Beyoncé: “This Ain’t a Country Album.” Billboard: “Yes It Is.”
Beyoncé’s Cowboy Carter is officially the #1 album on the Billboard Country Albums chart. This is despite Beyoncé explicitly stating in a March 19th statement, “This ain’t a Country album,” and later underscoring this statement by projecting it on the side of New York City landmarks in a publicity campaign.
Nonetheless, Billboard has decided that country is where Cowboy Carter deserves to be. And with 27 tracks and the massive cross-genre popularity of Beyoncé worldwide, the album is likely to be ensconced at that #1 spot on the country albums chart for the foreseeable future.
Perhaps just as significant or even more, Billboard has also decided to place Beyoncé and Cowboy Carter on the Folk/Americana chart, which is usually reserved for much less commercial projects, and populated more by independent and sometimes unsigned artists. This means that Cowboy Carter will supersede all folk, Americana, and many traditional country titles that also populate on this chart, likely for the coming years.
According to Billboard, Cowboy Carter moved 407,000 units in sales and streaming equivalents in its first week, making it the largest debut in 2024 so far. This also gives Beyoncé her biggest sales week since 2016’s Lemonade debuted with 653,000 units sold. This also constitutes Beyoncé’s biggest week of streaming activity ever.
All of these numbers put Beyoncé at #1 on the all-genre Billboard 200 chart. But most notably, it’s a historic moment since Beyoncé is the first time a Black woman to go #1 on the Billboard Country Albums chart as well.
The decision to place Beyoncé on the Billboard Country Albums chart will come with controversy. Though multiple songs on the 27-track set would constitute country songs by even a loose interpretation of the genre—songs like the cover of Dolly Parton’s “Jolene” and the cover of The Beatles’ “Blackbiird”—it is difficult to impossible to argue that the majority of the songs from Cowboy Carter would not better fit in pop, R&B, or hip-hop categories instead of country.
However, a prevailing canard that Beyoncé intended to release a country album has persisted in popular media and public narratives, despite proclamations by Beyoncé herself, as well as strong critical analysis from a host of outlets and experts, along with substantial evidence that Beyoncé’s intention was not to release a country album.
When the first two songs from the Cowboy Carter album were released on February 11th (“Texas Hold ‘Em” and “16 Carriages”), they were not labeled as country songs, and were not sent to country radio. Instead, they were labeled as pop songs, and were serviced to pop radio. On March 19th, Beyoncé herself said in a detailed statement, “This ain’t a Country album. This is a ‘Beyoncé’ album,” and said the album was an effort to, “bend and blend genres together.”
Shortly thereafter, on March 20th, Beyoncé’s promotional team went on what was characterized as a guerilla publicity campaign in New York City, projecting advertisements for the album on city landmarks, including the Guggenheim Museum, where “This ain’t a Country album. This is a ‘Beyoncé’ album” was displayed on the side of the building.
On the Cowboy Carter album itself, pioneering Black country performer Linda Martell appears in multiple spoken word segments, also proclaiming the genre fluid nature of Cowboy Carter.
“Genres are a funny little concept, aren’t they? Yes they are,” Martell says at the start of the decidedly non-country track “Spaghetti.” Martell goes on to say, “In theory, they have a simple definition that’s easy to understand. But in practice, well, some may feel confined.”
Linda Martell saying “some may feel confined” by genres was yet again a signal from Beyoncé that she didn’t want this album to be confined by country. Then later in the album during the track, “The Linda Martell Show,” Martell says, “Ladies and gentlemen, this particular tune stretches across a range of genres, and that’s what makes it a unique listening experience.”
Calling Beyoncé’s Cowboy Carter a country album works to confine and compartmentalize her creativity as opposed to honoring her stated objective to make a genre-defying work. It inadvertently denigrates the effort Beyoncé put forth through the album. As a genre fluid album that does not meet the requisite percentage of material to qualify for country, Cowboy Carter should have been placed in pop.
As Saving Country Music has explained, Cowboy Carter was wishcasted into a country album through the media, as well as Stan activity that started before the Super Bowl and suspicions that Beyoncé’s next album would be country. As many have pointed out, physical copies of the album do not come with the title “Cowboy Carter” on them, or the tracks contributed by Linda Martell. This is likely due to last minute changes on the album to realign it with expectations that it was country.
Saving Country Music is not the only outlet to point out these discrepancies, or to assert that Cowboy Carter is not country.
As NPR journalist Santi Elijah Holley said in an April 3rd feature,
“We wanted a country album from her. Badly. Black and Brown country music fans (myself included) have been shouting ourselves hoarse, trying to enlighten people about the history, influence and ongoing presence of Black folks in country music, but our words had largely fallen on deaf ears. Just by putting on a Stetson and mentioning the word ‘country,’ Beyoncé accomplished what we lowly music writers had been trying to do for years. We wanted a Beyoncé country album, so we invented it.“
Pop writer Chris Richards writing for The Washington Post also concluded the album was not country, stating, “Rumored to be her big pivot into country music, Beyoncé has headfaked us all, opting instead for an omni-genre grandeur that still only manages to feel cosmetic at best.”
Writing for The Ringer in an article titled “‘Cowboy Carter’ Isn’t a Country Album. It’s a Beyoncé Album,” Meecham Whitson Meriweather states, “Bey has adamantly stated that the newly released Cowboy Carter is not a country album, despite its imagery, Western aesthetic, and country music homages. It is, instead, a ‘Beyoncé album,’ a declaration that she exists outside the box society has tried to place her in. In fact, she is the box, unpacking and creating something new each time.”
These are just a few of the many examples of established music journalists and critics concluding what Beyoncé did herself, but Billboard fails to recognize: Cowboy Carter is not a country album. Instead, fear of accusations of “gatekeeping” and “racism” has prevailed, and Billboard has made a decision that will affect the viability and credibility of the country charts for years to come.
