Beyoncé reclaims the Black roots of country music with new album Act II

Last night, during the Super Bowl, R&B and pop megastar Beyoncé announced a new album in a commercial for Verizon. Released as the second act of a three-part project — the first part being her critically acclaimed album Renaissance — Act II appears to be a country music leaning album. 

After the announcement, Beyoncé put out two singles titled Texas Hold 'Em and Sixteen Carriages.

Her Renaissance world tour, which ran through most of 2023, broke attendance records and grossed $579 million.         

Journalists Kathleen Newman-Bremang and David Dennis Jr. join host Elamin Abdelmahmoud to chat about Beyoncé's album announcement and what it means for her to make country music.

We've included some highlights below, edited for length and clarity. For the full discussion, plus a breakdown of Usher's halftime performance, listen and follow the Commotion with Elamin Abdelmahmoud podcast on your favourite podcast player.

LISTEN | Today's episode on YouTube:

Elamin: Kathleen, everything that we know so far about this record and about where Beyoncé is headed, tells us that this is going to be a country album. Are we ready to explore this part of Beyoncé's lineage? Beyoncé's been very public about her history as a Texan and as a country music fan, but now the moment has arrived. 

Kathleen: I don't think the world is ready — specifically the country music world. There were already headlines referring to the album as country influenced or inspired. But no, this is a country music album, clearly based on these first two singles that we've heard. And they need to refer to it as such. With Renaissance: Act One, Beyoncé was clearly paying homage to the Black roots of house music, and it looks like here she's going to be doing the same with country music. 

You've written extensively about how exclusionary the country music industry can be to Black artists, despite Black folks being at the root of its inception, like so many other genres. So I don't have faith that they're not going to try to exclude Beyoncé, even though this sounds like it's going to be a pure country album. We all remember that people were mad when she performed with The Chicks. I think country music heads are going to explode and I'm going to love watching it. And the people who do deny her will look dumb.

Elamin: Country music has always been made by Black and white people in the South. And then you get to this moment when you hear the banjo. And it's really important to note that when the banjo hits on Texas Hold 'Em, it is being played by Rhiannon Giddens, who's a really significant artist in Black roots and country music. So can you just talk a little bit, David, about country music, the South and Black people and what it means for Beyoncé to be reclaiming this history with this album. 

David: As somebody who grew up in Jackson, Mississippi, who went to Black rodeos and had performances in these rodeo houses and knows about this stuff that she is doing, this reclamation is huge and, as you said, this is all due to the fact that we don't associate country music with Black folks in general. Which is largely due to racism, exclusionary colonialism and gentrification.

Sixteen Carriages is already a classic, so I'm excited to see what she does. And she's not even thinking about how white folks are gonna respond to it. Part of me feels like that's not even a huge aspect of what she's doing. It's just going to happen anyway.

Elamin: I'm going to be there the day that it comes out March 29th, because this is, for me personally, a really significant moment. Kathleen, can I expect to see you in a cowboy hat when this album comes out?  

Kathleen: Oh, absolutely. I'm ready to make this album my entire personality. I'm ready. Yeah. I mean, one thing Beyoncé is going to do is deliver a work that stands the test of time and is one of the greatest things we've ever heard. She does that consistently.  

That's why we get so mad when she isn't recognised for that. But, something David just said really hit me is that she doesn't do this for that, right? She does this for her own culture. She does it for reclamation. She does it for Black folks. And so we're just going to enjoy it. We're going to dance to it. We're going to understand that this is ours. And who cares about anything else?

You can listen to the full discussion from today's show on CBC Listen or on our podcast, Commotion with Elamin Abdelmahmoud, available wherever you get your podcasts.

Panel produced by Ty Callender