The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not reflect the views of his campus.
This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at ECSU chapter.
I’ve never considered myself a Beyoncé fan, but her new album might change that. On March 29, she released her album “Cowboy Carter”. Beyoncé is known for having meaning behind everything she does in her music; after dissecting the meaning of his recent album for other articles, I have a new respect for the artist. His gesture with this recent album should go down in history as one of the most petty, but also the most emblematic moves in music.
Before the release, on Instagram, the singer said that this album has been a work in progress for five years. At the 2016 Country Music Awards, Beyonce performed with The Dixie Chicks for the 50th anniversary. While Beyoncé leans into the Black Lives Matter movement and The Chicks are overtly political, many were upset by the performance. Artist Alan Jackson even walked out during the performance. While many Beyonce and Dixie Chicks fans loved the performance, there was a wave of hateful comments and backlash against the two. At first they were angry and political, which turned into blatant racism. The CMAs removed posts related to the performance, saying it was at the request of Beyoncé and her team.
In the post about the album, Beyonce said: “The criticism I faced when I entered this genre forced me to go beyond the limits placed on me.” And that brings us to today’s “Cowboy Carter.” Beyoncé’s album featured several artists, some are very established like Dolly Parton, but many of them were smaller, independent black artists in the country genre. These artists included Tanner Adell, Brittney Spencer, Tiera Kennedy, Reyna Roberts, Tiera Kennedy, Reyna Roberts, Shaboozy and Willie Jones. She also featured samples from Linda Martell.
Although the majority of the country music genre in America is rooted in Black Americans and Hispanic diaspora influences, the genre is dominated by white artists. I also have to acknowledge that almost every genre of music has songs that combine influences from other genres, but we constantly see artists (especially black) trying to be excluded from the genre by claiming that the music is too different to be country. One example we saw this with is Little Nas X’s “Old Time Road.” Most of us would agree that the song was a combination of country music and hip hop, but it was strongly reluctant saying that his song could not be classified as country. We saw this pattern with Tanner Adell, one of the artists included on the album. His song “Buckle Bunny” started going viral before his collaboration. Although she was a country artist, she was criticized for her combination of genres and glamorous persona not being true country. This is where the genius of this album comes into play.
No matter what you think of the artist, the way Beyoncé was treated after the 2016 CMAs was wrong. Many in the country music genre have tried to control a specific sound and, let’s be honest, let’s look within the genre. But because Beyoncé is Beyoncé, they couldn’t keep her out of the community like they do with many other artists. Beyoncé has gotten to the point where any album she releases will top the charts, regardless of genre. By including eight other black country artists, she brought them with her to the country chart so they couldn’t be dismissed like she was at the 2016 CMAs. And it worked, Adell single-handedly rose from 709,358 monthly listeners (March 27) on Spotify to 5.53 million on April 2, just days after the album’s release.
In an attempt to push her and other black artists out of the country genre, the CMAs motivated Beyoncé to come back stronger than ever, top the genre’s charts, and take other black artists with her . Not only is the album beautiful as an art form and social commentary, but it’s a level of calculated pettiness that I honestly find inspiring.