Certainly, Cowboy Carter does have some country inflections in certain songs. Beyoncé’s lead single “Texas Hold ‘Em” also currently sits atop Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart. Though some may criticize this decision by Billboard as well, comparable tracks can be found in the country format. However, it would be difficult to impossible to find an album with comparably similar overall pop, hip-hop, and R&B content that has been placed on the Billboard Country Albums chart previously, even titles from artists such as Florida Georgia Line and Sam Hunt.
Billboard’s decision is perhaps even more permissive and dangerous when considering that Cowboy Carter also now sits atop the Billboard Americana/Folk Albums chart. This chart is often reserved for even more rootsy, and less commercially applicable projects that get sifted off the country charts.
On Friday, April 5th, Americana/Folk artist John Moreland surprise released a new album called Visitor, and Nashville-based LGBT songwriter Katie Pruitt released her new album Mantras. These are examples of albums that would normally chart in Americana/Folk. Since they are now competing with Beyoncé and Cowboy Carter, it will push them one step down, affecting visibility of the releases.
It is not uncommon for Billboard to decide that a title deserves to be on multiple charts. For example, Zach Bryan’s albums have appeared on the Americana/Folk charts, along with country and rock. Highly commercial artists such as Zach Bryan and Noah Kahan have been dominating the top of the Americana/Folk chart for a while now, though it’s also hard to argue that these artists and their titles don’t belong there.
However, it seems strange that Billboard would choose to double up Cowboy Carter‘s presence in roots categories and not place it in pop or R&B/Hip-Hip, especially since nobody is proclaiming Cowboy Carter as folk.
Until either Zach Bryan or Morgan Wallen release a new album, it is likely Cowboy Carter will remain at #1 on both the Billboard Country Albums and Americana/Folk Albums charts for the foreseeable future, and be a fixture on the top of the charts for years to come, pushing all artists native to these genres down a notch, and refusing them the opportunity to place a #1.
Billboard is just the latest institution to not serve the constituents it’s been charged to, while not even the artist in question considers their work a country album.
April 8, 2024 @ 10:04 am
Bomani jones podcast last Wednesday with Spencer hall spent a whole hour on the album and they weren’t engaging with the specific argument here about is the album country, that the album is definitely not country and how that was disappointing to them was some given they spent a lot of time on. Really good episode with listening to
April 8, 2024 @ 10:36 am
It’s been both heartening, and illustrative of just how not country “Cowboy Carter” is to see a significant cohort of the media questioning the prevailing narrative about this album. That is why I wanted to highlight some examples in this article. I would say it’s almost a majority of the media/critic class agrees with Beyonce here. This is not a country album. Yet there is still a captured element of the media, of which Billboard is apparently part of, that believe otherwise, despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary.
April 8, 2024 @ 1:34 pm
An album that I thought of was Kesha’s album Rainbow from 2017 which did feature a couple of fully country songs like Hunt You Down and Old Flames. That was an album whose concept seemed similar to this in that Kesha wanted to record songs that showed the range of her interests including country. So she did a few country songs which were authentically country. And then she did a lot of other stuff which made the country songs a part of the album but a small part. Nobody argued that album should be considered a country album.
April 8, 2024 @ 5:23 pm
Interestingly, Kaitlin Butts just released a badass version of “Hunt You Down.” The song and the video are both worth checking out!
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=6b-Ht4scQ3M
April 9, 2024 @ 7:46 am
The interesting thing with Kesha is that she does have tangible roots in country – her mother Pebe Sebert wrote for Dolly Parton and Kathy Mattea and Regina Regina; not a ton of credits, but they are there and Kesha’s paid tribute, and on her 2020 album ‘High Road’ there’s literally a duet between Kesha and Sturgill Simpson.
Granted, even if Kesha wanted to submit those songs in a country category, RCA/Kemosabe would never allow that to happen due to the Dr. Luke lawsuits at the time (folks tend to forget that after ‘Rainbow’ he throttled the rest of her career for the next two albums, thank god she’s independent now). What it exposes is that so much of the genre categorization to many people and organizations (Billboard and the Grammys spring to mind) is a clout game and who is considered the ‘in-crowd’, with very little to do with the sound at all.
April 9, 2024 @ 10:24 am
That is simply because K$sha is white. Beyonce is and has for some time be a lightening rod for race politics in music, whether of her own doing or the media/stans.
April 10, 2024 @ 3:37 am
It’s just another album of Beyonce singing other people’s songs. That’s not how you win Album of the Year. She needs to write her own songs. And she embarrassed herself at the Super Bowl so of course the cover is her with white hair holding the American flag. She butchered Jolene but I love Texas Hold Em’.
April 8, 2024 @ 10:17 am
Is this why chairs are being thrown from rooftops in Nashville?
April 8, 2024 @ 10:32 am
Billboard magazine has done a surprisingly good job over the past 30 years of updating their methodologies to keep up with the unprecedented, repeated changes in the music industry.
But this is a reminder that they are not immune from “politics” which can have an effect on the country music world in ways that people don’t often talk about.
two-thirds of the songs by the Eagles, back in the day, could easily pass for country songs, and great ones at that. Why were they never on the country chart? probably because they weren’t made in Nashville and weren’t pitched to country radio.
When putting it all together, it makes me wonder if the bro-country era would not have gotten quite as out of hand as it did in 2015 and 2016 if Billboard had maintained their standards and not been afraid to say, “Sorry boys, but this just ain’t country.”
April 8, 2024 @ 11:27 am
Beg to differ. Billboard blew it here. Billboard has no conception of standards in this case. Standards are mostly fixed with little leeway. The Lil Nas X mess demonstrated weakness in their systems. And in this case, Cowboy Carter was declared by Beyonce and non country; a decision confirmed by how her record company (ef metadata) and the servicing to pop radio. Billboard is ignoring that fact.
