EIGHTH STUDIO ALBUM, FROM THE WORLD'S MOST
INNOVATIVE ARTIST ARRIVES AFTER A MONUMENTAL TWO-SONG RELEASE AS A
NO HOLDS BARRED MULTI-GENRE NOD TO AMERICANA COUNTRY
CULTURE
THE HISTORY-MAKING "TEXAS HOLD 'EM" LANDED ACROSS NINE DIFFERENT
GENRES ON US MUSIC CHARTS AND AT #1 IN VARIOUS INTERNATIONAL
TERRITORIES, MAKING BEYONCÉ THE FIRST BLACK FEMALE ARTIST TO REACH
#1 ON THE HOT COUNTRY SONGS CHART AND ON THE HOT 100
CHART WITH A COUNTRY SONG.
COWBOY CARTER IS AVAILABLE
NOW
LOS
ANGELES, March 29, 2024 /CNW/ -- Beyoncé's
eighth studio album is available worldwide now. act ii COWBOY
CARTER arrives today following the successful release of two
lead singles, "TEXAS HOLD 'EM" and
"16 CARRIAGES" on February 11,
Superbowl Sunday.
"TEXAS HOLD 'EM" landed across
nine different genres on US music charts including Pop, Hot
AC, Country, Rhythmic, Urban, and R&B, and making history with
Beyoncé becoming the first Black female artist to reach No. 1 on
the Hot Country Songs chart and No. 1 on the Hot 100 Chart with a
Country song. It also spent four weeks at the top of the UK music
charts.
COWBOY CARTER, executive produced by Beyoncé, is
about genres, all of them, while deeply rooted in Country. This is
the work of an artist who thrives in her freedom to grow, expand,
and create limitlessly. It makes no apologies, and seeks no
permission in elevating, amplifying, and redefining the sounds of
music, while dismantling accepted false norms about Americana
culture. It pays homage to the past, honoring musical pioneers in
Country, Rock, Classical, and Opera.
The album is a cornucopia of sounds that Beyoncé loves, and grew
up listening to, between visits and eventually performances at the
Houston Rodeo – Country, original Rhythm & Blues, Blues,
Zydeco, and Black Folk. The album wraps itself in pure
instrumentation in a celebratory authentic gumbo of sounds using
among others, the accordion, harmonica, washboard, acoustic guitar,
bass ukulele, pedal steel guitar, a Vibra-Slap, the mandolin,
fiddle, Hammond B3 organ, tack
piano, and the banjo. There's also plenty of handclaps, horseshoe
steps, boot stomps on hardwood floors and yes, those are Beyoncé's
nails as percussion.
"The joy of creating music is that there are no rules," says
Beyoncé. "The more I see the world evolving the more I felt a
deeper connection to purity. With artificial intelligence and
digital filters and programming, I wanted to go back to real
instruments, and I used very old ones. I didn't want some layers of
instruments like strings, especially guitars, and organs perfectly
in tune. I kept some songs raw and leaned into folk. All the sounds
were so organic and human, everyday things like the wind, snaps and
even the sound of birds and chickens, the sounds of nature."
And the inspiration further takes into account Southern and
Western culture beyond music, the Rodeo, Western films, and the
stories of the original cowboys of the West. It was at the Rodeo
where she first saw diversity and camaraderie among people who love
Country music and an Americana lifestyle, steeped in community,
culinary offerings, grills, and Western gear. And it was for
everyone. Among the crowds were Black, Hispanic and Native American
Cowboys, who made their valuable, authentic allowances to the
culture. Their stories are synonymous with American history.
The music is wrapped around an outpouring of passionate, bold
storytelling that captivates the listener with Beyoncé's familiar,
powerful voice at the center. Her vocals shine a blinding
light on a narrative steeped in truth-telling, revealing hidden
histories, and reveling in all the magic you seek when you take an
intentional journey back to your roots. Beyoncé is a student of
history, and she continues the American music masterclass that
started with act i RENAISSANCE in 2022, that was a deep dive into
dance music and its creators, and the celebration of those who
lived in joy despite being made to feel like outliers.
On COWBOY CARTER the work of an artist who
created on her own terms, in the absence of rules, persists
boldly. The songs caress, cradle, and encourage the
listener's curiosity through 27 gifts of revolutionary surprises,
erasing the limitations placed on genre-based music. As a
producer, Beyoncé explores and experiments with chord and key
changes effortlessly mixing genres, bending, and blending the
unexpected to break down every wall of musical confinement. It is a
rare body of work that could so seamlessly hosts remakes of
classics like "BLACKBIIRD" by The Beatles and "JOLENE" by
Dolly Parton with sonically diverse
creations like "SWEET HONEY BUCKIN," "RIIVER DANCE" and "II MOST
WANTED."
"My process is that I typically have to experiment," Beyoncé
says. "I enjoy being open to have the freedom to get all aspects of
things I love out and so I worked on many songs. I recorded
probably 100 songs. Once that is done, I am able to put the puzzle
together and realize the consistencies and the common themes, and
then create a solid body of work."
The album is an experiment indeed. Each song is its own
version of a reimagined Western film. She took inspiration from
films like "Five Fingers For Marseilles," "Urban Cowboy," "The Hateful Eight, "Space
Cowboys," "The Harder They Fall" and "Killers of the Flower Moon,"
often having the films playing on a screen during the recording
process. Some aspects of the percussion were inspired by the 'O
Brother, Where Art Thou?' soundtrack, where it was more Bluegrass.
