Will Beyoncé Lead the Way?
On the day of the Super Bowl, the country was left stunned, not because the 49ers and the Chiefs went overtime or Usher’s spectacular halftime show performance, but because immediately after starring in a Superbowl Verizon ad, Beyoncé dropped her two lead singles, “Texas Hold ‘Em” and “16 Carriages,” for her next country-inspired project, “Act II: Carter Cowboy.”
Reactions to the song were divided. Although many Beyoncé fans celebrated the artist's transition into the country genre, some country fans expressed confusion and questioned whether the song even qualified as country.
Maydi Brezir, a student at Santa Monica College (SMC), said, “I think it’s interesting. I don’t like it because I’m not a big fan of country, but she makes it work. She’s expanding her audience, and she’s already well known, so I think it’s smart to do because she can always go back to the music she’s used to doing.” When asked about the backlash Beyoncé received, Brezir said, “They wouldn’t be mad if Billie Eilish started doing country.”
It only took a few days after the release before controversy struck. A Beyoncé fan named Justin McGowan took to his X account, formerly known as Twitter, and posted an email exchange with his local country radio station in Oklahoma, KYKC. The email showed McGowan requesting that they play Beyoncé’s new single, but the radio station stated that they do not play Beyoncé as they are a “country music station.”
Many Beyoncé fans took to X to express their outrage towards the radio station, with McGowan specifically stating, “This station needs to be held accountable for their blatant racism and discrimination against Beyoncé.” After KYKC’s emails were flooded with requests and complaints, general manager Roger Harris released a statement stating, “We just didn’t know about the song … then when we found out about it, we tried to get the song … which we did, and we have already played it three times on YKC, our country station.”
This is not the first time country radio stations have been accused of trying to bury Black artists’ ventures into the industry. In 2019, country radio stations noticeably ignored rapper Lil Nas X's hit song “Old Town Road,” which was a country-inspired song. The song was also controversially removed from the country music charts a week before it was set to debut at #1. Billboard explained its decision to remove the song, stating, “The song did not embrace enough elements of today’s country music.” However, once Billy Ray Cyrus hopped on the remix, the song charted #1 on the Hot 100 Charts for 19 weeks straight, making it the longest-running No.1 single of all time.
This is not the first time Beyoncé has found herself at the end of backlash from country music fans. In 2016, Beyoncé teased her possible venture into country music when she performed “Daddy Lessons” with the all-female country band The Chicks at the Country Music Awards (CMA). Although this performance received much praise on social media, there was also a lot of backlash from many questioning her presence. In a recent post on Instagram, Beyoncé alluded to this album being made in response to her CMA performance. “This album was born out of an experience I had years ago where I did not feel welcomed,” she stated.
The backlash was the catalyst for many debates among Beyoncé and country fans on social media, claiming that the hate Beyoncé was receiving stemmed from racism. Many Beyoncé supporters across all social media platforms brought up the history of Black country artists being overlooked and mistreated, referring to the racist social media attacks Beyoncé received since her appearance on the CMA’s.
Many of her fans and news sites believe that “Carter Cowboy” could open the doors for many Black country musicians to be recognized, as well as encourage America to take the first step in recognizing the origins of country music. This would entail giving credit to Black contributors such as Gus Cannon, who served as a mentor to the renowned country music artist Johnny Cash, as well as acknowledging that slaves produced the initial sounds of country music. SMC student Sarah Merha called Beyoncé’s daring transition into country music “brave.”
Beyoncé’s anticipated country-inspired album “Act 2: Cowboy Carter” dropped today.
