Country
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Linda Martell is passing the torch. Shortly after the release of Beyoncé‘s new album Cowboy Carter Friday (March 29) — on which the living legend is featured twice — she shared a touching message praising the “Texas Hold ‘Em” singer’s decision to embrace country music through the project.
Regarded as the first Black woman to become commercially successful as a country soloist, Martell lent her voice to two tracks on Cowboy Carter: “Spaghetti” and “The Linda Martell Show.” Sharing a screenshot of the latter track, the musician wrote on Instagram Friday morning, “I am proud that @beyonce is exploring her country music roots.”
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“What she is doing is beautiful, and I’m honored to be a part of it,” she continued. “It’s Beyoncé, after all!”
On “Spaghetti,” Martell introduces the song — which also features Virginia country star Shaboozey — with a voice note touching on Bey’s experimentation with musical styles on Cowboy Carter. “Genres are a funny little concept, aren’t they?” she says. “In theory, they have a simple definition that’s easy to understand, but in practice, well, some may feel confined.”
Released as the second act to 2022’s Renaissance, the Ivy Park founder’s new album also features cameos from Dolly Parton — whose classic hit “Jolene” Bey reimagines on the album — Willie Nelson, Post Malone, Miley Cyrus and Willie Jones. On a haunting rendition of The Beatles “Blackbird,” the 32-time Grammy winner invited a handful of modern Black female country stars — Tanner Adell, Brittney Spencer, Tiera Kennedy and Reyna Roberts — to sing harmonies.
Cyrus posted her own thank-you note to Beyoncé Friday morning in celebration of their Cowboy Carter duet, titled “II Most Wanted.”
“I’ve loved Beyonce since long before I had the opportunity to meet & work with her,” the “Flowers” singer wrote. “My admiration runs so much deeper now that I’ve created along side of her. Thank you Beyonce. You’re everything & more.”
See Martell’s post about Cowboy Carter below.
Beyoncé is officially in her country era — and she doesn’t care what you think about it. The superstar opened her freshly released Cowboy Carter album on Friday (March 29) with “Ameriican Requiem,” a half-spoken word declaration of her intentions with the country-tinged project. “Looka there, looka in my hand / The grandbaby of a […]
Chayce Beckham’s “23” flies from No. 6 to No. 1 on Billboard’sCountry Airplay chart (dated April 6), becoming his first leader on the list. The single gained by 22% to 28.2 million audience impressions during the March 22-28 tracking week, according to Luminate.
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“I’m so grateful for my family, my team and all the country music fans around the world who made this possible,” Beckham tells Billboard. “Thank you to country radio for embracing this song and making this all a dream come true for me.”
“23” makes the biggest jump to the Country Airplay summit since Thomas Rhett’s “Angels Don’t Always Have Wings” also soared 6-1 last September.
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Plus, as “23” hits No. 1 in its 60th week, it completes the longest trip to the pinnacle since Dylan Scott’s “Can’t Have Mine” did so in its 62nd frame last December.
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“23” (not the same composition as Sam Hunt’s song of the same name that topped Country Airplay for a week in April 2022) is Beckham’s second entry on the chart. His Lindsay Ell duet “Can’t Do Without Me” hit No. 46 in June 2022.
The 27-year-old Beckham, from Apple Valley, Calif., was crowned the winner of ABC’s American Idol in 2021 and performed “23” – which he solely penned – live on air during that season. He had written “23” a year before and became the first hopeful to win the competition performing an original song.
Beckham is the fourth Idol winner to top Country Airplay, joining Carrie Underwood (16 No. 1s, after she won in 2005), Scotty McCreery (five; 2011) and Kelly Clarkson (one; the inaugural winner in 2002).
Meanwhile, “23” is the first Country Airplay No. 1 written by a single person since Luke Combs’ cover of Tracy Chapman’s self-authored “Fast Car” ruled for five weeks beginning last July. The only other leaders written by one person in the last 10 years: Garth Brooks’ “Ask Me How I Know,” written by Mitch Rossell (No. 1 on Dec. 16, 2017); LANCO’s “Greatest Love Story” (frontman Brandon Lancaster; Dec. 2, 2017); Little Big Town’s “Better Man” (Taylor Swift; March 4, 2017); and Tim McGraw’s “Humble and Kind” (Lori McKenna; June 25, 2016). Of the 327 leaders in that span, only six – or 2% – have been solo-written.
Meanwhile, prior to “23,” the last Country Airplay No. 1 solely written by the soloist who also recorded it? Swift’s “Ours,” on the chart dated March 31, 2012.
‘Solo’ Hit
Scotty McCreery, meanwhile, posts his ninth Country Airplay top 10 as “Cab in a Solo” pushes 11-10 (19.1 million, up 5%). The song, which he co-penned, follows “It Matters to Her,” which hit No. 3 last June and “Damn Strait,” which became his fifth leader in July 2022.
McCreery’s latest single introduces his LP Rise & Fall, due May 10.
Beyoncé is continuing to change the game with Cowboy Carter, an expansive, genre-mixing exploration of the singer’s upbringing, heritage and musical influences that arrived promptly at midnight Friday (March 29). With a whopping 27 tracks, the project gives listeners a lot to sink their teeth into. Featuring voice note interludes from an array of country […]
Dolly Parton’s “Jolene,” with its pleading-to-the-other-woman cries of “please don’t take my man,” has endured over the past half-century. Hundreds of artists have offered up their own renditions of the song— the most recent being musical powerhouse Beyoncé, who included a more steely-eyed, daring reimagination of the song, with revamped lyrics, on her new album Act II: Cowboy Carter.
