The 50 best albums of 2024: No 5 – Beyoncé: Cowboy Carter

This freewheeling embrace of the singer’s roots was also a triumphant reclamation of a genre that had long shunned its Black origins

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Beyoncé weaves Cowboy Carter’s origin story into the album’s opening track, Ameriican Requiem. Against a psychedelic country-gospel backdrop that unfolds with both determination and frustration, she establishes her southern roots – Alabama, Texas, Louisiana – but notes this background hasn’t always been respected: “Used to say I spoke too country / And the rejection came, said I wasn’t country ’nough.”

It was a literal story. In November 2016, Beyoncé drew criticism (and overt racism) from country purists after an exuberant performance of her Lemonade track Daddy Lessons with the Chicks at the Country Music awards. A month later, she received a stinging rebuke from the music industry when the Grammys refused to nominate the song in country categories. The subtext was clear: many people refused to accept a Black woman playing country music – and had no interest in hearing Beyoncé out.

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