As far as the Eagles (and Poco, Orleans, Linda Ronstadt, England Dan John Ford Coley, etc.) they could have passed for country as well with some of their tracks. However they never claimed to be country, nor was the music serviced to radio as such. (Some tracks may have been played on country radio – at the time when DJs actually programmed music).
The Nashville argument doesn’t really work either, since country has originated from and recorded in Bakersfield, Austin, Tulsa etc and the record companies “main” offices are in NY or LA where decisions are ultimately made.
The difference between “bro country” is that it was marketed as country and serviced to country stations, not pop.
Finally Billboard’s reaction to the changes in the industry have been poorly thought out, including the 2012 mess, Lil Nas X mess and now Cowboy Carter(in spite of the creator’s intent). Finally, their actual information systems are not inimpervious to manipulation either (eg: Kane Brown – you can look that up since SCM covered that here).
Mistakes happen, but Billboard is approaching Boeing/Microsoft levels of mistake making.
April 8, 2024 @ 5:00 pm
Re. The Eagles: “Lyin’ Eyes” did get to #8 on Billboard’s C&W singles chart in the fall of 1975, at a time when no actual rock group had ever managed such a thing, and got a fair amount of airplay on country radio (as well as going to #2 on the Hot 100). In fact, they may have been the only group around at that time (and even today) that struck big on AM Top 40 radio, FM album rock radio, and country radio. The lady they once backed up in 1971, Linda Ronstadt, was doing the exact same thing at the same time, with “I Can’t Help It If I’m Still In Love With You”, “Love Is A Rose”, “When Will I Be Loved?”, and her #1 pop hit “You’re No Good” If anything, because she never thought of herself as a one-genre singer or thought of herself as “pure country”, Linda, back in the mid-to-late 1970’s, arguably one-upped .Beyonce.
April 8, 2024 @ 6:06 pm
Great commentary, Erik North…
May i add…Eagles charted on country , but again they didn’t market it as country, nor did Asylum push it. The DJs who had leverage at the time programmed them into the mix by their own choice or by call in from listeners and that was 50 years ago before the nonsense radio is now
Linda Ronstadt in the same vein. As, perhaps with one of the most a diverse repertoire ever, never identified in any way nor did Asylum.
Her works in rock, country, big band, R &B were done beautifully as was her exquisite Canciones di MiPadre; a visiting of her roots.
One of Linda’s best ever cross genre tunesrecordered was “Tracks of My Tears” covering the Miracles in a pure genuine country way and beats Beyoncé hands down. (No rewrites, no obscenity and no need selfiish need to “take ownership” to either).
https://youtu.be/OYLSvXYp_5U?si=UOqTVBeakw2ovSmy
And if you really want a “pure genuine Country” song that tore up the pop charts, look back to 1970; Lynn Anderson’s Rose Garden ( written by Joe South, with the Jordanaurescon backing vocals). Clive Davis serviced it to COUNTRY stations first – it became a sensation in pop due to dales and public exposure.
https://youtu.be/KXHsWBKKNbI?si=KGh6Gwm0yHUaCCnE
What I’m trying to say, is that anyone can record country. But Billboard must stick to standards, adapt correctly and not now to the political power of one artist, your relevance is at stake….
April 8, 2024 @ 9:30 pm
I don’t know that you could call Linda’s version of “The Tracks Of My Tears” (a Motown cover, originally by Smokey Robinson and the Miracles in 1965) exactly “pure country” only on the basis of the presence of Dan Dugmore’s steel guitar work; and in any case, you really can’t hear any “twang” in Linda’s voice. And yet it did get substantial airplay on country radio, there’s no question about that. It was Linda’s way, she was always upfront about it, which was what made her a huge spiritual role model for female country and rock singers from the mid-1970’s to the present, including, of course, Trisha Yearwood.
The other thing that differentiates Linda is that she never went about this to get attention, though she obviously did get attention. This is obviously not what Beyonce has done with her career, and it’s certainly not what she’s doing now with COWBOY CARTER. She’s arguably narcissistic, she seems to believe she is her own genre, not just her own brand; and she’s out for World Domination, though Taylor Swift is equally as fierce as Queen Bey. In short, she is genuinely in love with herself and her image; and whatever one may think she is or is not doing to country music, what she is doing is potentially very dangerous (IMHO).
April 9, 2024 @ 10:27 am
Even some CCR song are country. Looking Out My Back door is definitely country AND name drops Buck Owens. But things like these I think are also a way for casual music fans to say they like country music without actually liking country music.
Now people can shout about how much they love country music while only liking Beyonces songs.
April 8, 2024 @ 10:38 am
People at Billboard don’t know the difference between a horse and a cow, a man and a woman, so how do you expect them to know what is or isn’t country music?
April 8, 2024 @ 10:40 am
It’s almost as if all modern media, institutions, and culture in general suck a big fat one.
It’s past time to decouple from everything normie and build small grassroots communities and movements. The CMTs, Billboard, even the CMA (just to pick some recent subjects here), have all been captured and are of little to no value. The internet has damaged us in some ways, but in others it has presented an opportunity to ignore this drivel.
April 8, 2024 @ 12:46 pm
“It’s past time to decouple from everything normie and build small grassroots communities and movements.”
In many ways this is already happened, and Billboard’s decision will only hasten their move towards irrelevancy in the grande scheme of things. When people go to the Amedricana/Folk chart to see where John Moreland debuted and see Beyonce at the top for the next 2 1/2 years, they’re going to wonder why they’re checking these charts at all.
April 8, 2024 @ 4:23 pm
Such a true statement…. I stop looking at all these charts two or three years ago. Pop songs, that in no way define as country, hold all the chart records now. A lot of know quantities are going this route these days. When these services don’t SERVE the people, the people move on.