Parton previously recounted how she came up with the song’s titular name, telling NPR, “One night, I was on stage, and there was this beautiful little girl — she was probably 8 years old at the time,” Parton said. “And she had this beautiful red hair, this beautiful skin, these beautiful green eyes, and she was looking up at me, holding, you know, for an autograph. I said, ‘Well, you’re the prettiest little thing I ever saw. So what is your name?’ And she said, ‘Jolene.’ And I said, ‘Jolene. Jolene. Jolene. Jolene.’ I said, ‘That is pretty. That sounds like a song. I’m going to write a song about that.’”
While the title came from a fan, the song’s lyrics came from Parton’s own heartbreak, spurred by a redheaded bank teller who had shown interest in Parton’s husband.
“She got this terrible crush on my husband,” Parton said. “And he just loved going to the bank because she paid him so much attention. It was kinda like a running joke between us — when I was saying, ‘Hell, you’re spending a lot of time at the bank. I don’t believe we’ve got that kind of money.’ So it’s really an innocent song all around, but sounds like a dreadful one.”
“Jolene,” which the prolific singer-songwriter Parton wrote solo, debuted on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart in 1973 and peaked atop the chart in February 1974. The song became one of Parton’s most iconic songs and “Jolene” was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2014. Last month, the album Jolene, which contains Parton’s iconic song, reached its 50th anniversary.
From faithful country-tinged renderings, full-on rock anthems and complete re-envisionings of the song, we look at 10 of the top covers of Parton’s “Jolene.”
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Beyoncé‘s new album Cowboy Carter arrived Friday (March 29), bringing with it a number of surprises — including an unanticipated but gorgeous Miley Cyrus collaboration on the track “II Most Wanted.” Shortly after the 27-track LP dropped, the “Flowers” singer shared her gratitude for her place on the project, which also features country legends Dolly […]
In the lead-up to Beyoncé‘s new album Cowboy Carter, rumors swirled that a certain country-turned-pop star may be a featured collaborator on the project. When it finally dropped at midnight Friday (March 29), however, Taylor Swift‘s name was nowhere in sight on the credits. But wait. Who’s that singing in the background on track eight? […]
Rumi Carter, first of her name, younger sister of Blue Ivy, niece of Solange and granddaughter of Tina Knowles, has officially made her debut as a recording artist.
Beyoncé‘s youngest daughter, who is 6, scored a featured artist credit on “Protector,” the fourth track on Cowboy Carter — the second act in Queen Bey’s sprawling Renaissance trilogy. A tender, guitar-plucked ballad, “Protector” finds Beyoncé singing of the challenges that come with shifting your approach to parenthood as your children get older. “And I will lead you down that road if you lose your way/ Born to be a protector/ Even though I know someday you’re gonna shine on your own / I will be your projector,” she croons.
Rumi’s appearance occurs at the very beginning of the track when she adorably asks, “Mom, can I hear the lullaby? Please?”
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Her contributions to the track echo the earliest of Blue Ivy’s appearances on her parents’ music. Back in 2012, Jay-Z included Blue’s cries — she was just 10 days old when the song dropped — on “Glory,” which reached No. 23 on Hot Rap Songs, making the eldest Carter child the youngest person in history to have a charted song on any Billboard tally.
Of course, “Glory” kicked off what has become a Grammy-winning career for Blue Ivy, who is now 12. She won her first Grammy for best music video thanks to her contributions to her mom’s The Lion King: The Gift single “Brown Skin Girl” (with Wizkid and SAINt JHN), picking up honors at the BET Awards, Soul Train Music Awards and NAACP Image Awards in the process. That song also became Blue’s very first Billboard Hot 100 hit, peaking at No. 76. Blue has also appeared on several other songs, including Beyoncé’s “Blue” (2013), “Daddy Lessons” (2016), “Lift Ev’ry Voice and Sing (Blue’s Version)” (2019), Jay-Z’s “Blue’s Freestyle / We Family” (2017) and Coldplay‘s “Up&Up” (2016). On her parents’ 2018 joint album Everything Is Love, Blue appears on “Boss” and “Salud,” on which she shouts out her younger twin siblings, Rumi and Sir Carter.
Time will tell if Rumi continues to appear in the studio, but for now, she can enjoy her official musical debut on one of the most buzzed-about albums of the year.
Listen to “Protector” below.
03/29/2024
Queen Bey dropped her highly anticipated sequel to Renaissance March 29.
03/29/2024
Beyoncé may be Queen B, but when a higher power speaks, she listens — and that’s exactly what she did when it came to her Renaissance. The superstar revealed that though the first act in her trilogy made its debut in 2022, it was Cowboy Carter — which dropped Friday (March 29) — that she had originally planned to arrive first.
“This album took over five years,” she said of Act II in a Parkwood Entertainment press release Friday. “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.”
The 32-time Grammy winner announced the follow-up to Renaissance during the 2024 Super Bowl in a Verizon ad that featured Tony Hale, and immediately dropped two songs: “Texas Hold ‘Em” and “16 Carriages,” offering the Beyhive a taste of her country-tinged album that features icons Willie Nelson and Dolly Parton.
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But as Bey previously teased, “This ain’t a country album. This is a ‘Beyoncé’ album.” Indeed, the set features collaborators from various musical genres — including Post Malone and Miley Cyrus — as well as instruments such as the accordion, washboards, harmonicas and even her own nails.
“The joy of creating music is that there are no rules,” Beyoncé noted in the press release. “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.”
Bey also opened up about her process, and revealed that she recorded many, many songs for the album.
“My process is that I typically have to experiment,” she shared. “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.”
She concluded in the release: “I think people are going to be surprised because I don’t think this music is what everyone expects, but it’s the best music I’ve ever made.”