FLASHPOINT 2016: Is Beyonce’s Song Country, Or Not ?!?
In all my time writing for this stupid website, I can’t remember another moment when such a non-story story absolutely gripped the consciousness of the American music media, and polarized musical pundits with such spirited and sometimes vehement opposition that it permeated the entire media mindset, and everyone was forced to choose sides.
It’s all centered around if one song on Beyonce’s new album Lemonade called “Daddy Lessons” is country or not, and if Beyonce should be “welcomed” into country because of it, when the song hasn’t been released to country radio and probably never will be, and the whole issue ultimately doesn’t matter a hill of beans to anything.
For the record, “Daddy Lessons” is not a country song. This is just the truth of things. And if you’re looking for any further evidence of such, just appreciate that even well-known pop country and celebrity-worshiping pom pom waiver Alison Bonaguro of CMT is behind me on this. And when Saving Country Music and CMT’s Alison Bonaguro find consensus, you know there’s something universal behind it. I’m not sure that I agree with some of the points Alison makes about the song, but whatever. The fact is, Beyonce’s “Daddy Lessons” isn’t country, and there is no indication it’s even supposed to be taken as such. Is the song “inspired” by country music, or Beyonce’s upbringing in Houston? (Which trust me, is not a “country” town despite being in Texas.) Well sure it is. But that doesn’t make it a country song.
And yet for some reason, it is some indomitable point of pride by certain members of the entertainment media—most of whom only know country music from the outside looking in—as well as superfans from the Beyonce camp that everyone universally recognize “Daddy Lessons” as a country song, and welcome Beyonce to the “country format,” or they’re clearly sexist, racist, ignorant hayseeds who must be smeared and destroyed for taking such an incredibly insulting stance against Queen Beyonce.
It’s come to the point where you now have these non-country media members trying to explain to country why they’re “stupid” for not letting Beyonce into the fold, when remember, it’s questionable if that’s even what she’s asking for. The Houston Press posted a story entitled, “Country Music Would Be Stupid to Ignore Beyonce’s Gift to the Genre.”
“Horns, fiddles, jangly guitar riffs and Beyonce’s flawless voice combine to create a track that is both immensely listenable and undeniably country,” says writer Amy McCarthy, who has so much knowledge about country she once said about Sturgill Simpson, and I quote: “Sturgill Simpson never said he was a country artist.”
Amy McCarthy also flipped out when the Dixie Chicks covered “Daddy Lessons.” Writing for The Dallas Observer she said, “There will undoubtedly be an onslaught of artists attempting to cover the perfection that is Beyonce’s latest work, many of them white artists who have no business going near a Beyonce track.”
Someone is looking to score backstage passes when the Queen Bee comes through Texas I guess. Aren’t The Dallas Observer and Houston Press supposed to be alternative newsweeklys? Tell me what local punk band blew up a green room over the weekend, not why I should worship a global pop star. That’s the problem with today’s music media: it has descended into fan worship, and contraction has necessitated only one set of eyes and ears cover all the genres of music so you get these incredibly shallow and wrong-minded observances of country from people who have no clue about the format.
That was on full display when The Associated Press, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS for crying out loud, ran a story Friday (5-20) called “Country Artists Welcome Beyonce to the Format.” They go on to accumulate some anecdotal information from a couple of artists like Dierks Bentley and Karen Fairchild of Little Big Town before turning the podium over to idiot DJ Bobby Bones.
He compared it to Timberlake’s “Drink Me Away,” a pop song that originally was released in 2013, but had a second life on country radio last year because of his well-received performance of the song with Stapleton on national television.
Bullshit.
As Saving Country Music pointed out recently, “Drink You Away” absolutely flopped at country radio. There was no “second life” for the song at all.
Whether it’s because country music’s notoriously-insular program directors balked at the prospects of Justin Timberlake on country radio, or there was never truly much heft behind the effort, it absolutely flopped. The song, which at the time was roughly 2 1/2 years old, failed to chart whatsoever on any major list.
Then this ridiculous puff piece from The Associated Press, which is supposed to be the most straight-laced and impartial media institution in the United States, gets absolutely insane.
They not only suggest that “Daddy Lessons” could be considered for Song of the Year and Single of the Year by the CMA Awards (even though it hasn’t even been released to country radio, and there’s no indication it will be), the Associated Press actually suggests that Beyonce could be a legitimate contender for the CMA’s Female Vocalist of the Year in 2016. I am not making this up people.