April 9, 2024 @ 10:32 am
I always felt like this was why Americana became a genre in the first place and was such a hot mess early on because all the tradtional country acts pushed out in favor of the bros said, “You know if the country machine isn’t going to service country music anymore let’s start over and distance ourselves from it all.”
And with country and blues and folk having so much crossover in sound and artists and songs it just sort gave a name to the hodgepodge that was always there with folks like Bonnie Raitt, John Hiatt, Keb’ Mo’ and many other dabbling in a mix of genres.
I never liked the label because I was hoping country artist would reclaim the country label but with the this kind of thing… I’ve sort of given up on genre label outside of discussing music of the last century.
Country isn’t the only one falling prey in this way; jazz, punk, metal and more are all suffering from the erosion of genre labels.
April 9, 2024 @ 11:18 am
The reason this matters is going to be the downstream ripple effects of Billboard’s decision. Remember, Lil Nas X was found to have purposely manipulated his metadata to mislead Billboard. He released “Old Town Road” as a country song so it would chart higher and get more attention. I can definitely now he hip-hop and pop artists now submitting their projects to Americana to get higher chart placements. When it comes to the Grammy Awards, we could definitely see tracks like “Blackbiird” by Beyonce being submitted to the folk category, and perhaps other tracks submitted to Americana or American Roots categories. And as we know, if they are submitted there, there’s a good chance they will win.
April 9, 2024 @ 11:39 pm
You keep mentioning John Moreland as if he would have sold well had it not been for Beyoncé. Most acts do not sell records even when there’s no competition
April 10, 2024 @ 7:01 am
There is definitely going to be a cadre of artists who released new albums in a multi-week window in the early portion of 2024 whose projects sold less than expected due to the unprecedented media attention on Beyonce. Some in the industry are referring to it as “The Beyonce Effect.” Maybe for an artist like Moreland it will only affect his numbers by 20% or so. But that 20% can be major for an artist like Moreland. And no, compared to Beyonce, Moreland is tiny. That is why that percentage is so important. That said, a songwriter like Moreland probably does better than you might think, and relies on physical vinyl sales specific to recuperate production costs for an album and create enough income to make the next one.
April 8, 2024 @ 10:42 am
Maybe if Beyonce tosses a chair off the top of building onto a crowded streeet, she would gain more “country cred.” Until then, she ain’t country enough for me!!
April 8, 2024 @ 11:36 am
Or maybe learning to sing and play country music, record country albums and go on tours before country audiences like everyone else would do the trick.
April 8, 2024 @ 10:44 am
All of this is so offensive.
Another, perhaps final step in creating the “mono genre” you have commented on in the past.
Beyonce declared this was a blending g of genres, which she has done, fine. Beyonces artistry isnt the issue here, its all the hooplah surtounding it. Nothing is a monolith and it is okay to make excursions into other areas, but traditions and history should reign. But the latter is thrown out the window to make social- political ststements – most glaringly in this case. The hype from the general press and supposed music critics is awful for sure. (“Dying Grnre – Page Six). The “world domination” aspect feels like (and is) being forced down the throat with an iron fist, and of you don’t agree you are dambed. The cloying and fawning of the press is unconscionable.
Country is permanently changed by all of this. Country will now be judged by this reivented standard. I feel especially bad for new artists who adhere to traditional sounds will have a tougher time getting airplay and contracts and rely now more than ever on social media and streaming.
Whatever, radio now tuned to news and sports. Streaming now….
April 8, 2024 @ 12:50 pm
I have to say though, I have been surprised by the amount of push back in the press over this. You can’t deny Beyonce’s own words, and this has forced a lot of journalists and artists to recon with this situation. It’s not like with Lil Nas X, when it was basically me against the world. It’s hard to demand Beyonce be considered country while also staring at her own quotes saying otherwise. Somehow though, Billboard figured out how to do it.
April 8, 2024 @ 6:06 pm
This is going to hurt the black country artists already on the scene who aren’t as popular with the larger black population as Mrs. Knowles is because of her past non-country work with the black and white population, mainly the ones mentioned in this past article.
April 8, 2024 @ 10:45 am
The world went mad.
People saw it coming and were ignored.
Snoopy has a quip about the topic.
April 8, 2024 @ 10:57 am
I’m no record producer, but if Bey wanted to follow this up with an album that would actually be country music, I’d have her do a full album of duets with David Allan Coe, with the backing band being the Fabulous Superlatives. Cowboy Carter 2 would be f&*#&#kin’ country, but it’d get absolutely no radio play w/o censoring 85% of the lyrics. 🙂
Forget about “You Never Even Call Me By My Name,” imagine the “Longhaired Redneck cover!
Might even bring III out of the woodwork.
April 8, 2024 @ 11:45 am
No, her next album will be “reclaiming rock music.” However, because the mainstream media and industry types actually loves rock music and its fans and is knowledgeble of it – in contrast with their hatred and ignorance concerning all things country – she won’t be able to get away with issuing an album consisting of 75% pop/R&B/hip-hop songs with a couple of questionable remakes and a few vanilla generic rock songs. (And she certainly won’t be able to do another nonsense album cover like this one, where she took a picture sitting on a chair while holding reins and a flag and had her team edit out the chair and superimpose her on a fake computer-generated horse.) She is going to have to put forth a real effort to create an actual rock album that the people at Variety and Rolling Stone will like, meaning that she is going to have to hire the rock producers and do the vocal training that she didn’t even bother with for this album.
April 8, 2024 @ 12:30 pm
Umm . . . Dolly Parton’s last album? I remember a lot of + coverage. Maybe that’s cause she’s Dolly and has earned the goodwill. I like parts of it too, but it’s not her wheelhouse and Dolly would probably be the first to say that.
April 9, 2024 @ 10:36 am
I disagree the mainstream is TOTALLY ignorant of rock music outside of MAYBE The Beatles and Nirvana at this point. If the band is not on a shirt the mainstream doesn’t know WHO they are. Well, the mainstream being the under 30 crowd in my book since they are the one’s driving the numbers. Some think Olivia Rodrigo is rock.