This body of work undulates from singing cowboy and Blaxploitation
to Spaghetti westerns and fantasy with Beyoncé weaving between
personal experiences, honoring Black history, to exaggerated
character building. The limited-edition vinyl depicts a microphone
in the shape of a gun ala Thelma and Louise running from the law,
but the gun is invisible, hyper exaggerated reality.
The character, Cowboy Carter was birth from these experiences
and inspired by the original Black cowboys of the American West.
The word cowboy itself was used in a derogatory way to describe the
former slaves as "boys," who were the most skilled and had the
hardest jobs of handling horses and cattle, alike. In destroying
the negative connotation, what remains is the strength and
resiliency of these men who were the true definition of Western
fortitude.
While RENAISSANCE was a stated rebirth after the
Pandemic, COWBOY CARTER is a declarative frequency and
academic shift, as the world prepares to shift again, that
redefines and rebuilds what is Country and Americana, and who gets
to be included. The album opens with "AMERIICAN REQUIEM," a
hymn-like alarm that incinerates old ideas about art and the people
who create it.
Beyoncé ensconced herself with a stellar group of collaborators,
including The-Dream, Pharrell, NO I.D., Raphael Saadiq, Ryan
Tedder, Ryan Beatty, Swizz
Beatz, Khirye Tyler, Derek Dixie,
Ink, Nova Wav, Mamii, Cam, Tyler
Johnson, Dave Hamelin, and
Shawn "JAY-Z" Carter to find the secret gems in each song. The
process, sometimes years in the making, often meant combining
pieces of different recordings, changing the instrumentation here,
adding a snare there, to land at the perfect spot in the right
time.
"This album took over five years," she says. "It's been really
great to have the time and the grace to be able to take my time
with it. I was initially going to put COWBOY CARTER out
first, but with the pandemic, there was too much heaviness in the
world. We wanted to dance. We deserved to dance. But I had to trust
God's timing."
And the musical alliance here includes contributions from an
impressive list of artists as vocalists, musicians, and orators,
including Dolly Parton, Willie Nelson, Linda
Martell, Stevie Wonder,
Chuck Berry, Mylie Cyrus, Post Malone, Jon Batiste, Rhiannon
Giddens, Nile Rodgers, Robert
Randolph, Gary Clark, Jr.,
Willie Jones, Brittney Spencer, Shaboozey, Reyna Roberts, Tanner
Adell and Tiera Kennedy.
COWBOY CARTER is the musical concoction you did not
expect from the world's most innovative artist and producer, who
has made it the norm to push the boundaries in delivering art that
challenges the senses. It's about culture, legacy, and a critical
addition to the American songbook from the most important and
creative talent in a Century.
"I think people are going to be surprised because I don't
think this music is what everyone expects," Beyoncé says, "but it's
the best music I've ever made."
COWBOY CARTER is available now.
COWBOY CARTER TRACK LIST:
- AMERIICAN REQUIEM
- BLACKBIIRD
- 16 CARRIAGES
- PROTECTOR
- MY ROSE
- SMOKE HOUR ★ WILLIE NELSON
- TEXAS HOLD 'EM
- BODYGUARD
- DOLLY P
- JOLENE
- DAUGHTER
- SPAGHETTII
- ALLIIGATOR TEARS
- SMOKE HOUR II
- JUST FOR FUN
- II MOST WANTED
- LEVII'S JEANS
- FLAMENCO
- The LINDA MARTELL SHOW
- YA YA
- OH LOUISIANA
- DESERT EAGLE
- RIIVER DANCE
- II HANDS II HEAVEN
- TYRANT
- SWEET ★ HONEY ★ BUCKIIN'
- AMEN
Note to editors: For a complete list of credits log on Here
Click Here for the COWBOY CARTER media toolkit.
Album cover photo photographed by Blair
Caldwell
Available here: https://beyonce.lnk.to/cowboycarter
#COWBOYCARTER
#TEXASHOLDEM
#16CARRIAGES
#RODEOCHITLINCIRCUIT
#BEYONCE
About Parkwood Entertainment
Parkwood Entertainment
is a film and production company, record label and management firm
founded by entertainer and entrepreneur, Beyoncé in 2010.
With offices in Los Angeles and
New York City, the company houses
departments in music, film, video, live performances and concert
production, management, business development, marketing, digital,
creative, philanthropy, and publicity. Under its original
name, Parkwood Pictures, the company released the film
Cadillac Records (2008), in
which Beyoncé starred and co-produced. The company has also
released the films Obsessed (2009), with Beyoncé as star and
executive producer, the winner of the Peabody Award for
Entertainment, Lemonade (2017), the Emmy®-nominated
Homecoming: A Film By Beyoncé (2019), which documents
Beyoncé's history-making performance at the Coachella Valley Music
& Arts Festival in 2018, and the Emmy®-winning Black Is
King (2020). Parkwood Entertainment produced The Mrs. Carter
Show World Tour (2013-2014), The Formation World Tour (2016), and
the aforementioned "Homecoming" performances at Coachella (2018) and co-produced the ON THE
RUN Tour (2014) and ON THE RUN II (2018), and the RENAISSANCE WORLD
TOUR (2023).
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SOURCE Parkwood Entertainment