Read this, from The Associated Press:
The song could even qualify for CMA’s song of the year or single of the year awards if it charts in the top 50 of a Billboard country singles chart by the end of June, which it hasn’t yet. And there’s no requirement for being known as a country artist for Beyonce to be nominated for female vocalist of the year.
People have so lost their everloving flipping minds over this stupid, non-story story, they’re now wanting to give Beyonce serious consideration for the very top distinctions in the entire country music industry. And for what? A song that’s not even country, and has yet to even be released to country radio?
But you know what? Fuck it. You can have the issue Amy McCarthy, The Dallas Observer, Bobby Bones, The Associated Press, and the millions of Beyonce fans who think any perceived ill word about your Queen Bee is an act of war. I actually don’t have any problem with Beyonce, or “Daddy Lessons” whatsoever. It’s fine. But the incitement this issue has aroused has now gone so far beyond reality and basic common sense, I cry uncle.
READ: Song Review – Beyonce’s ‘Country’ Song “Daddy Lessons”
You’re right, “Daddy Lessons” is not only a country song, it is the greatest fucking country song ever written or performed in the history of ever. And for it, Beyonce is probably the greatest country music entertainer in the history of the world, and will never be eclipsed by any other artist from the present, or future, till Kingdom come. Female Vocalist of the Year? Please. Beyonce is the country music Female Vocalist and Entertainer of the Century simply for the epic, country music masterwork that is “Daddy Lessons.”
All hail Beyonce!
May 23, 2016 @ 8:32 am
I totally disagree, I think Hank Williams was the best country music entertainer in history. Should I have read more than the last paragraph?
May 23, 2016 @ 9:49 am
How dare you insult Beyonce like that!
May 23, 2016 @ 10:20 am
This is what’s in store for you, buddy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rGxe83lXgJg
Run. Now.
May 23, 2016 @ 12:59 pm
Ha! See, this whole Beyonce fandom thing is so out of hand, SNL was running sketches about it years ago. It’s not even about if the song is country or not. If you’ve made a perceived slight against Beyonce, you must be destroyed and discredited. It’s even crept into major media institutions like The Associated Press.
The only way saying that “Daddy Lessons” is not a country song is somehow an insult against Beyonce is if Beyonce herself is saying it’s country, and so far I haven’t seen any indication of this. It is all being driven by the media, which makes me think there’s a publicity firm out there trying to create a groundswell so it looks like Beyonce is forced to release it to country radio.
May 23, 2016 @ 11:06 am
Shes always been a Taylor Swift fan this I know. So she prefers to pop acts over country acts.
May 24, 2016 @ 6:25 am
I personal think Bon Jovi is the greatest country act of all time. There song with Sugarland was like mana from heaven
May 23, 2016 @ 8:34 am
Your work here is done. Shut down the website. Forget about Simpson, Stapleton and Isbell. Beyonce has saved country music.
May 23, 2016 @ 8:42 am
With all due respect, I have to disagree. This is not, as you write in the opening, a “stupid” website. It is, I would suggest, anything but a “stupid” website.
May 23, 2016 @ 9:06 am
Unfortunately, most media outlets today are mere tools of a celebrity’s PR machine, so no discerning human should take anything they say seriously.
May 23, 2016 @ 7:46 pm
Agree
May 23, 2016 @ 9:09 am
Be ready for he fans will come for you. I like the song but just b/c you say Texas and it has less production on the song doesn’t make it country. We have enough trouble trying to get legitimate female country artists heard, this is just stupid. I smell the HOPES of getting Beyoncé to the 50th CMA awards to sing, anyone else think this has been talked about behind doors?
May 23, 2016 @ 9:53 am
If, and I say IF, they really try to market “Daddy Lessons” and Beyonce to country, then all that means is another true female country artist gets knocked out of the spotlight. That’s what happens when they put Meghan Trainor, Ariana Grande, or whomever on these dumb awards shows, or push their music to country radio. With so few slots for country women, the last thing we need to do is hand them out to pop/hip-hop stars. That’s not saying anything against Beyonce or “Daddy Lessons” whatsoever. It just doesn’t belong here, and saying she could be considered for Female Vocalist of the Year is hubris.
May 23, 2016 @ 4:25 pm
I agree that trying to market “Daddy’s Lessons” and Beyoncé to country, just because there are a few countryish elements, keeps actual female country artists off the air…this, and the fact that it is a fool’s errand to do so anyway (though there seem to be plenty of fools in the media who’ll at least try). That said, I did find the Dixie Chicks’ live performance of it quite amusing in a very down-home way.