April 8, 2024 @ 3:23 pm
Now that’s funny Glendel. Coe. Good stuff. How about Cheap Thrills sung by Beyonce. She likes to brag about how gangster she is. ” you judge a girl by her friends…well all of mine are trash. They say you find your own level, well I’m a snake in the grass..” that would be so perfect.
April 8, 2024 @ 11:15 am
let the anti-white activist media have their moment. this isn’t going to usher in some new wave of black artists that will have any sort of meaningful impact in a way that makes people think that Country music isn’t still the soundtrack of poor and middle class white people from rural and suburban America. White artists will still continue to make the majority of the kinds of country music that matter the most. Just like black people will still make the best hip-hop and soul music, and the majority of NBA players will still be black even tho Zach Edey from Perdue will likely be the number one pick in the NBA draft. Who knows, maybe we’ll wake up one day in a world, we can no longer call George Strait or Allen Jackson country music because they don’t use Hip Hop production on their albums, or don’t cover old Beatles songs. They’ll just create another category on iTunes to sell real country music under until someone notices that everyone that falls under the new genre is too white and poplar, and the whole process will start all over again.
April 8, 2024 @ 12:56 pm
There’s some kooky stuff you’ve written here, but the one that really got me was that Zach Edey will likely be the #1 pick in the NBA draft. Lmao. That sentence came outta nowhere and I got a good laugh out of that.
He is projected as an early-mid second rounder.
April 8, 2024 @ 6:26 pm
Yes, Zach Edey as a the number one pick is laughable. No matter what Purdue does tonight.
April 8, 2024 @ 11:18 am
It’s just a meaningless victory. She said it wasn’t a country album. The media is coddling her. Taylor is going to break her album sales and streaming record when her album comes out later this month. Beyonce is a successful artist but it must bug her not to have AOTY. It was very telling how Jay-Z made that comment at the Grammy’s and then her album announcement came afterwards.
April 8, 2024 @ 1:38 pm
Jay-Z may have meant “Hurry up and give her another Grammy before Diddy snitches on all of us!”
April 8, 2024 @ 3:26 pm
Beyonce jealous of someone who has no singing talent ok girl . Lets go with that lol . No one is Trying to emulate Talor Swift she can;t sing lol . It doesnt matter how many records she sales or buys lol. Beyonce is on the mount rushmore of greats talyor swift is just basic lol
April 8, 2024 @ 6:28 pm
Your right, no one can emulate Taylor Swift …..
April 12, 2024 @ 4:49 am
Yeah. A basic singer who’s outdoing Beyonce in album sales and in concert sales oops!
April 8, 2024 @ 11:24 am
Like get over it? There are wars happening
April 8, 2024 @ 11:36 am
You’re right, Beyonce will not stop the war in Ukraine.
April 8, 2024 @ 11:28 am
Nah. Beyonce is playing the typical media management game where she takes a noncontroversial middle-of-the-road position personally but allows her representatives to take more controversial stances. So don’t go by what Beyonce SAYS because she knows that spouting nonsense would get her shredded by the actual good ole boys in the industry.
Instead, what her manager, PR team and label DOES represents her real position. Beyonce is no longer a teenager with her music and image managed by her father and mother. She’s a 30 year industry vet and one of the most powerful entertainment industry people on the planet. There is NO WAY that her label (literally hers as she founded Parkwood Entertainment) puts country metadata on her streaming songs or submits songs to country radio without her approval. Billboard chart categorization? The same: the label that she founded and runs angled for that as they all do.
And there is NO WAY her syncophants in the press don’t present her top billing at the 2016 CMA Awards and her getting a STANDING OVATION – https://www.cbsnews.com/newyork/news/beyonce-cma-awards – as being snubbed and not welcomed or respected without her people planting it. Also, note how everyone started spouting the same dubious talking points at the same time: how black people invented the banjo (but didn’t use it for country music), her being from Houston gives her country cred (Houston is the 4th largest city in America and is far more associated with blues and hip-hop than country) with etc. absolutely nobody challenging the narrative. Asking about her favorite country artists, the country albums that she owns or – as a professional singer – her vocal and performance theory opinions on differences between country and R&B and which subgenres of each are the closest? Not gonna happen because her people have proclaimed actually knowing something about what you are laying claim to as “gatekeeping” and “racism.”
Which clearly exists! But way more nuanced than these people want to acknowlegde. Country music is no more racist or segregated than rock music. We hear endlessly about the racism in the latter and NOTHING about the former because the folks at the New York Times, LA Times and Washington Post love The Ramones and hate The Statler Brothers because the former reflects their politics and culture and the latter doesn’t. Nashville and country radio didn’t sign and support black country acts? True, but neither did Motown or does Radio One.
Why hasn’t Beyonce signed a single black country act to her label in the 14 years that she has run it and used her clout to promote them? That is the first thing that, say, Jason Aldean would respond with were she making these claims herself. So demurring and letting her industry and media advocates do the dirty work – and yes it is dirty because it is peddling half truths and outright lies and using them to manipulate existing race and sex divisions just so she can win an album of the year Grammy (she is worth $800 million and married to a man worth $1 billion so it isn’t about rmoney) – for her.
April 8, 2024 @ 6:13 pm
Even here in Canada, the CBC is reporting this balderdash about country music being racist: https://www.cbc.ca/news/entertainment/country-music-black-artists-1.5628236
April 8, 2024 @ 9:19 pm
CBC is state sponsored garbage.
