Cowboy Carter is coming soon.
After all of this talk of Beyoncé going country, it looks like it’s really happening as she announced that Act II of Renaissance, the album she teased during a recent Super Bowl Commercial, will be titled Act II – Cowboy Carter.
She shared a new photo that features a saddle with a ribbon sash on it, along with a link to pre-save the record on her Instagram stories a few minutes ago, and there are albums and shirts up for pre-order on her website with the same name.
Obviously, all of this is heavily hinting that this record will be, at the very least, extremely country-inspired:
Of course, Bey set the music world on fire when she dropped two new songs during the Super Bowl, “Texas Hold ‘Em” and “16 Carriages,” as well as a Western-themed teaser video in February.
And while she didn’t officially announce that her upcoming album Renaissance: Act II, would be a “country” album at the time (and she still hasn’t said anything about it), the latest single has since been sent to country radio (after initially only being serviced to Pop, Adult Contemporary, Rhythmic, R&B, and Urban).
“Texas Hold ‘Em” has already been a massive hit, becoming Beyoncé’s first #1 hit in country music when it debuted at the top of the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart – the first time a black female artist has debuted at #1 on that chart. It also already topped the Billboard Hot 100 all-genre chart.
Now, of course there’s been plenty of debate about just how country the song really is. But that can be said about a lot of the music being released by artists who consider themselves country too. Dolly Parton seems to think Bey covered “Jolene” for it, which would definitely suggest a full-blown “country” album more than just about anything else has so far.
Anywho, with the release date just a few weeks away now, we’ll likely be getting more and more information in the coming days and weeks, and hopefully, a tracklist or something of that nature in the near future.
At the time Renaissance Act I dropped in 2022, Beyoncé, a Texas native, revealed on her website that the album would be the first of a “three-act project.” Of course, rumors have been swirling ever since that the other two projects would be dance and country albums, and ACT I definitely leaned more towards the former in terms of sound.
Stay tuned…
“Texas Hold ‘Em”
“16 Carriages”
