama, Momma Louisiana
My album New Jersey

Sorry need to catch up on the posts in this thread but don't want to bias my thoughts. Will report back once I've read thru but...

I've listened to this album twice, and while I need more time to absorb it -- especially the second half -- my initial listens suggest this is the worst Beyonce album since B'Day, which is when I started really listening to her albums. Maybe my expectations were all wrong? I agree with a lot of what Yasmin Williams tweeted the day after the release and put in her Guardian essay, but mainly just wish the songs were a whole lot stronger! I wonder what this would have sounded like if she'd worked with actual country songwriters like Liz Rose, Luke Laird, Natalie Hemby, Brandy Clark, Chris Stapleton, Shane McAnally, etc. I see Cam got a songwriting credit on the opener but otherwise the vast majority of the personnel has little experience with the genre, and it just seems very at odds with the approach she took with Renaissance? I'm listening to Lemonade right now and every song and hook is so much stronger than the vast majority of Cowboy Carter. "Daddy Lessons" would be a highlight here!

Lemonade is her best album tho

Daddy Issues would have easily been a top 3 song in here. Hell maybe the best one.

The Miley song sounds like it's underwritten? idk it feels like it's missing a piece. A near triumph.

so is this her Young Americans

I don't know. Not one damn song made me break down and cry.

^^ such a wonderful person but ya got problems

i think one of the reasons why "II hands II heaven" really hits for me is that there is not a lot of subtext to beyoncé's music these days, very little mystery. each of the last two albums has been accompanied by mission statements laying out their inspirations and contexts both personally and culturally; downstream of this, whatever subtext may exist is excavated by critics, academics, twitter posters etc. the reviews of these albums are stuffed w/ references to the work of other artists, as are the albums themselves of course. this isn't a criticism necessarily, i think her revealing more of her personal history in reference to renaissance only deepened my appreciation of the album, and her ability to connect cultural/historical/sociological dots thru her music is pretty much bar none in pop music currently. i think it's all less successful on this album but whatever

all to say that to me the gay subtext of "II hands" gives it a certain frisson that is not really present on much of either album. very little is happening offscreen on these records, so to speak, but here it's all gestures and nods to hidden layers of a relationship, something understood only between the two characters in the song. doreen st felix's review calls the song "wholesome" which... idk! i don't get that personally, yet i can see reading the lyrics and feeling a lot is being left unsaid before it gets to... unwholesomeness. but to me that's what makes it stand out. i think it's a pretty steamy song bcuz of what the tone & texture of their vocals and interplay between them is suggesting but the lyrics aren't quite spelling out.

I'm not seeing what the big deal is about the changed lyrics to Jolene, though I've seen plenty of people shitting themselves in anger them (granted it was on the hoffman forums)

I don't mind that she rewrote the words, but I do mind that she made them worse and not in an interesting way.

here's someone explaining Blackbird to the guy who wrote it: https://imgur.com/gallery/1Gp5xia

lmao

Sorry Macca but Ebony and Ivory is about a piano

Regardless of Jolene lyrics being switched for the worse, I think both the Blackbird and Jolene covers are super boring choices to cover and the execution doesn’t do anything interesting either. Blackbird is pretty much a karaoke version… with a fucking great singer, yes.

I think Blackbird's lovely. It is weird as the second track though, it needs to be tucked in the middle somewhere.

I don't care about the lyrics in Jolene but the singing feels boring and rigid - there's no swing in it. I'm not that familiar with 2010s and 20s Beyonce but does she usually sound so over-formal?

Sonically I prefer "Blackbird" to "Jolene" -- it's an all-time beautiful song; personally I love that she used the original master recording and sang it straight. It sounds lovely.

But agree it doesn't "fit" sonically as the second track, and that's because I interpret its position on the record as an egregiously obvious and literal statement of intent, not one that was decided because it made sense in the sequencing as a listening experience. Here's a song called "Blackbird" where the lyrics literally say "Blackbird singing in the dead of night" and we'll feature a bunch of under-appreciated black female country singers! The whole album plays to me as a jumbled mess that's connected by a few very literal skits and ideas.

so a concept album basically

« Ya Ya » is such a joyful storm. It’s like a distant cousin of « Get Me Bodied »