We’re thinking about “Cowboy Carter,” which is not a country album, but a Beyoncé album

Has the pre-release buzz around any album ever been so profoundly overshadowed by its genre? “Texas Hold ‘Em” and “16 Carriages”, the primary singles from “Cowboy Carter”, Beyoncé signaled that her eighth solo studio album could be a country album. And the cultural world exploded in two different directions. Everyone had thoughts. Beyoncé die-hards were excited to listen to about their queen’s recent sound and the concept that Bey was reclaiming the genre from the white interlopers who took it over. Domestic loyalists were divided. Several welcomed Beyoncé, hoping she would attract recent fans. Many people were openly upset to see him move into their supposedly closed sonic community. They declared that Texas Hold ‘Em wasn’t even country, which I denied. I needed to. This idea appeared like “Barack Obama is not a citizen.”

However, “Cowboy Carter” turned out to be something way more complex than a single-genre album. Unlike “Renaissance”, which was a focused conversation about the sounds and folks of house and disco, “Cowboy Carter” is an album with a wide scope, using many country sounds and tropes, but also drawing on the sounds of pop, hip-hop and soul . As Beyoncé told us on Instagram“It’s not a country album, it’s a Beyoncé album.”

Without a doubt, “Texas Hold ‘Em,” “16 Carriages,” “Jolene” and “II Most Wanted” are country songs, but “Blackbiird,” “Bodyguard,” “Spaghettii,” “Levii’s Jeans” and “Desert Eagle” definitely not. Black country legend Linda Martell says before “Ya Ya,” “This tune covers a lot of genres.”

It might be difficult to define music genres exactly, and that is exactly what this album is about. Beyoncé makes this clear when Martell says, “Genres are a funny little concept.”

Featured Stories

Most of the time, artists don’t think much about genre. Genre is really a way for the music industry to assist fans find other albums they could like. But what makes Beyoncé so great is that she’s post-genre within the sense that her fans don’t care what genre she works in. Whether she gives us the soul of “Lemonade”, the disco of “Renaissance”, or the country sound of “Cowboy” Carter” – we’ll go along with her wherever she goes.

The journey into the country was fraught with difficulties; for me and lots of black people living in cities, rural tropes can seem off-putting or have a foreboding feeling. In our lifetime, the country has sometimes been related to white Southerners who dislike Black people. But Beyoncé has such an impact on me and her fans that she will be able to take country sounds that will sound on someone’s album and make them sound delicious. Sometimes on “Cowboy Carter” I find myself thinking that if this song were performed by a traditional country artist, I probably would not prefer it, but Beyoncé knows methods to deliver it, so I’ll prefer it.

Perhaps more interesting than attempting to determine what genre(s) “Cowboy Carter” touches on is seeing the album’s most important themes. One concept that comes up repeatedly is Beyoncé as a caregiver. From “The Protector” to “The Bodyguard” to “The Daughter” – he consistently talks about protecting his family members. “On Daughter” warns, “I am colder than the waters of the Titanic,” to indicate how fiercely protective he might be of his family. In “Jolene”, she vows to turn out to be violent if Jolene comes any closer, so she protects her family. I’ve lost count of how over and over Bey mentions her gun on this album.

My favorite songs from “Cowboy Carter” are (in no particular order): “Texas Hold ‘Em”, “Ya Ya”, “Spaghetti”, “Blackbiird”, “Protector”, “II Most Wanted” and “Bodyguard”. I appreciate the epic scope of this album and the best way she references Chuck Berry, Sister Rosetta Tharpe and Son House, singing alongside Dolly Parton, Willie Nelson, Miley Cyrus and Tanner Adell, creating a conversation between the history of black music and today country music.

I’ll always remember how Beyoncé took it very real news from the world of country music on the CMAs and in retaliation, she spent years recording a country album to challenge and roar at your entire country establishment in her own way. Now that she’s at the highest of the country music charts, they’re eating humble pie. The genesis of this album is a historic step on Beyoncé’s part that goes beyond music and beautifully goals to show the racists who tried to reject her. This is legendary.

That said, I’m now turning away from addressing the country fans who hated and turning to other Beyoncé fans who love “Cowboy Carter.” Especially those that say “Cowboy Carter” is higher than “Renaissance.” Please just stop. “Cowboy Carter” is great, but it’s not “Renaissance.” I’m talking about the difference between a great album and a transcendent one.

“Renaissance” has a sonic coherence that makes it a splendidly unique whole, unlike “Cowboy Carter” which draws from a world of influences. This is just like the explanation why lots of us think that Michael Jackson’s “Off the Wall”, which is almost entirely pure disco, is superior to “Thriller”, which combines a much wider range of sounds. The narrower focus of the sound makes it seem smarter, sharper and more powerful to me. “Renaissance” stays Beyoncé’s best album. But more importantly, Beyoncé has three albums under her belt – “Lemonade”, “Renaissance” and “Cowboy Carter” – which is the most effective three albums ever by any artist.