April 10, 2024 @ 9:55 am
I don’t agree with everything you’ve put out here, but these are certainly some interesting points. Concerning why the media doesn’t put the same spotlight on rock music that it does country, I think there are a few reasons for that. Firstly, like you say, it tends to align more with openly liberal values, but there is also a prevalent conservatism to a lot of it that can be found pretty easily (for instance, Staind and Korn whipping out a “Fuck Biden” flag onstage a few years ago). But more than that, I think it’s because country is having a moment, whereas rock hasn’t had one since the early ’90s. Hip hop has largely filled the role that rock had for a quarter of a century: the “dangerous” music that the kids listen to. I’m in my 30s, but I work with a lot of people in their early 20s who have just gotten out of school. Hardly any of them seem to care about rock, but they all like rap or hip hop or at the very least the rap/hip hop adjacent sounds in pop. Rock has largely become “dad music” to the newer generations. I think the idea of becoming a rockstar and playing a screaming guitar solo became so oversaturated that it ceased to be cool at all. That, and grunge came to prominence with its self-critical and mocking reflection of 1980s music that exemplified these ideals, but didn’t leave any room for the genre to grow once its time was up. And that doesn’t even get to the mixed feelings many older rock fans have about late ’90s and 2000s rock, which was largely the last time the genre was relevant at all in the mainstream (purely anecdotal, but Shinedown’s “Second Chance” is maybe the last rock song I can remember having significant pop success; aptly named, it would seem). Compare that with country, which is (per everyone else) more popular than it ever has been, or at least since Garth and Shania.
All that said, there is a bit of this “genres don’t matter” mindset in rock. The late Juice Wrld’s Death Race for Love was loudly proclaimed by the press to be a dyed-in-the-wool rock album, but to my ears sounded mostly like hip hop with rock inflections, just like what people are saying about this Beyonce album. But again, people generally don’t care about rock in this day and age, so it wasn’t a big deal. I love rock, and it’s most of what I’ve been listening to the past few years as I can’t relate to the newer country (popular or indie) that a lot of people seem to love these days. But even then, it’s frustrating to me that rock, a genre that is commonly considered to be the blues sped up, featuring household names like Elvis and Led Zeppelin (among others) who are known to have stolen songs from people who died penniless, is spared from these accusations. It’s partly a political thing, but I do indeed think it’s mostly an issue of relevance, with the political backdrop sealing the deal.
May 5, 2024 @ 2:57 am
I wanted to say that Sorry by Buckcherry was the last bonafide rock ballad to have any significant chart success in the US but that came out a year before Second Chance, so I guess you’re right.
Nothing against either band but it does seem like rock’s dominance in popular culture ended with a whimper as opposed to a bang. Both songs are sappy heartbreak ballads.
May 5, 2024 @ 9:46 am
I never thought of “Second Chance” as wimpy or a heartbreak ballad. To me, it’s more about a kid who doesn’t get along with his parents leaving home to find his way after making mistakes he probably won’t be able to live down. It’s not slow paced or saccharine at all. And continuing on from what I said about a lot of older rock fans disliking 2000s and 2010s rock for some reason, I would argue that either song is an improvement over your average hair metal cringe fest from the 1980s. But of course, older often equals better to a lot of folks, so I’m sure most won’t agree.
April 12, 2024 @ 5:10 am
Wheeew!! I knew I wasn’t the only thinking this! You added a little bit more details. I caught this shit when she stated 10 days before her album was released that it wasn’t a Country Album, it’s a “Beyonce” album. That’s what made me not like her. I don’t have any respect for her as an artist anymore. Her and label intentionally dropped these two songs to pop radio stations. Her label called ITunes to change to genre Country. She’s using racial politics in order to force her way into the Country genre instead of it happening organically. I knew the 2016 CMAs incident seemed fishy. How would they not accept her.
April 12, 2024 @ 5:10 am
Wheeew!! I knew I wasn’t the only thinking this! You added a little bit more details. I caught this shit when she stated 10 days before her album was released that it wasn’t a Country Album, it’s a “Beyonce” album. That’s what made me not like her. I don’t have any respect for her as an artist anymore. Her and label intentionally dropped these two songs to pop radio stations. Her label called ITunes to change to genre Country. She’s using racial politics in order to force her way into the Country genre instead of it happening organically.
April 8, 2024 @ 11:41 am
Beyonce makes an album that doesn’t sound country, she says openly isn’t country, yet the whole world is bending over backwards to say it absolutely is a country album. Is Beyonce upset about this or confused by the whole spectacle – of course not, she expected and intended it all along. It is simple revenge for the industry’s refusal in 2016 to indulge her whim to be a country artist. They refused because she’s a pop star and what she did then (as now) wasn’t country. She knows this but she is absolutely gonna use the BLM style race grift to enact her revenge and get what she wants. What a malign influence racial identity politics is, and what power it gives the likes of Beyonce to abuse.
April 10, 2024 @ 7:30 am
This is Off the rails. Beyoncé is not some calculating evil pop tart seeking revenge on or domination of the country music industry. Or any industry. BLM style race grift? This seems about projecting your political and cultural beliefs on to a respected and visionary artist who is simply creating music and content because that is what she is gifted to do and love since she was a child. In her music documentary “Renaissance” it ends with someone asking her how she felt about completing her latest tour and her body of work. She answered: “Liberated”. She feels liberated to create and express as she wants without fear or favor.
April 10, 2024 @ 10:40 pm
Agreed, this is off the rails. Wil not debate the artistry of Beyoncé as she has clearly stated her personal motives in creating a compelling body of work as a blending of genres. I will take the projection on the Guggenheim Museum at face value. (However, the revenge part may be true in regards to the alleged “slight” she may have felt in 2016, in spite of the standing ovations and congratulatory responses from other artists in attendace.) So let’s lay blame….