Just for the record, I’m not a fan of Beyoncé’s. I find her stuff to be much more flash than substance. That said, however, the same thing could be said for all the Bromeisters out there who are now trying to pass themselves as R&B artists–perhaps even more so, as many of them don’t seem to know any more about the history of R&B than they do about Country.
May 23, 2016 @ 9:11 am
This is what happens when the lines between genres get blurred so much that people don’t know what is country and what is not. There was a time when even people who didn’t listen to country music at least knew what it was.
” Whether it’s because country music’s notoriously-insular program directors balked at the prospects of Justin Timberlake on country radio … ”
How I wish this were true. It would be nice if country radio’s program directors really WERE insular and acted as gate-keepers kept non-country songs off their airwaves, whether those songs were from Beyonce, Justin Timberlake, Taylor Swift or Sam Hunt.
May 23, 2016 @ 9:15 am
I truly, completely, wholeheartedly don’t care, FWIW. And MHO is W very little.
May 23, 2016 @ 9:32 am
I bought Lemonade last week and there is a full-on rock song with Jack White, which got me thinking. Does any genre go out of their way to try to claim songs or artists as much as country? Did anyone put up a piece about Beyonce going rock?
While country music (or most of the media at least) keeps trying to look cool by claiming Beyonce released a country song and by having top-40 artists collaborate on every award show they are losing the fans that made the genre so popular to begin with.
I know you fear the mono genre, but I wish people didn’t have to try to fit everything into a genre and decide if it’s country, folk, pop or whatever.
May 23, 2016 @ 9:57 am
This is totally a media narrative being spun by music journalists who have no clue about country and can’t compose an original thought.
May 24, 2016 @ 3:35 am
Brandon F, to answer your question–no. I’m a big rock (like, real rock, not Billboard Music Awards rock) fan and I haven’t seen anything similar about Beyonce “going rock.” I don’t really ever see rock doing this…if anything, it’s the opposite–you’d be more likely to see, “Beyonce isn’t rock, just because she’s singing over Jack White’s guitars. Does she even know a Metallica song?!”
May 24, 2016 @ 6:18 am
Yeah I did a search for “Beyonce Jack White” and all of the headlines were about Jack White collaborating with her. Nothing claiming she had gone rock.
May 23, 2016 @ 10:06 am
Amy McCarthy also flipped out when the Dixie Chicks covered “Daddy Lessons.” Writing for The Dallas Observer she said, “There will undoubtedly be an onslaught of artists attempting to cover the perfection that is Beyonce’s latest work, many of them white artists who have no business going near a Beyonce track.”
Hilarious! It’s sacrilege to even cover a Beyonce song! Huh, maybe I hang out with the wrong sort of songwriters, but the ones I know are generally delighted when someone covers their song (assuming that the cover artist doesn’t try to steal it). Granted, someone could mangle it out of shape, but I’d be surprised to hear a songwriter put such a preemptive blanket kibosh on covers.
May 23, 2016 @ 4:07 pm
“Cultural approproation” when the Chix do Queen B’s song, but NOT when she “goes country”?
Just asking…
May 24, 2016 @ 6:49 am
Damn silly article, but I don’t think she was talking about the Chicks with that comment. Interestingly, that “no business going near a Beyonce track” statement no longer appears to be in the article.
May 24, 2016 @ 11:57 am
I have noticed that multiple Amy McCarthy articles have been edited after criticism has been brought against them. She’s feuding with Wheeler Walker Jr. on Twitter at the moment. I really hate to call out anyone who puts effort to write about music, no matter how misguided I think they might be. But Amy McCarthy and her editors are downright dangerous in how aggressively wrong-minded they are on a consistent basis. It’s almost bad as the Facebook viral content farmers at this point.
May 24, 2016 @ 7:12 am
Amy McCarthy’s comment, at a deep level, strikes me as implying that NO White artists should be covering ANY R&B songs whatsoever. Besides being a ship that sailed six decades ago with the birth of rock and roll, that remark seems to me as being a case of reverse racism. What about an R&B artist like Whitney Houston having done Dolly Parton’s “I Will Always Love You”? Is not liking what Houston did with that song tantamount to being a racist, while saying that White artists should not be covering Beyoncé’s or any other R&B act’s songs is NOT? In my opinion, the answer is a firm NO.
May 23, 2016 @ 10:24 am
Maybe it is Americana. LOL.
Who the hell cares anymore….
