Beyoncé has been one of my favorite artists for decades. The confidence and unapologetic nature of how she executes her projects is what has always resonated with me. When I listen to any one of her songs, I instantly feel confident and comfortable in my skin. She has maintained that ability throughout her career, even when experimenting with new sounds, such as in Cowboy Carter. And just like any other good Beyhive member, I trusted Beyoncé and her ear to deliver to us something more than just a country album. What I didn’t expect is how this album would have me reflect on my own past experiences of not feeling welcomed and how it closed me off to not only a genre of music but an undeveloped talent.
When I was younger, I used to be obsessed with the guitar and even took classes throughout middle school and high school. I spent hours looking up my favorite songs on guitar websites, just to spend even more time learning how to play them. Songs by Tamia, Toni Braxton, Eric Clapton, Jewel, and Kansas are still songs to this day that are tied to my muscle memory. Learning and playing was something that consumed all the free time I had as a teen up until college. And although I started learning the guitar on the other side of the world, my obsession continued to grow when my family and I moved to the U.S. in an area between Florida and Alabama. Being in the South was an adjustment for many reasons but what I was familiar with was the area’s music, country and rock. However, the longer my family stayed there and the more discrimination we faced as being both Black and Hispanic, country music became more foreign. The culture presented differently from the fun upbeat tunes I used to hear riding in my parent’s car to now being blasted from trucks with confederate flag bumper stickers. And although I still managed to listen to rock, I had a whole emo era like every other millennial, that slowly drifted from my world too. During college r&b and hip hop were the last music groups standing. As for my guitar, it got shelved in my room, always in sight but never in my grasp like before. My new past time consisted of going to clubs and concerts where Black culture was celebrated and embraced. And in that small town between Florida and Alabama, that would have been hard to find in their country bars.
But when music is stripped down to its core, with just melody, chords, and instruments intersecting, the stigmas of genres become stripped as well. Sometimes we get so distracted by genres and what we think music should be that we rob ourselves of the experience of having a melody that reaches beyond our ears and touches the soul. And who is better of an artist than Beyoncé, who is trusted by her loyal fans to blur the lines of genres and reintroduce me to my long-lost love, the guitar.
What has been constantly discussed is the fact that Beyoncé fearlessly created Cowboy Carter despite previous ridicule for performing “Daddy Lessons” at the CMA’s. Therefore, she gave listeners who may have also felt misunderstood or disregarded by country music an album to feel empowered by. Most specifically Black and Brown people, as we are not the most prominent artists in this “genre”, but the contributions we have made since its inception can still be heard in the most current of country songs. The efforts of systematic racism will have people think otherwise, as it attempts to keep us on the outskirts of a culture, we helped to create which in turn resulted in racially segregated music. But Cowboy Carter brings us back in and helps us discover those roots while simultaneously giving us a classic Beyoncé album. And with that she continues to do what she always does best and that’s having us reevaluate and discuss culture. Only the most prophetic of artists have this effect and she remains to be one of them. However, the main reason why I consider this album special, has more to do with nostalgia, with its message just being the icing on the cake.
When first listening to Cowboy Carter and hearing “Blackbiird”, it immediately brought me back to that beloved time of dedication I had with the guitar. The strum and the sound of your hands transitioning between a chord change was something I would always gravitate to when picking songs to learn. The guitar sets a specific tone in this song, gearing you up to hear something soul gripping. “Blackbiird” had that effect with its original version but hearing Beyoncé, Tanner, Britney, Tiera, and Reyna harmonizing to “You were only waiting for this moment to arise” strikes something even deeper within me than a memory of learning an instrument. It brings to me the feeling of waiting so long to feel free to be expressive and at the same time reminds me of how playing the guitar fulfilled that need for me.
One of the main draws of learning the guitar for me was its ability to wail out notes like a cry, such as in “Protector” and “II Most Wanted”. As someone who always wanted to be a singer but can barely hold a note, playing the guitar was my way of living out that dream. The first note of “II Most Wanted” provides a perfect example of this. Considering there are very few instruments that can hold its own next to songstresses like Miley Cyrus and Beyoncé, their voices are so unique and hold so much grit. Then hearing them harmonize together brought forth a powerhouse duo we didn’t know we possessed until now. Yet the best parts of this song, for me, consist of the guitar riffs just as much as their voices. “Protector” provides a softer example of a guitar wail but demonstrates how even when pushed in the background the guitar continues to hold an influence on the mood of a song.
