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Cowboy Carter, Beyoncé’s thrilling rodeo at the Stade de France
Two years after the electrifying Renaissance, Beyoncé released her new album, Cowboy Carter, in March 2024. By reinventing the country music genre and reclaiming Western imagery, the singer makes a move that is both musically and politically powerful. The album is already standing out as one of the best of 2024. It is also the most nominated project at the 2025 Grammy Awards, where Beyoncé won the coveted award for Album of the Year. Yet, some institutions are still overlooking her… Story of an injustice against the star who is about to take the stage at the Stade de France on June 19th, 21st, and 22nd, 2025.
By Violaine Schütz,
and Jordan Bako.
Among those who doubted the queen of R&B’s foray into country music, many changed their minds after listening to the 27 sublime and masterfully produced tracks of her flamboyant new album, Cowboy Carter, released on March 29th, 2024. But there’s a huge gap between winning over a few skeptics and breaking through the glass ceiling of the music industry.
Beyoncé crowned at the 2025 Grammy Awards and live at the Stade de France
Despite the good reception, the project failed to gain recognition from the Country Music Awards. The institution did not grant Beyoncé a single nomination in September 2024. Surprising to some, unacceptable to others… The decision felt like an insult to a record that topped the charts right from the release of its first single, Texas Hold ’Em.
Fortunately, Beyoncé received eleven nominations at the Grammy Awards in Los Angeles on February 2nd, 2025. She even went home with the prestigious awards for Album of the Year and Country Album of the Year. As the star is about to perform live at the Stade de France on June 19th, 21st, and 22nd, throwback to the tumultuous journey surrounding this major album, particularly the ongoing racism in the country music industry.
Cowboy Carter, Beyoncé’s brilliant album featuring Miley Cyrus and Dolly Parton
One of the great strengths of Cowboy Carter lies in the singer’s ability to bring together artists from all backgrounds, ages, and musical genres. She united all of them in a rodeo full of emotions and energy. Epic, inventive, and compelling, the record features interludes by country legend Willie Nelson and Black country singer Linda Martell, standout covers of Dolly Parton’s Jolene and The Beatles’ Blackbird – a tribute song to civil rights activists. It also includes collaborations with Post Malone and Miley Cyrus on the moving II Most Wanted about Fleetwood Mac.
One can also hear the voice of Beyoncé’s daughter, Rumi Carter, on the track Protector. And Nile Rodgers and Stevie Wonder appears in the album’s credits. The ultimate luxury? Dolly Parton appears twice, including in an interlude that seems to refer to Jay-Z’s infidelity. With a nod to the infamous “Becky with the good hair”, the alleged mistress mentioned in Beyoncé’s 2016 track Sorry. An already iconic moment.
Finally, Queen Bey shines a spotlight on a younger generation of Black female country singers and songwriters, such as Tanner Adell. The star showcases artists who have yet to receive the recognition they deserve.
Cowboy Carter: a true country album?
Before the release of her flamboyant album, on which her voice is more powerful and versatile than ever, Beyoncé made her point on Instagram: “This ain’t a country album. This is a ‘Beyoncé’ album.” Indeed, Cowboy Carter features touches of R’n’B, pop, rap, house, funk, and even opera. The instrumentation is rich – mandolin, banjo, ukulele, harmonica abound – and references collide with each other. If you listen closely, you can recognize lyrics from Good Vibrations by the Beach Boys, a chord from Nancy Sinatra’s These Boots Are Made for Walkin’, and notes from Chuck Berry’s Oh Louisiana.
Yet at its core, Beyoncé’s eighth studio album draws its inspiration from the Southern rock palette. The rock’n’roll, country, and blues embodied by bands like The Allman Brothers Band and Lynyrd Skynyrd. All mixed with Beyoncé’s signature style… a tribute to her Texan roots. Texas, after all, is the birthplace of both blues and country music.
The star, who even used her nails as percussion on her album, grew up fully immersed in this culture. The press release accompanying Cowboy Carter confirms it: “The album is a cornucopia of sounds that Beyoncé loves, and grew up listening to, between visits and eventually performances at the Houston Rodeo – country, original Rhythm and Blues, blues, zydeco, and Black folk.”
With Cowboy Carter, Beyoncé flamboyantly reclaims country music
As exhilarating as Cowboy Carter is to listen to, this instant classic is not just about music. From the moment the album’s title and cover art showing Beyoncé on a white horse holding the American flag like a cowboy (or Napoleon) were revealed, it was clear that the pop icon aimed to do more than make us dance in cowboy boots.
With her now-iconic Renaissance (2022), Beyoncé reminded the world that house music was born in Black and queer communities. Cowboy Carter once again gives her a platform for her activism. On Instagram, the singer explained: “This album has been over five years in the making. It was born out of an experience that I had years ago where I did not feel welcomed… and it was very clear that I wasn’t. But, because of that experience, I did a deeper dive into the history of country music and studied the rich musical archive. It feels good to see how music can unite so many people around the world, while also amplifying the voices of some of the people who have dedicated so much of their lives educating on our musical history.”
Country music has often been hostile to Black artists, even as it borrows from Black musical traditions. The banjo, the emblematic instrument of country musicians, is a descendant of the West African lute known as “ekonting” and brought (or recreated) by enslaved black people in America. Many country music’s pioneer like the Carter Family learned to play alongside Black musicians.