May 23, 2016 @ 10:28 am
This should help you guys feel better. THIS is country!
http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/the-highwaymen-the-fights-and-friendship-of-countrys-great-supergroup-20160520
I don’t think there’s a video there, but these guys are DEFINITELY, and DEFINITIVELY country! I think I just might get this set, because I love JC, WJ, and WN. KK, too, but don’t get to hear him much. I just love his music, and I believe he’s a decent actor.
I might catch flak from the Beyhive, and I don’t give a shit! Beyonce can kiss Miranda and Carrie’s ass! She’s not country, and she never will be! I would welcome Taylor back into the fold before I would ever welcome Beyonce (or is that really pronounced “bouncy”, seeing how much of it she does on stage)!
May 23, 2016 @ 10:28 am
Amy McCarthy is a pompous windbag, know it all that doesn’t have any business writing reviews. I’ve been at the Sturgill shows in Dallas that she’s covered, and even met her in the smoking area briefly and unknowingly. What she writes isn’t an accurate record of events that transpire at the shows.
May 23, 2016 @ 10:40 am
rap is crap
May 23, 2016 @ 10:44 am
“Bootylicious”: More country than Sam Hunt.
May 23, 2016 @ 11:19 am
(Beyonce’s manager kicks open double doors of Music Row)
Gatekeepers: “What the hell do you want?”
Manager: “For too long, you have greeted Queen Bee’s achievements with ambivalence! We’ve had it up to here with your shunning of her ways………….and now, YOU WILL BOW TO QUEEN BEE!”
Gatekeepers: “Huh? What are you talking about?”
Manager: (disgusted snarl) “You WILL anoint Beyonce as the unparalleled queen empress of everything country music! Her new song “Daddy Lessons” makes “He Stopped Loving Her Today” look like a half-baked Charlie Puth ballad! It epitomizes country soul and we will not be ignored!”
Gatekeepers: “…………..so………..Beyonce is Queen Bee?”
Manager: “YOU WILL BEND OVER BACKWARDS AND DO EVERYTHING TO MAKE QUEEN BEE THE MOST INFLUENTIAL, GROUNDBREAKING & RESPECTED VOCALIST, SONGWRITER AND MUSICIAN IN COUNTRY MUSIC HISTORY………….OR WE WILL LIBEL YOU FOR PEDOPHILIA AND ANTI-SEMITISM!”
Gatekeepers: (descend to knees) “Yes sir!”
Manager: (gives satisfied grimace) “I knew you’d see things my way! Typical complacent gatekeepers of county music! Now, if you’ll excuse me, I must give the metal community a visit! As you were!”
(A multitude of lawyers and publicists raid Music Row, beginning all-out rout)
*
May 24, 2016 @ 8:10 am
LOL I’d love to see them try that with the metal community! Now that would be entertaining!
May 23, 2016 @ 11:21 am
I’ll criticize Beyonce for you. She’s an extremely talented vocalist but a severely misguided and shallow artist. While her albums tend to have some deeper cuts, that doesn’t justify the silly, banal nonsense she releases to popular radio and if she had half the integrity her hilariously-incorrect-about-everything superfans seem to think she has, she’d take the creative freedom that she could obviously have and use it to help mainstream American music regain some traction and substance so we’re no longer the “creative” laughingstock of the art world.
She could do so much, but she accomplishes so little. “Daddy Lessons” is the only Beyonce song I can even name off the top of my head. She has the opportunity to release great music to the masses but instead she chooses forgettable drivel that nobody can remember 5 years later.
Come at me with logical rebuttals derived from critical thought, superfans.
May 23, 2016 @ 12:36 pm
I found this on YouTube yesterday…this guy tells us why these horrible songs are being released…
This guy is awesome!
https://youtu.be/IP0wuwJBdMI
May 23, 2016 @ 12:49 pm
Here’s my rebuttal: have you actually listened to ‘Lemonade’ all the way through?
May 23, 2016 @ 2:47 pm
I haven’t, and I don’t intend to. Like my initial post says, my issue isn’t with her album cuts–it’s the forgettable, shallow, mind-bogglingly dumb singles.
May 31, 2016 @ 10:32 am
I have. Most of it is garbage. The first four songs all follow the same bland formula and have fewer total lines in their combined choruses than a Taylor Swift chorus. They’re literally just one line repeated over and over.
May 23, 2016 @ 11:43 am
Thats racist saying “Mainly white artists are covering it and they have no right” A blatant racist writing a newspaper smh.
