Beyonce’s highly anticipated album “Cowboy Carter,” which features a history-rich and rhinestone-studded cover, is receiving a ton of love from both reviewers and fans. It was released on Friday and is already climbing the charts.
The 27-track second part of her “Renaissance” trilogy is a genre-bending masterpiece that lauds Black country culture and is a boisterous, all-encompassing ode to her southern background.
“No one will mistake this sprawling set for ever following a straight path, or having a remotely dull moment,” wrote the critic at entertainment trade publication Variety.
“It’s almost as if Beyonce was watching some of the evolutionary leaps and hiccups country has been experiencing as it redefines its boundaries — as the music always has — and said, ‘Hold my Armand de Brignac. I’ve got this.'”
“But it’s not just a matter of what Beyonce can do for country music; it’s what her concept of country can do for her, in expanding her musical empire and even her already well-honed sense of self. It’s a lot.”
Though its exact position on the charts is still unknown, streaming provider Spotify reported that as of Friday night, “Cowboy Carter” was the “most-streamed album in a single day in 2024 so far.”
The 42-year-old Houston native invented and perfected the surprise online album release, but she used a more conventional marketing approach for her first two “Renaissance” acts, offering premium physical versions for purchase along with well-planned promos.
When it was released in 2022, her homage to dancing “Renaissance” rocketed to the top of Billboard, while “Cowboy Carter” seems ready for a rerun.
Add in another blockbuster tour like she did for Act I — the “Beyonce bump” literally was blamed for raising Sweden’s inflation rate, and bolstered local economies wherever it rolled into town — and Queen Bey will do-si-do straight to the bank.