…this is about sociology, politics and projection from the press, critics and Billboard, who have changed the narrative from an artist exploring a different direction in to a sociopolitical issue. And by doing that it is causing controversy. Parkwood itself serviced tagged the metadata and serviced it to Pop radio, where it was intended to go. The manufactured controversy driven by the press and critics forced the issue and created this whole mess. (the country radio station thing is a non starter as the “pop” works were never serviced to them)
Now that Billboard has caved, many traditionalists, Black and White have taken this to task, as they should. Now that this has been deemed as “country”, it will be judged by Country’, by those standards- which are no less valuable than Rap, Rock or Jazz. And Yasmin William’s, a multi instrumentalist and traditional artist has written a clear dissertation on how this “non traditional” country album will change the standards of “traditional” country and how it negatively affect artists who are truely traditional, both Black and White – artists whose life work is country- not a casual excursions into something else. Maybe more people should read from a balanced peer perpective:
https://www.theguardian.com/music/2024/apr/02/beyonce-version-of-country-cowboy-carter-yasmin-williams
All forms of music have their negative histories and controversy, so that’s nothing unique either.
This discourse of genre bending, changes in the country industry, racism, cultural appropriation and all the other political lefty/righty BS has anyone ever called into question her ability to do this? I think not. So spare us from that argument.
As far as Renaissance, “concept albums” are noting new, (George Harrisons “All Things Must Pass”, any progressive rock album from Yes, Donna Summer’s “Bad Girls” and Janet Jackson’s magnificent Rhythm Nation 1814″ come to mind) and the latter are “legendy” as well “visionary” precursors.
April 12, 2024 @ 8:06 pm
If that were true? Why is she seeking white validation? She felt liberated? Lie! She’s absolutely not liberated. Someone who is liberated doesn’t care of the get the album of the year.
April 18, 2024 @ 12:41 pm
So many commentators feel free attacking Beyonce being seen as country but not Wallen for creating r&b and hip-hop music but marketing it as Country. The level of gatekeeping around a music style with deep roots across American history is insane. I view it as a Country album and listen to it as such. The only logic I can see for claiming it’s not a country sound is that the singer is a black woman (and for marketing comments that I read as it’s not JUST a country album). Everything else in the music has deep roots in country. My white grandfather used to play the fiddle after dinner alongside black workers during the harvest season. That history is not solely my family’s history, it also belongs to the black workers. This isn’t a country club.
April 8, 2024 @ 11:43 am
Seriously now, who cares? It’s music!
We’re spending way too much time assigning labels and categorizing her latest album.
If you like it, cool. If not? Also cool.
April 8, 2024 @ 12:59 pm
Beyonce cares. That is why she went out of her way to clarify that this is not a country album. In Beyonce’s eyes, calling ti country is restrictive to her creativity.
I’ve seen a lot of people say, “Who cares?” I’ve seen a lot of other people say, “There’s a bunch of stuff on the country charts that’s not country.” What I’ve yet to see is one salient defense of how an album Beyonce herself is saying is not country ended up on the country charts.
April 8, 2024 @ 1:39 pm
Perhaps you’re not seeing a salient defense because there isn’t one. Billboard didn’t want to take the heat from the stans and used the fact that the album had some country-ish tracks to justify their decision. It’s certainly not a good look, but not sure most country fans see Billboard as relevant anymore anyway.
April 8, 2024 @ 1:48 pm
Beyoncé may care. The Stan’s may care. The press may care. I don’t. Those of us who are long time music fans probably don’t care. I don’t give a rats ass what is on the charts or what is played by radio. I have never had trouble finding music that I like regardless of the genre. If it sounds good to me I buy it. It’s that simple.
John Moreland may be competing with her album on the Americana chart but I would be willing to bet he doesn’t care either. Do the majority of music fans check Billboard? I’d also bet most have no idea what’s number one on any given chart.
Everyone needs to pop a top and spin some records and enjoy what they enjoy. It’s pretty simple.
April 8, 2024 @ 2:21 pm
Completely understand if you and others don’t care about this topic. But I run a website called “Saving Country Music” that was specifically founded to cover these very topics. It seems very strange to me that some find it out-of-bounds that someone would stand up, raise their feeble little hand, and offer a rebuttal as to why an album that the performer doesn’t think is country is on top of the country charts.
And John Moreland may not care. But I can assure you that his label and his publicist do because chart placement the measure of the effort that can and will ultimately affect other decisions and opportunities in John Moreland’s career. That’s why I care as well.
April 8, 2024 @ 2:35 pm
You and I approach this from very different sides I guess. Maybe I care less about this shit because I don’t live exclusively in the country realm as far as my listening goes. I do appreciate what you do as far as exposing all of us to new artists and releases, but this is a bit much. At least to me.
You fight the good fiight and I’m gonna have that beer.
April 8, 2024 @ 12:06 pm
Although I agree the album isn’t a country album, I clearly heard the influence of country music in more than a few of the tracks. I don’t understand the “controversy” here. As had been pointed out on this blog repeatedly by both commenters and the author, there are TONS of pop and R&B songs and acts classified as country – not only by Billboard and the industry, but also by the fans. This doesn’t alarm or annoy me half as much as seeing country fans and the industry bend over backwards to give honors and flowers to an act like Jelly Roll. Beyonce’s presence in country music is temporary – his is permanent. Sorry, that’s just a tad bit more upsetting to me.
April 8, 2024 @ 12:57 pm
I can’t speak for other outlets, but I’ve made these same points about Jelly Roll as well. There seems to be this prevailing idea that the criticism Beyonce is facing is novel. 50 years ago, Charlie Rich whipped out his lighter, and lit the name of John Denver on fire as he announced him for CMA Entertainer of the Year. Conway Twitty never won a solo CMA Awards because he started in rockabilly. This has been going on forever. And it will always go on as country fans and artists work to define country in the present tense.
April 8, 2024 @ 1:23 pm
Oh, I agree this criticism isn’t new. And I don’t disagree with they way SCM and some of the other outlets have covered this story. It’s just that – for me at least – this isn’t a threat to country music. Country music survived Lionel Richie and Bon Jovi, it will survive Beyonce as well. The real threat is these newer artists like Jelly Roll who are coming to prominence exactly at the time we were starting to see a shit back towards REAL country music. They’re the ones who will have a LASTING negative impact.
