Beyoncé‘s foray into country with her new album Cowboy Carter has most of us reaching for our cowboy hats and enjoying the rootin’ tootin’ tunes. But unfortunately, it has also been met with disturbing reactions from certain white folk, including her celebrity peers.
In case you’re a tasteless cretin who hasn’t come across the album just yet, Cowboy Carter — which was released last week — marks Beyoncé’s first country album, but not her first country effort as she previously released the song “Daddy Lessons” with iconic country band The Chicks (formerly known as the Dixie Chicks).
Cowboy Carter is a genre-defying, banger-filled album that incorporates many styles of music, from 90s pop to 70s rock to R&B, with an overall country flavour. It honours other Black musical legends, and calls out the segregation that has been present in society (and in music) since the dawn of time.
The single cover of Bey’s smash hit single “Texas Hold ‘Em”. (Credit: Columbia Records)
While scores of celebrities have praised Beyoncé for the brilliance of her new album, sadly, not everyone has been so kind.
British singer Lily Allen is currently making headlines after describing Beyoncé’s country-inspired release as “calculated”.
“It’s very weird that you cover the most successful songs in that genre. It’s quite an interesting thing to do when you’re trying to tackle a new genre and you just choose the biggest song in that genre [to cover]. I mean you do you, Beyoncé,” Allen said on her Miss Me? podcast, referencing Bey’s cover of Dolly Parton’s “Jolene.”
“I think it’s been quite calculated. I feel like when Jay-Z got up at the Grammys … that was part of this campaign,” she added, referencing the viral moment when Jay-Z called out the fact that Beyoncé has been repeatedly snubbed by the Grammys during his acceptance speech at this year’s ceremony.
“And now she is the most played woman on country radio and she’s coming for that market,” Allen said.
It’s such a bizarre and nonsensical attempt at a takedown. First of all, what even is a “calculated” album? Aren’t all albums calculated? As in, conceptualised, written and composed based on whatever the artist is feeling at the time, whether it be a certain genre or life event like a divorce or a new relationship?
And also, why shouldn’t Beyoncé be the most played woman on country radio? Why is she not allowed to dominate that space if the music is good enough to do so?
Allen’s comments have raised a lot of eyebrows. I first saw them pop up via a TMZ article shared to Instagram and I was happy to see that people were calling her out in the comments.
“She’s literally from Houston Texas. Half of her career she was told she’s too country. Now she’s not country enough. Lol,” one person wrote.
“Why would you want to bring another woman artist down and especially with this pivotal messaging that she’s bringing into the world with this album,” another person added. “Girl where’s your project and when did you last shake the industry? Come on now if you want to dish it serve it too.”
“Dolly for YEARS has literally wanted Beyoncé to do Jolene. It’s documented,” a third person pointed out and FACTS! Plus, Dolly has already sung her praises of the cover.
It comes after TikTok star Sam Doll (@samd0llsings) copped backlash for impugning the album in a video with the caption “honest review of cowboy carter – SORRY!!!!!!!”
She dissed the album by calling it “boring” as well as making other shitty comments like: “If you’re not going to go ape shit, why even cover it? Like, if you’re not going to make it Beyoncéish, then why even do it?”
The video still exists on her page, despite the backlash. (Credit: TikTok / @samd0llsings)
Her video has been met with scores of comments and stitches, calling out the ignorant nature of her words.
“This album is not for you. It’s not for you,” Latino musician Neifert Enrique said in a video response.
“You’re allowed to have your opinion, but your opinion isn’t really valid because you don’t have the proper context.”
He goes on to explain that “what Beyoncé is doing is reclaiming American music for what it is: it is Black music that was stolen and appropriated by white people.”
“What she is doing is reclaiming these genres that are Black music, that white people have profited from for decades and she’s going, ‘We’re going to put them all together and I’m going to put my own Beyoncé spin on it and here you go: here is American music.”
He concludes, “That is the context that is missing for you. This album is made for Black people so that they can reclaim their rightful place in American music… so whether you enjoy it or not is a moot point. It doesn’t really matter if you enjoy it or not because you are not the audience that gets to have an opinion on this.”
In another video, TikToker @ipostwhenifeelhot questioned the phrasing of “go apeshit” and “not sound Beyoncé,” saying that it “didn’t feel right.”
“Also please tell me what the fuck she’s supposed to sound like because I think you tell me what she’s supposed to sound like, it’s going to be a microaggression.”
Sam Doll later posted what many have described as a “non-apology” video. You can watch it HERE, if you like.
Here’s the thing, I’m sure Beyoncé saw this all of this coming. Beyoncé had racist country music fans crying into their cowboy boots when she performed “Daddy Lessons” at the CMAs (Country Music Awards) back in 2016.
After the performance (which is bloody EPIC, btw, and drew the biggest ratings the CMAs had copped to date), the award show’s social pages became flooded with racist comments.
So much so that the CMAs deleted all evidence of Beyoncé’s performance from social media, although they later reposted it and came up with some cockamamy excuse.
The point is, racist music fans will always be a fly in Queen Bey’s honey-coated ointment and reactions like Lily Allen’s, Sam Doll’s and those CMA viewers aren’t just ignorant, but irrelevant to the conversation.
Art is created for both public consumption and critique, but let’s not even pretend some of the Cowboy Carter responses are tinged with racism. Either way, Beyonce’s laughing all the way to the bank.