In contrast there are songs like “Alliigator Tears” where the guitar controls the rhythm and direction of the song, where if you just plucked a few strings, everyone would know what song you were playing. This reminds me of the guitar sites that included the notes on the tabs. These were my favorite ones to learn how to play because of the joy I felt hearing my guitar and hands make the same notes that brought me so much excitement hearing it from my favorite artist.
Then there are songs like “Ameriican Requiem”, “My Rose”, “Bodyguard”, and “Spaghettii” that feature the electric guitar which makes me regret never venturing to electric playing. I’ve always wanted to learn but my acoustic guitar was gifted to me by my grandpa and electric guitars would never be something I could afford on my own back then. My attraction to electric stemmed from the power and ultimate cool factor it brings with every strum of a note. “Spaghettii” was cool, downright cold, with just Beyoncé’s effortless flow and exceptional bars. But the chef’s kiss came from all the additional features, the electric guitar, Shaboozey and Linda Martell.
And even while I was deep in nostalgia, reminiscing over times with my favorite instrument, all the homages to the roots of country music did not go unnoticed. Much of these roots is embedded in the assigned genre of blues. Songs like “Protector”, “Levii’s Jeans”, “Oh Louisiana”, and “Desert Eagle” reflect blues style playing but also funk. And funk with all its groove and soul could still be liken to country music, it could also be said to have derived from the blues too. But for some people who are comforted by the ideas of genres and keeping artists locked into one style of music, they wouldn’t consider those songs country. And if Beyoncé only put those songs in her album, they would use the blues and funk categories to keep her music secluded to just those spaces. And not to say there is anything wrong with those spaces, because in those spaces I see older generations of my family and ancestors. However, what the seclusion neglects to show us, is that we are in other spaces as well. Our contributions are present in all spaces and genres.
In any case, Cowboy Carter did have other songs that genre taste makers would consider country music. Songs like “16 Carriages”, “Texas Hold ‘Em”, “Jolene”, “Just For Fun”, and “Bodyguard” have the classic country sound with an acoustic guitar but also with Beyoncé fierceness. A style of country I wish I had access to when I was in between Alabama and Florida. Because any bar that would play Beyoncé’s version of “Jolene” would automatically pass the vibe check. What’s even more reassuring is that in these “country” songs Beyoncé does not tone down her powerful and soulful voice. She uses it to her advantage while continuously injecting gospel influences throughout all the before mentioned songs. She even manages to blend hip hop beats and 808’s with country instruments, such as the banjo and fiddle in “Tyrant” and “Riiverdance”. These songs additionally highlighted Cowboy Carter for having some of the best musical transitions in the industry. She even added a few tracks to showcase nothing but transitions such as “Sweet. Honey. Buckin’” and “Ya Ya”.
Throughout this whole album Beyoncé was quick to remind us that this is not a “country” album with songs like “Daughter” and “Flamenco” that spotlight Latin influences. Whether it be the Italian opera notes in “Daughter” or the Flamenco guitar in “Flamenco”, the lines of genres were continuously blurred, and listener’s ears were pleasantly surprised with each twist and turn.
And perhaps if I had opened my mind to the idea of country music consisting of all these things, I would have never closed myself off to it. I can’t help but think about how Beyoncé continued to use 60’s-style rock throughout this album. When I hear it in “Ameriican Requiem”, I think about freedom and the height of the 60’s being about exploring and rethinking societal structures. Perhaps that association is why rock stayed longer in my playlists. But then I also think about how rock and country, two genres known for heavily using the guitar, didn’t feel like spaces made for me when I was a teen. However, now there are artists like SZA and H.E.R who take the alternative music style and blend it with r&b. I would have loved seeing that when I was younger, maybe I would have stuck to playing and even mastering the guitar. I could have started my own music site to teach people like me how to play their favorite songs.
But we’ll never really know what could have been. What we do have now are artists who are tired of being put in a box. I for one am happy to see diversity throughout the genres of music, which again only exists and was created to keep us divided. I hope that more artists continue to experiment with different sounds because if Beyoncé’s Cowboy Carter taught us anything, it’s that only greatness can come from staying true to what speaks to you and not what you think society wants from you.
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