April 8, 2024 @ 6:42 pm
Agree Cee Cee …..
And the chilling effects on upcoming artists who are pure traditional country style wise; they won’t fit the new mold. And the dilemma of relying on social media and streaming rather than seek a record conteact? Or forsaking themselves to fit this redefined genre? Or worst case, not bothering at all and letting their dreams die?
That’s really the new threat here.
April 8, 2024 @ 1:07 pm
Depressingly, this precedent means the Lana del Rey and Post Malone albums will follow it. So we will get a load of pop acts clogging up the Hot Country chart, perhaps diluting efforts by Nashville acts to have number ones. Is this 1982 all over again?
April 8, 2024 @ 5:20 pm
The musical purity of gay hat acts polluted by such trash … forsooth !!!
April 8, 2024 @ 1:27 pm
despite this, i will be able to sleep soundly tonight.
April 8, 2024 @ 3:29 pm
This is an album with at least three country songs and at least five Nashville Pop songs. I wish you would’ve reviewed those songs; you are certainly qualified to do so.
Country will survive. After all Morgan Wallen is set to rescue country music from Beyonce with his release of Cowgirls to country music radio. Along with gold standard country hits, Last Night, You Proof, and Thinkin’ Bout Me all will be well.
April 8, 2024 @ 5:12 pm
Oh yes it is.
Self identifying.
Shares the same locker room.
Think Charlie Daniels in drag Nudie suit.
Will someone please turn on the exhaust fan.
April 8, 2024 @ 6:16 pm
I just hope there is room for those making country music amongst Zach bryan and all the other popstars. I just heard that Zayn malik was recording with Dave cobb and Shawn mendes was also in Nashville
April 8, 2024 @ 6:27 pm
Why does it even matter how her album is classified? If you like it & buy it that’s great. If not, that’s fine too. Who cares what genre it is. The Beatles were a rock band but not every song they did was rock, witness “Yesterday.” They also covered Buck Owens on a rock album.
April 8, 2024 @ 6:40 pm
Why are you asking this question here? Why don’t you ask this of the activists and journalists that have used fear and coercion to compel music institutions to recognize “Cowboy Carter” as country, or they will demean them as racist. That is the impetus for this decision. The album isn’t country. Beyonce says that herself. She’s gone out of her way to drive that point home.
April 8, 2024 @ 7:02 pm
I care. We are in era of great country music yet popstars will drown it all out, and Beyonce herself has said this isn’t a country album
April 9, 2024 @ 2:16 am
Even here in Canada, the CBC is reporting this balderdash about country music being racist: https://www.cbc.ca/news/entertainment/country-music-black-artists-1.5628236
April 9, 2024 @ 2:18 am
Good luck to Beyoncé. No criticism of her. She said it wasn’t country. It perhaps shows and highlights how irrelevant the country charts really are and have been for a very long time. There really is not much country music on them anymore. Does anyone really care about them anymore?
April 9, 2024 @ 8:00 am
If Billboard can let Dolly’s rock album with rock artists and rock songs be #1 on the country album chart, then sure, they will let Beyoncé be #1 as well.
Trigger – has Beyoncé’s beyhive found you yet? They are relentless once they pick on somebody.
April 9, 2024 @ 7:00 pm
I guess they has to place it somewhere. They could create a blended category but that would bring some controversy wouldn’t it. But also putting it in the Americana section is just stupid.
April 10, 2024 @ 2:54 pm
Beyonce basically played a game of chicken with the industry, the media, and the public – and won. Despite saying “this ain’t a country album” at the last possible moment of her marketing campaign, she was always daring everybody to say it wasn’t a country album. Of course they wouldn’t dare say it.
It was a power move, and that’s what this album is about – dominating (they’d say “reclaiming”) a genre she and her fans don’t understand, don’t care about, and would otherwise treat with utter contempt. The chart placements and accolades are just another feather in Queen Bey’s cap.
April 11, 2024 @ 6:51 am
That’s a perfect summary of what this all about and why we ought to care.
April 10, 2024 @ 5:41 pm
It’s why she’s a billionairess,Tex Hex.
April 12, 2024 @ 2:23 pm
I guess things are different in America because, here in Australia, I can’t remember the last time I picked up on a new artist, song or album from the radio. There is a local country station I can listen to, but it tends to favour very commercial Nashville-sourced material, with occasional exceptions. Moreover, it has recently been abysmal at identifying what they play – neither pre-announcing nor back-announcing most songs. Charts and radio airplay really don’t play a part in my approach to Country music. As for Beyoncé, well…….meh from me.
April 12, 2024 @ 3:01 pm
It has nothing to do with country of origin. The people who would read a website like Saving Country Music are likely never to listen to the radio no mater where they are from. However, most mainstream country fans do still listen to the radio, even if in dwindling numbers. The exception would be regional radio stations that cater to niche markets.
April 13, 2024 @ 11:23 am
There’s been a recent trend that tries to claim that country music is heavily influenced and comes from blacks. I saw Ken burns try to say that and also Beyoncé and her fans are saying it now. I’m sorry but no, just no. It’s a ludicrous claim. County music is white people music. It comes from scots-Irish immigrants, poor white people and cowboys . The only black Performer of note is Charlie pride and he just sang it the same as white people did. Yes blacks created great music and are crucial in the history of blues, jazz , rock and R&B. But I’m sorry liberals , country music is as white as classical music. Just how it is.
April 13, 2024 @ 11:27 am
Black Americans had a role in the formation of country music, from Black minstrel player to Black blues artists later. Do Black performers have a majority stake in the history of country? Of course not, and these are the assertions that deserve to be refuted. But we also can’t say country is “white people music.” Black people played an important role.