Born and raised in Houston, Texas, Beyonce Knowles Carter clearly knows a thing or two about country.
She first dipped her toes in the genre with the track “Daddy Lessons” off her 2016 album “Lemonade” and even performed a version of it with The Chicks at the Country Music Awards.
Now, nearly eight years later, she’s released two new country singles with a whole album slated for release next month.
“16 CARRIAGES” is a mid-tempo track that goes into detail about her childhood and the struggles of her rise to fame. “TEXAS HOLD ‘EM” is proving to be an instant classic — this week, it hit No. 1 on the coveted Billboard All-Genre Hot 100 chart and became a favorite of club-goers and TikTokers alike.
Just the other day, I heard two girls talking about it in the One World Café.
The mood? Very confused.
“Is she making a whole album like that though?” one of them asked.
Essentially, yes. Her follow up to 2022’s critically acclaimed album “Renaissance” drops on March 29 of this year, titled “Renaissance: Act II.”
“I have never been a fan of country music,” Laney Wieclaw, a graduate student studying math education, said in a response typical of many of her fellow long-time Beyoncé fans, “but her new song might actually get me to like the genre.”
Buffalo country radio station 106.5 WYRK has played the track a few times as well. It seems that this genre transition may work after all.
Only time will tell to see if a countrified Beyoncé sticks with listeners.
Josh Pawlik is an assistant arts editor and can be reached at josh.pawlik@ubspectrum.com
Josh Pawlik is an assistant arts editor for The Spectrum. His hobbies include playing guitar, working out and reading. He can be found on Instagram @joshpawlik
Photo: Ryan Hagen | UB Athletics
