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Beyoncé made a rare appearance in a commercial for Verizon and their 5G network in her attempts to “break the internet.” She finished the ad with, “OK they ready, drop the new music — “Texas Hold ‘Em” and “16 Carriages” on Feb. 11.
The Texan pop star reopened that country music box which seems to be the blueprint for her new album — “COWBOY CARTER” — she will release next month, according to the teaser on her Instagram. More importantly, her latest effort aims to reclaim country music as a genre with African and African American origins that should never be forgotten.
“Texas Hold ‘Em”
The pop star put all her cards down on the table with “Texas Hold ‘Em,” which is a “real-life boogie and a real-life hoedown” as Bey sings on the new song.
This song is at a zestful near four minutes to paint the landscape of dancing at the nearest country-playing dive bar. The banjo-enlaced “Texas Hold ‘Em” is a major contrast to the production of her previous lead single from 2022, “Break My Soul,” for the electronic house-heavy hit that is “Renaissance” also recognized as “act i” — Beyoncé’s musical trilogy project that she recorded over the three years during the pandemic.
The song features the banjo and viola played by the Grammy and Pulitzer prize-winning Rhiannon Giddens, a musician and a prominent educator in making the public aware that the banjo was a Black instrument before white people popularized and appropriated it, which she further explores in a video from Wondrium.
West African enslaved people brought the akonting, a string instrument that inspired the banjo, to America, according to Ethnomusicology Review. Along with instruments like the akonting, enslaved Africans brought their hymns, spirituals and chants, which facilitated a sense of culture through music exclusive to them, according to Skidmore News.
In the 1850s, as minstrel shows became popular racist satire, white people would dress in blackface and mock the enslaved Black people — using their dance and music to humiliate them for entertainment and featuring their instruments, according to the National Museum of African American History & Culture.
Unintentionally, the akonting gave white people the blueprint for a new genre of music. It is vital to realize country music’s origins began with the banjo, modeled after the akonting, but also mimicked other Black music styles. White hillbilly artists drew inspiration from spirituals, blues, field songs and hymns — predominantly music with Black origins, according to Skidmore News.
In the 20th century, hillbilly music would become known as country music, but the deep-rooted wound of segregation kept Black artists out of the music they started.
As new country albums were created and sold, big record labels did not officially credit Black artists for their contributions to several studio albums released, therefore perpetuating an erasure of African American culture — all while white artists made country music mainstream, according to TIME.
The history of whitewashed roots served as a source of inspiration for Beyoncé to tap into this new era of music. The Texan artist is not using her artistry to play around with genres but to reclaim and redefine country music as what it really is — a genre made on the foundation of Black art.
The iconic blues musician Ray Charles took a similar step in his artistry with his country cover album “Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music.” Country music and Black music are the same, Charles said.
“You take country music, you take Black music,” Charles said in an interview for Time.
“16 Carriages”
“16 Carriages” finds the Beyoncé at her most reflective. In this career song, she chooses to sing about her journey as a teenager chasing a dream to now mother of three and performing icon and artist that she is.
“Ain’t got time to waste, I got art to make / I got love to create on this holy night /
They won’t dim my light, all these years I fight,” Beyoncé sings.
“16 Carriages” features an elaborate orchestration of steel guitars, organs and an impressive vocal layering that is Beyoncé’s signature. The chorus rises and falls beautifully, drawing the listener closer to the tumultuous journey that the Texan artist turns folk.
This upcoming era of music for Beyoncé is as exciting as it is refreshing. The pop star is tapping into her vulnerability and identity — not only as a musician with 38 years under her belt buckle but also as a Black woman who is choosing to further uplift Black art through highlighting the genre’s multicultural roots, instead of its current white identity.
Beyoncé will release her seventh studio album “act ii: COWBOY CARTER” on March 29.
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Contact Ivan Vicente Manriquez via email: ivan.manriquez@pepperdine.edu