Although Black country artists have always existed, they’ve never achieved the same commercial success in the charts as their white counterparts. But a quiet revolution occurred in 2018. Rapper Lil Nas X released the hit Old Town Road, blending pop, hip-hop, and country, and placed the image of a queer Black cowboy into the mainstream. Despite the fact that his song topped the charts, Billboard decided to remove it from the country rankings, claiming it lacked enough elements of that musical genre. The decision caused quite a stir and was widely condemned as racist. These ultra-conservative institutions seemed determined to maintain country music as a white men stronghold.
A political album
Beyoncé’s reclamation of the Wild West iconography, also spotted in Daddy Lessons in 2016, is a deeply political act. It takes roots in a broader effort to restore the image of the Black cowboys, long erased from the collective imagination, which represents cowboys as white. Yet, Black cowboys have always existed. In the 19th century, nearly half of them were Black, Mexican, Indigenous, or of mixed heritage. But history erased their presence, despite figures like Bill Pickett being well-known.
By conquering country music and, more broadly, Americana, along with the vast American landscapes evoked in her lyrics, Beyoncé is successfully reclaiming Black presence in the Far West narrative. When Texas Hold ’Em topped the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart, Beyoncé became the first Black woman in history to do so, establishing a new mainstream image.
“The criticisms I faced when I first entered this genre (country) forced me to propel past the limitation that were put for me.” Beyoncé
On Instagram, she wrote: “I feel honored to be the first Black woman with the number one single on the Hot Country Songs chart. That would not have been possible without the outpouring of support from each and every one of you. My hope is that years from now, the mention of an artist’s race, as it relates to releasing genres of music, will be irrelevant.”
She then added: “The criticisms I faced when I first entered this genre forced me to propel past the limitation that were put for me. Act II (of Renaissance, ed.) is a result of challenging myself, and taking my time to bend and blend genres together to create this body of work.”
Following her 2016 performance at the Country Music Association Awards, the genre’s great event in the U.S., the singer had to face racist backlash. On the stunning opening track of the album, Ameriican Requiem, Beyoncé hits back at her conservative critics: “Got folk down in Galveston, rooted in Louisiana / Used to say I spoke too country / And the rejection came, said I wasn’t country ‘nough / Said I wouldn’t saddle up, but If that ain’t country, tell me what is? / They don’t, don’t know how hard I had to fight for this / When I sang my song“
2024: the year of country and westerncore
In her latest sensational promotional photos, Beyoncé appears as a saloon keeper or a heroine of the Wild West. She brings modern-day John Wayne aesthetics back into fashion more than ever.
In addition to the release of Cowboy Carter, 2024 was the year of country. Since Pharrell Williams’ Fall/Winter 2024–2025 Louis Vuitton Men’s show presented last January (and even before), fashionistas and stars led by Bella Hadid have proudly sported their cowboy hats, fringe jackets, and boots.
The cowboy/westerncore trend had already reached the world of cinema before, with a wave of western films interpreted through a contemporary lens. We can think of The Power of the Dog, which won the Silver Lion at the 78th Venice Film Festival and earned Jane Campion the Oscar for Best Director in 2021.
That same year, Netflix put the spotlight on Black cowboys with the project When They See Us – a theme that echoes Beyoncé’s message in Cowboy Carter. Then in 2023, Pedro Almodóvar gave the genre his own spin with the short film Strange Way of Life, starring Pedro Pascal and Ethan Hawke.
Regarding the music, Shaboozey has also contributed to the production of Cowboy Carter. He reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100, maintaining the top spot for nine consecutive weeks. Five-time Grammy winner Kacey Musgraves, known for her country-pop, has also denounced the lack of inclusivity in the country industry. The latter is expected to win several nominations at the upcoming ceremony with her album Deeper Well.
Beyoncé looked down
Despite the clear popularity of westerncore aesthetic, can we really say that injustices in country music have been resolved? The answer was crystal clear when Beyoncé released her first single and still is today. While her album unmistakably leans into country, American radio station KYKC didn’t see it that way.
When asked about the absence of the hit Texas Hold ’Em on their playlist in February 2024, the radio station’s director responded: “We do not play Beyoncé on KYKC because we are a country music station.” On September 9th, 2024, the Country Music Awards delivered the final insult… Beyoncé received zero nominations, despite arguably having released the country album of the year.
Beyoncé’s grand clapback at the Grammys
Queen Bey’s country turn could also be a highly strategic move to step onto Taylor Swift’s golden turf. The latter once again triumphed at the latest Grammy Awards. And among the people voting for the awards given by the institution many were country music fans.
Although Beyoncé is the most awarded artist in the history of the Grammy Awards, she had never before won the coveted Album of the Year prize, despite numerous nominations. On Sweet ★ Honey ★ Buckiin’, one of the most jaw-dropping tracks on Cowboy Carter produced by Pharrell Williams, she declares: “A-O-T-Y, I ain’t win (That’s cool) / I ain’t stuntin’ ’bout them / Take that shit on the chin / Come back and fuck up the pen.”
Beyoncé presents Cowboy Carter at the Stade de France
Fortunately, with Cowboy Carter, which is one of Beyoncé’s best albums to date, the pop queen soon-to-be country icon finally won the famous Album of the Year award at the Grammys on February 2nd, 2025. She also took home Best Country Album, making her the first Black woman to win that title.
Nominated eleven times at the 2025 Grammy Awards, Beyoncé is far from done with her musical rodeo. Wearing her cowboy hat, she lit up the NFL halftime show broadcast on Netflix on December 25th. Now, she has embarked on the 2025 Cowboy Carter Tour, which includes three dates at the Stade de France in Paris. Once again, she will prove to the world that Black women absolutely belong in country music…
Cowboy Carter (2024) by Beyoncé, available now. Live at the Stade de France on June 19th, 21st, and 22nd, 2025.