May 23, 2016 @ 1:08 pm
I normally don’t give into the whole reverse racism thing because it tends to trivialize matters, but what does race have anything to do with the qualifications to cover this song? Why even bring it up in an article? To me, it proves part of the drive behind this Beyonce “country” song is not music at all, but politics.
May 23, 2016 @ 11:59 am
Well, I did a little bit of “research.” I gave a listen to a live version of the song and the Dixie Chicks live cover of it. I think it’s about as country as “American Kids” by Kenny Chesney and isn’t he a pop country superstar? It’s more country than any of the singles by that milquetoast co-opter of black pop music Sam Hunt. And didn’t popster Kelly Clarkson get some female vocalist of the year nomination once? So as far as Beyoncé’s song being contemplated as a country song, all I can say is “Thanks, Music Row.”
May 23, 2016 @ 12:08 pm
Thanks to my minions Amy McCarthy, Bobby Bones, and The Houston Press and New York Times, country music has officially been destroyed.
My work on this planet is done! Hail ME!!!!!
May 23, 2016 @ 8:39 pm
Sorry Satan, I’m about to listen to some Red Dirt right now. I’m like a Jedi Knight in hiding.
May 23, 2016 @ 12:14 pm
Reading this review, and Sam Hunt’s House Party comes on the radio. Who said Mondays suck?!?!?
May 23, 2016 @ 12:14 pm
Thank you for writing this! It’s bad enough having to hear for years about how Beyonce is the reason music was even invented, and how fierce she is, and how great she was at the Super Bowl, blah blah blah blah… but can’t they just leave me with my country music and leave that untouched? Do they have to molest everything?!
May 23, 2016 @ 12:46 pm
Who is “they”? Trigger, I know your intentions are the best and that you approach these things with a pragmatic, analytical approach, with music at the forefront of your thoughts. But I think you should read through the comments of some of your readers and try to figure out the source of their animosity towards Beyonce…
May 23, 2016 @ 1:15 pm
You’re implying that my readers don’t want to recognize Beyonce as country because they’re either racist or sexist, and I frankly don’t think that’s the case. Maybe that’s the case with a small minority, but I think that many are stupefied like me why we’re even having this discussion. Has “Daddy Lessons” been released to country radio? No. Has Beyonce called it a country song? Not that I’ve seen. This entire situation was created by fawning Beyonce fans in the media who have a shallow knowledge of country and simply like the idea of Beyonce releasing a country song.
May 23, 2016 @ 1:51 pm
Not all of these readers. Just some of them. The comment “can’t they just leave me with my country music and leave that untouched? Do they have to molest everything?!” seems kind of problematic when discussing this particular subject.
May 23, 2016 @ 2:07 pm
Also, I was referring more to the generalized animosity towards her than to people’s opinions on the song genre. There are a lot of reasons why people get fired up on both sides of this argument. You are right, it is about more than the music. Beyonce stands for much more than just a musical genre to a lot of people. For myself personally, her music doesn’t really speak to me or my life experience, but I can respect the fact that she does mean a LOT to other people. That’s why they will defend her and go crazy when anyone insults her, right or wrong. She challenges a lot of social norms and it gets people up in arms. I don’t like the music critics who automatically champion everything she does in an attempt to be righteous, but I also don’t like the kneejerk, angry backlash that she receives. They are both coming from places that have nothing to do with music.
Your article is discussing the argument over genres, awards shows, and marketing her, perhaps undeservingly, as a country artist. It is a valid discussion. I’m just saying that the people who get really fired up and emotional about this often have other reasons for being so upset. It’s part of a larger culture war and changing demographic of our entire country. Sports, pop music, movies, etc throughout American history have become the catalysts for discussions and arguments about bigger subjects. Opportunist music critics and journalists will exploit that fact in order to stir up conversations, which is definitely wrong. But I think as country fans we should look at some of the reactions of other country fans and really think about why they are so immediately and adamantly dismissive and angry about Beyonce stepping on their cultural turf.
May 23, 2016 @ 2:02 pm
Tyler is one of those psychotic Queen Bea fangurlz. LOLZ.
May 23, 2016 @ 2:08 pm
Nope. Not even particularly a fan. Just trying to see other people’s viewpoints.
May 23, 2016 @ 3:34 pm
Seen a rolling stone article last week on it. Had six total spins on country radio and at that point didn’t have anything registered in the last ten days.
