Hold your horses! Beyoncé’s ‘Cowboy Carter’ is here.
Featuring Tanner Adell, Rumi Carter, Willie Nelson, Dolly Parton, and more
COWBOY CARTER is Beyoncé’s eighth studio album. This project comes as the second act three-act project following her 2022 album RENAISSANCE. The album was released on March 29, 2024.
We were teased about the album in a Verizon commercial and it was announced during another during the Super Bowl LVIII.
The album’s lead sinlges “TEXAS HOLD ‘EM” and “16 CARRIAGES” were released on February 11th, 2024 which was the same days as the Super Bowl.
Via a press release from Parkwood Entertainment, “COWBOY CARTER, executive produced by Beyoncé, is about genres, all of them, while deeply rooted in Country. This is the work of an artist who thrives in her freedom to grow, expand, and create limitlessly. It makes no apologies, and seeks no permission in elevating, amplifying, and redefining the sounds of music, while dismantling accepted false norms about Americana culture. It pays homage to the past, honoring musical pioneers in Country, Rock, Classical, and Opera.Listen to Cowboy Carter below.”
"The joy of creating music is that there are no rules," says Beyoncé. "The more I see the world evolving the more I felt a deeper connection to purity. With artificial intelligence and digital filters and programming, I wanted to go back to real instruments, and I used very old ones. I didn't want some layers of instruments like strings, especially guitars, and organs perfectly in tune. I kept some songs raw and leaned into folk. All the sounds were so organic and human, everyday things like the wind, snaps and even the sound of birds and chickens, the sounds of nature."
"This album took over five years," she says. "It's been really great to have the time and the grace to be able to take my time with it. I was initially going to put COWBOY CARTER out first, but with the pandemic, there was too much heaviness in the world. We wanted to dance. We deserved to dance. But I had to trust God's timing."
"I think people are going to be surprised because I don't think this music is what everyone expects," Beyoncé says, "but it's the best music I've ever made."
Listen to COWBOY CARTER below.
Credits
Producer: Beyoncé, d.a. got that dope, Dave Hamelin, DIXSON, Ink, Jack Ro, Jon Batiste, Killah B, Michael Pollack, Nathan Ferraro, No I.D., NOVA WAV, Pharrell Williams, Ryan Tedder, Shawn Everett, and Sounwave
Writers: Beyoncé, bülow, Cam, Chuck Berry, Dave Hamelin, Dolly Parton, Ink, Jack Ro, Jack Rochan, JAY-Z, John Lennon, Jon Batiste, Killah B, Lowell, Mamii, Michael Pollack, Miranda J, Nathan Ferraro, No I.D., Paul McCartney, Pharrell Williams, Post Malone, Raphael Saadiq, RAYE, Ryan Beatty, Shaboozey, Simon Mårtensson, Sounwave, and Willie Jones
Mastering Engineer: Colin Leonard
Mixing Engineer: Stuart White
Recording Engineer: Alex Noble, Dave Hamelin, Alexander Jang, Piéce Eatah, Stuart White & Tim Reitnouer