The Bey-hive is buzzing ‘cos Beyoncé‘s c*nty country album, Cowboy Carter — AKA the highly-anticipated Act II to Renaissance — is officially here.
Earlier this year, Beyoncé stans were left gagging after the “CUFF IT” singer announced that she would be dropping a country album during the Super Bowl. You know, that thing that had Taylor Swift and her boyfriend? Yeah, that hyper-American thing.
In the lead-up to the big drop, stans, fans and their mums were coming up with theories on what and who will be on Cowboy Carter. However, after Beyoncé seemingly revealed the tracklist for the album, many folks began hypothesising that Queen B would be reuniting with Lady Gaga for a collab on Cowboy Carter for the second part of “Telephone”.
Now that the album is available in Australia, it’s become clear that a collab between Lady Gaga and Beyoncé isn’t happening. Well, at least on Cowboy Carter.
Someone go check on the people in your life that sit in the middle of the Venn diagram between Little Monsters (hard-core Lady Gaga fans) and the Bey-hive.
But to celebrate the release of Cowboy Carter — which is still extremely exciting — we’ve wrangled up all the information surrounding Beyoncé’s highly-anticipated album. Yeehaw!
Here’s everything you need to know about Beyoncé’s new album Cowboy Carter
Which artists will feature on Beyoncé’s new album Cowboy Carter?
Now that the album is live and ready for your earholes, we know that Post Malone, Dolly Parton, Willie Nelson and Miley Cyrus feature on the album. How bloody good!
Country Carter also features acclaimed black country artists Tanner Adell and Willie Jones.
Although it’s good to know who features for sure, not all of these names are a surprise. On Thursday, March 28 (Aussie time) Beyoncé seemingly dropped the 27-song tracklist to Cowboy Carter which featured a lot of clues on who could feature on her album.
Country icons Dolly Parton, Linda Martell and Willie Nelson were name-dropped on the reported tracklist, however, at the time it was unclear whether they would appear on the album or if their original songs were just used as samples.
Prior to the massive announcement, Parton told Knox News that she believed her song “Joelene” would appear on Cowboy Carter.
“Well, I think she has! I think she’s recorded ‘Jolene’ and I think it’s probably gonna be on her country album, which I’m very excited about,” Parton told the publication.
“I love her! She’s a beautiful girl and a great singer.”
Well, hey! She was right about “Joelene” because it is smack bang in the middle of the artwork next to Parton’s name.
Taylor Swift was another artist rumoured to appear on the album, but unfortunately, with the release of the tracklist, the “Our Song” singer was nowhere to be found.
However, the song titled “II MOST WANTED” was the kicker that had some fans believe that it was secretly the continuation of Beyoncé and Lady Gaga’s 2010 track (and cinematic masterpiece) “Telephone”.
Why did fans think “Telephone” part 2 was coming to Cowboy Carter?
Members of the Bey-hive and the Little Monsters believe that “II MOST WANTED” is “Telephone” part two because of its name.
You see, in the “Telephone” music video, Beyoncé and Lady Gaga poison a bunch of people in a diner between their epic dance breaks.
After dancing upon the deceased bodies, the pair quickly escaped via the pussy wagon. The video ends with text that reads “to be continued…”
It’s now 2024 and we’ve yet to see the bloody continuation!!! However, some folks reckon the “II MOST WANTED” relates to the crimes in the music video, therefore they’ve speculated that it’s part two of the iconic track.
Also the Roman numerals “II”? It definitely fed into that rumour — or conspiracy theory if you want to call it that.
But now that we know the Lady Gaga x Beyoncé collaboration Part Two: Electric Boogaloo didn’t eventuate, fans are stuck between being excited for a new Beyoncé album and being devastated. Check out their reactions on X — formerly known as Twitter.
When is Cowboy Carter coming out?
Cowboy Carter dropped on March 29 AKA Good Friday!!! So feel free to spend your Easter weekend doing the Hoedown Throwdown.
If ya haven’t copped a pair of line dancing boots and a giant cowboy hat, you’re out of luck, ‘cos a bunch of shops are closed!
If you’re already vibing Cowboy Carter, don’t forget about “Daddy Lessons” from Lemonade (2016). It’s a rootin’ tootin’ vibe.