May 31, 2016 @ 11:48 am
Never!! We shall take your music along with every other form and use it to fill our coffers with profit. And it doesn’t matter what new kind of music is created! In the end, we will take it and use it for our gain!!! You will never defeat us!!! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAA!!!!
May 23, 2016 @ 12:27 pm
Another funny part to this was how Beyoncé’s fans were tweeting about how Carrie should watch out because Beyoncé is coming for her! Oh gosh! Carrie should be so scared! *eye roll*
May 23, 2016 @ 12:32 pm
Here’s a question for you:
Why does the Houston Press advocate for Beyoncé on country radio but not for Aaron Watson or the Turnpike Troubadours? I mean, the way they led off the whole damn piece…
May 23, 2016 @ 1:18 pm
Or how about women like Ashley Monroe, Kacey Musgraves, Brandy Clark, and half a dozen others that are on major labels, have worked their entire careers in country music, dedicated their lives to the discipline, and still get mostly ignored by mainstream radio and media. Does Beyonce really need the extra attention being labeled country can bring to her?
May 23, 2016 @ 4:54 pm
Those are good questions also. As I put it elsewhere, between the characterization of the Dixie Chicks as “torchbearers of classic authenticity in modern country,” the nonchalant accusations of racism, and the thrust of the piece itself…well, I never was much on characterizing anything directly as PC social-justice-warrior bullshit, but that’s certainly what this whole thing smacks of to me.
May 23, 2016 @ 7:55 pm
In fairness…The Dixie Chicks absolutely, unquestionably are “torchbearers of authenticity in modern country.” That’s not a controversial statement.
Home is just as much more traditional than Traveler as Traveler is than Daddy Lessons, and I fucking adore Traveler.
May 24, 2016 @ 3:02 am
I absolutely agree about Home. I think that album was arguably the best mainstream country album of the new century and that it could absolutely go toe-to-toe with most if not all of what’s discussed here on a daily basis. But I was thinking in the context of their mainstream catalog. Wide Open Spaces and Fly, while certainly great albums, were definitely more commercially-oriented, especially the latter. I do think WOS had more in common with Home though.
May 23, 2016 @ 8:21 pm
LIKE. Repeat several million times
May 23, 2016 @ 12:40 pm
Could it be called Americana? I think it could be. I think that song would fit right in on a Shovels & Rope album or something. I’m actually surprised you’re not more excited about the song. I don’t think it was a half-assed crossover marketing attempt. It seems genuine and I found it to be pretty exciting to hear it come from a Beyonce album. I’ve never heard anything like it. It’s not like Nelly’s foray into country music. Have you listened to the whole album? Whether you enjoy it or not, it is a very, very important pop album that will influence a lot of people.
I think it’s a huge statement for her to include a country-influenced song on the album. ‘Lemonade’ means a LOT to many women, minorities, and people in general. Country music is not known for being very inclusive, to say the least. As you’ve discussed many times in the past, there is a lot of sexism and racism present in country music. Much of the genre is unfriendly to outsiders. Despite the fact that there are also a lot of forward-thinking country artists and fans, I think it would be really hard as a woman and as a minority to embrace country music and enjoy it for what it is. She decided that she was not going to let that stop her from exploring the genre and her Texas roots. It was a bold move, and I think it was kind of a statement that for her, as an artist, nothing is off limits.
I think most of her peers would be scared away from doing something like this out of fear of alienating their fans. She has all sorts of pressure to deliver a blockbuster pop album that sells millions of copies. And then she goes and throws in an old-fashioned, twangy Americana song next to a rock song with Jack White and experimental electronic songs with James Blake? I think she deserves all the respect in the world. I think if you really listen to the other songs on the album and think about them in a bigger context, you’ll maybe see why people are so eager to worship her.
And while I don’t think you should be able to tell any artist what songs they can or can not cover, I do think it would be in poor taste for a country band to seek popularity by attaching themselves to this song. It is a very personal song written from the perspective of a black woman who grew up in Texas. It was just released and has a lot of meaning to a lot of people who have been socially excluded from the country genre for decades. It is a bold artistic statement, and I think it would be really lame for someone else to try to profit off of it’s popularity.
May 23, 2016 @ 2:10 pm
Americana?!?!
ROFL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
May 23, 2016 @ 2:51 pm
If she wants my respect, she needs to show me that she cares about overhauling pop music so that good, substantial music rules the radio again.
May 23, 2016 @ 3:27 pm
That’s the thing – she doesn’t want or need your (or my) approval. That’s why it resonates with people.
