Beyoncé unveils “Cowboy Carter”, second album in her “Renaissance” trilogy, carried by the singles “Texas Hold ‘Em” and “16 Carriages.”
For fans, the end of the wait. Beyoncé unveiled, this Friday March 29, the second album of her triptych Renaissance : the album Cowboy Carter, a resolutely country section, awaited for weeks. The first two singles, Texas Hold ‘Em And 16 Carriages, published last February on the occasion of the Super Bowl, initiated this shift inspired by the artist’s native Texas. With success, since the two titles have respectively 33 and 7 million views on YouTube. These two titles rose to the top of the Billboard country songs chart, a first for a black artist.
The album Cowboy Carter has a total of 27 tracks, including collaborations with country music stars: a cover of the hit Jolene by Dolly Parton with new lyrics or Willie Nelson on the title Smoke Hour. Other artists appear on this disc, such as Miley Cyrus, Post Malone, Shaboozey or Linda Martell. Also note on this album, a cover of Blackbird by the Beatles, originally released in 1968 on the album White Album, evoking civil rights. Beyoncé also shares a song, Protectorwith his second daughter, Rumi Carter, aged six.
“Mom, can I hear the lullaby?” can be heard in the introduction to the song, in which the singer intones: “I will guide you on this road if you lose your way. Born to be your protector. Even if I know that one day you will shine on your own. I will be your protector.”
The Cowboy Carter album therefore contains surprises, but also numerous references to African-American culture and racial segregation in the United States. For example, Beyoncé shared posters on her social media titled Cowboy Carter and the Rodeo Chitlin’ Circuitan allusion to the concert halls where black artists could tour during the era of Jim Crow laws, which imposed racial segregation across the Atlantic until their repeal in 1964.