Cowboy Carter by Beyoncé: A Review

I'm surprised... No wait... Let me try that again.

I'm surprised... No... Let me try that again. 

I am impressed.

Beyoncè is an institution at this point. We know that. We've been here the whole time. We knew from the split from Destiny's Child she was destined for more. We've known since she married Jigga she was destined for more. We've known since Lemonade, the fight over "Becky with the good hair" and since Renaissance brought back the house style out of the either, we knew Beyonce had become more and wasn’t going anywhere until she wanted to. 

Despite that, there has been something lonely about her this whole time. We’ve gotten used to hearing Beyoncé’s bonifieds. It made her feel like Beyonce didn't need anybody. Obviously, that's not true. She doesn't play her own instruments for instance, but I always felt this lack of choices whenever I checked her music out. It was Beyoncé vs the World and I was fine with that. Even in a 20-year marriage with kids and tours with her husband, Jay-Z, Beyonce was still a one of one.

This isn't the experience at all with Cowboy Carter. 

It's like Beyoncé made friends! From Dolly Parton and Willie Nelson to Miley Cyrus and (ugh) Post Malone on it in a way I've never thought about before. It's almost like she dropped that Renaissance album to give herself time to make Cowboy Carter with its litany of harmonies. She had to get a posse together and then make a bunch of great decisions. I'm a fan of this record in a way I've never appreciated Beyoncé before and for me, that's saying something. 

Now I'm not trying to say I wasn't a fan of Beyonce (I've seen SWARM…), but there were times when I felt she did her runs for too long or said Halo way too many times. I do remember the first time I started feeling Beyoncé though. It was when my friend Rob and I randomly turned on HBO and caught the On The Run Tour. I think it was back in 2014. It featured her and Jay-Z, and we watched while being at my friend Ed's house. Rob, a ska guy, and Mike, a complicated vocalist, sat there and watched the entire show and we didn't say anything for 2 hours. Bey and Jay were incredible. Hell, she was incredible. I paid a lot more attention to her after that. 

Do you Beyonce fans know which On The Run this was from?

I'm not going to go too deep into the record because admittedly, Cowboy Carter is an Undeniable Force as one of my friends just typed on my Facebook. It reminded me of a time when I was in Cambodia when Beyoncé was in Lion King release mode and dropped the track Brown Skin Girl. I once got to see the most adorable child named Soleena make that her favorite song. She'd sing it all the time while wandering around the coffee shop her mom’s worked at:

Brown skin girl
Your skin just like pearls
The best thing in the world
I'd never trade you for anybody else, singin'
Brown skin girl
Your skin just like pearls
The best thing in the world
I'd never trade you for anybody else, singin'

No lie... Cowboy Carter made me feel like Brown Skin Girl made Soleena feel. It's dynamic. It's filled with the right features like Willie Jones (not Nelson, but he's here too), Linda Martell, and Shaboozey. Beyonce and them rewrote the Dolly Parton classic Jolene and made it into a conversation with "Becky with the good hair." We all remember "Becky” right because her sister certainly does (allegedly). Beyoncé even does a cover of Blackbird by the Beatles with a new set of Highwaywomen (Tanner Adell, Brittney Spencer, and Tiera Kennedy). I don't have to tell you anything about their ethnicities either because three-quarters of this 26-track album doesn't play with country. 

It just... is country.

It's passionate in a way I don’t think I’ve heard Beyonce be before. I can’t believe I’m going to I look forward to listening to this record again. Will I come back to it like I do with Brittney Howard and Jon Batiste? I expect to, and I guess that’s the problem. Did I like country all this time and not know it? I guess when I think about it, I've never NOT liked country. I did grow up in Texas, so I've been listening to Randy Travis talk about “all his exes living in Texas” since going to bumper bowling at the old West Houston Bowl when I was 5. I see why old-school lovers of the country wanted to say this isn’t country. I also see why it’s been tearing up the country charts all weekend. Honestly... It should be. 

Cowboy Carter is awesome. Especially that Thanos line… Good one.