May 23, 2016 @ 7:55 pm
Yeah, I was about to say…
May 23, 2016 @ 12:42 pm
I’ve shared this article on Twitter. Queen Bee’s fans are coming to crash the website with their outrage.
And back to the heavy ass shit that is Wo Fat’s latest I go.
May 23, 2016 @ 1:10 pm
Wouldn’t it just be awesome to see Kenye West at the CMAs running his cock washer? Maybe him and Beyoncé can be like the new Conway and Loretta or Kenny and Dolly.
May 23, 2016 @ 1:22 pm
There is only one thing to say to something like this and again I say it…………..Beyonce Who?
May 23, 2016 @ 1:41 pm
In other news, AMC debuted a new tv show last night called “Preacher,” and it played a Willie Nelson song and a Johnny Cash song in the first episode, so that was cool
May 23, 2016 @ 1:53 pm
Beyoncé the new George strait, only with a pair of boobs, a vagina, and a career away from country music. Thank you Beyoncé!
May 23, 2016 @ 2:53 pm
If Beyonce wanted to label this song country, I would say it’s more country than a lot of what is currently on country radio. Of course, most of what is on country radio isn’t county either. I mean Keith Urban was top of the country chart, and Daddy’s Lessons might be more country than anything on that album as well (Frankly Chris Stapleton isn’t very country either, but it is good music). But is it really country? No. So as long as she’s not pushing it, or labeling it as country, then it’s not country.
Side note, I don’t think where you grew up should decide if your music is country or not. If someone from NYC makes good country music, it’s still country. And people who grow up in rural areas can do pop & r&b if they want too.
May 23, 2016 @ 8:01 pm
Yup. All of this.
May 24, 2016 @ 7:01 am
Case in point:
According to wikipedia, Doug Seegers is from Long Island, New York. No specific town is listed, but Long Island is definitely part of the NYC metro area. I swear I once read that he was from Queens, which is a borough of NYC that is on Long Island, although saying “Long Island” in the NYC area usually means Nassau and Suffolk county (which are east of Queens). Still, NYC area, for sure.
May 23, 2016 @ 3:10 pm
Yea! No prejudice! Beyonce has done better than many artists who sing Modern Country.
May 23, 2016 @ 3:18 pm
I mean she does say “Texas” about 3 times so i don’t see why you won’t recognize this as country. WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU RACISTS!?!?
May 23, 2016 @ 3:42 pm
Willie Nelson did an entire reggae album; that doesn’t make him reggae. Beyoncé is not and never will be country. Some of her fans are too ate up with it to understand this. It’s not good enough for them that’s she’s the Queen of Pop; she has to be Queen of Everything.
May 23, 2016 @ 8:30 pm
Still more country than Sam Hunt.
Anyways, I feel real embarrassed that we have gone so far that we have to discuss Beyonce’s so called “country” song that won’t be released to country radio (thank the heavens above). Also, today’s society is so screwed, no matter what, if its said it’s country, than apparently no matter who the artist is, or what genre he/she is in, it’s “country.”
People have gone crazy. That’ s all I can say.
May 23, 2016 @ 9:07 pm
“Many of them white artists who have no business going near a Beyonce track.”
What in the flying fuck is that supposed to mean!?
May 24, 2016 @ 3:50 am
I don’t see Beyonce trying to push this to country radio. She doesn’t need to. I think anyone who listens to country radio these days is already a Beyonce fan. I have several friends who will go to a Jason Aldean concert, and a Beyonce show. I don’t see a ton of people who are genre-exclusive these days. Many pop country artists sing pure pop or pop-rock covers at their shows and the audience sings along with every word. It would be a waste of time and marketing for Beyonce to “break into country,” because she already has those people. Country radio/media just seems like that trend-chasing girl who wants so desperately to be considered cool, she’ll glom onto anything that’s popular, so they’re trying to make something happen with Beyonce by creating this non-story story.
May 24, 2016 @ 5:55 am
What is interesting though is that even though country radio doesn’t play very country music, they refuse to play music by people who aren’t country, even if the music itself might be country. In that sense it’ll be interesting to see how the Brad Paisley/Demi duet fares on radio (& I suspect that warner will be watching while deciding if they will ever release the Blake/Gwen duet as a single, though I’d guess not).
May 24, 2016 @ 9:10 am
There appears to be an oversaturation of male-female duets at the moment on corporate country radio.
I think “Go Ahead And Break My Heart” may eventually be released as a single, but I expect “She’s Got A Way With Words” will be released next. I dislike the song, but in terms of tempo it makes sense as a follow-up to the lethargic “Came Here to Forget”.
May 24, 2016 @ 10:09 am
She’s got a way with words is definitely the next single, there are better tracks on the album, so they’ll probably never see the light of days as a single. I am moderately surprised they didn’t go with Every Time I hear that Song, or Straight outta Cold beer (because it’s completely terrible so it’d probably do well on radio).
May 24, 2016 @ 10:32 am
Both of those songs are radio-friendly, but they also lack teeth or any real memorable quality. “Straight Outta Cold Beer” is essentially a less-gimmicky and more ordinary reprise of “Boys ‘Round Here”, and “Every Time I Hear That Song” sounds like a cross between a late-2000’s Rascal Flatts song and The Script or OneRepublic when in ballad mode.
To me, “Friends” and the rebirth of “Green” are the two clear standouts that are also radio-friendly. Both are entirely capable of being radio hits while also having a distinctive personality. The former knows exactly how to walk the middle line between catering to a kid’s-oriented film while also having a subtle dash of Shelton’s sass, while the latter knows how to walk the middle line between something with a novelty charm to it without hitting you over the head. And both are easily among his most country-sounding efforts in all recent memory.
May 24, 2016 @ 12:32 pm
See and those exact qualities of SOCB and ETIHTS are why I figured they’d be released as singles. Green btw is an older song from a previous album that they changed the production on a bit and re-released.
My favorite songs from the album actually tend towards the ones that Blake actually wrote (ironic), apparently he actually wrote a bunch & then all but 3 got nixed for the album. Can’t decide if that’s more of an indictment of Blake, Warner, or mainstream CM, probably all 3.
May 24, 2016 @ 7:08 am
Given what Alison Bonaguro DOES consider country, I place zero importance on what she doesn’t think is country. This line is particularly absurd and makes it easy for anyone to discount her argument:
It doesn’t sound like a country song to me, she didn’t cut it at a studio in Tennessee, and it certainly wasn’t written by a group of Nashville songwriters.
May 24, 2016 @ 9:04 am
” ….she didn’t cut it at a studio in Tennessee, and it certainly wasn’t written by a group of Nashville songwriters.”
And that’s the real reason it won’t get any support in the country music community; it’s not generating any revenue for Nashville.
May 26, 2016 @ 3:41 pm
O.K. Now I am glad that I am sitting down because there is NO WAY that BEYONCE’ s song Daddy Lessons is in any way country. I have to agree with Country Cowboy 16,when he said that “people have gone crazy”. And I guess that by her being the QUEEN and all is just not enough,right? In my opinion Miranda, Carrie and all of the other true country ladies have her beat as far as talent goes! I mean how many times can she shake her ass and flip her hair all around ? And honestly, I just can’t figure out what makes her a good artist to begin with. Only speaking for myself as you can already tell, I do not like her music. I DISLIKE RAP!!! She should not even be associated with anything that is country. But that’s just me talking.
May 26, 2016 @ 4:29 pm
One thing to say a RAP artist should not have their name let along a song any where near a COUNTRY ARTIST! And no, her song is not COUNTRY!
May 28, 2016 @ 6:53 am
A more “country” version? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rb6PcptRqiQ&t=0m37s
May 31, 2016 @ 11:52 am
The fact this is even a subject for discussion makes me want to commit freaking seppoku!!!! Is this TRULY how far we have freaking fallen!???!!!!
June 6, 2016 @ 1:16 pm
Yes, Mike this is how far we have fallen. What is so hard to realize that beyonc’e IS NOT IN ANYWAY A COUNTRY ARTIST!!!! In another Save Country Music, everyone was freaking out because of KEITH URBAN’S RIPCORD not being COUNTRY. From what I read in Keith’s own words in an interview, is that he lets the people that listen to his music decide for themselves what kind of music it is FOR THEM. I just simply like Keith’s music PERIOD. Back to Beyonc’e, is she talented? I suppose she is.But don’t label her COUNTRY just because she is from Texas and going back to her up bringing, and her roots. So she writes a song and says the word TEXAS, and behold, now she COUNTRY. All I can say is what a mess. And what a shame really. I thought she was R&B,and rapped? Whatever, I don’t like any of this for reasons that I will keep to myself. Enough is Enough.
June 6, 2016 @ 1:23 pm
What do you exactly mean YBO1? A more”country” version.? Let me know because I am very CURIOUS.