Beyoncé's new album Cowboy Carter — the second act of a planned trilogy that began with 2022's Renaissance — is already a historic release.
It's broken streaming records worldwide, is on track to become Beyoncé's eighth consecutive number one solo album debut on the US Charts, and (despite the backlash) contains a bona fide country music hit in Texas Hold 'Em — a single dropped alongside 16 Carriages during February's Super Bowl.
Just as Renaissance was a celebration of queer culture and the Black roots of dance music, Cowboy Carter is a dense homage to the overlooked pioneers of country music, showcasing genre icons past, present and emerging.
Despite the rustic mix of authentic blues, gospel and zydeco in songs ornamented with fiddle, tack piano, handclaps and horseshoe stomps, "this ain't a country album," as its 42-year-old creator declared ahead of its release; "This is a Beyoncé album."
That means it is another genre-bending blockbuster, woven together with an army of producers, songwriters, intriguing samples and interpolations — and all the pricey resources that being one of the world's biggest artists affords.
You've probably caught wind of the big-ticket guests, like Dolly Parton, Miley Cyrus, Willie Nelson and Post Malone.
But did you know Stevie Wonder makes a cameo? Or that acclaimed British acts Arlo Parks and Raye are tucked into the credits?
How about the track that seamlessly weaves together Nancy Sinatra, The Beach Boys and the spirit of Tina Turner?
Well, saddle up, we're unpacking all the most interesting details of this 78-minute journey, track by track.
Ameriican Requiem
The state-of-the-nation rhapsody that begins Cowboy Carter was written and co-produced by Jon Batiste, who also plays piano, guitar, and the distinctive sitar.
Batiste was the former bandleader on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, now turned awards show darling with a Grammy, Oscar, Golden Globe and BAFTA in his trophy cabinet.
"This is the moment 'all, where we dismantle the genre machine," Batiste wrote in a lengthy post about his involvement in the record.
Ameriican Requiem also has a songwriting credit for Stephen Stills (of Crosby, Stills & Nash fame), owing to the track's allusions to Buffalo Springfield's signature 1966 song For What It's Worth.
The song's full credits also feature names familiar to the Beyhive faithful, including husband Jay-Z (with co-writes on six album tracks) plus Raphael Saadiq, who has multiple credits over four tracks.
Ameriican Requiem also contains additional vocals from Atia 'Ink' Boggs, Darius 'DIXSON' Scott, and Cam, aka Camaron Ochs, who also co-wrote the tracks Protector, Daughter, Tyrant and Amen.
Interestingly, Ochs is a country singer with ties to Miley Cyrus and is known for her 2017 hit Diane, which is written from the perspective of Dolly Parton's Jolene. (More on that later.)
Blackbiird
Beyoncé didn't just cover The Beatles' song, her version incorporates instrumental elements of the original 1968 recording with Paul McCartney's blessing, including his acoustic guitar and foot tapping.
McCartney wrote and recorded the original Blackbird for The Beatles' self-titled double LP, better known as The White Album, as a response to the civil rights issues in Alabama in the 1960s.
Specifically, the plight of the Little Rock Nine, the first African American teenagers to enrol at Little Rock's Central High School after a Supreme Court ruling that decreed segregated schools were unconstitutional. Despite the shift in federal law, the Arkansas governor brought in the National Guard to prevent the nine students from entering.
Beyoncé further underscores this lesser known Blackbird backstory by platforming four young Black female country artists: Tanner Adell, Tiera Kennedy, Reyna Roberts and Brittney Spencer, who provide sublime vocal harmonies and take the lead in the final verse.
"It doesn't even feel real," Kennedy said in a video explaining her involvement in the project.
16 Carriages
Dave Hamelin is credited with writing, producing and multiple instruments on 16 Carriages, and his name also pops up for Smoke Hour II, Just For Fun, II Hands II Heaven, Tyrant and Amen.
Hamelin is the former drummer of The Stills, a Canadian indie rock group who won the coveted Juno award for 2008's Oceans Will Rise. Following their split in 2011, he found work as a producer and multi-instrumentalist and worked with Beyoncé on Scar from The Lion King: The Gift.
Meanwhile, the slide guitar is provided by Robert Randolph, the four-time Grammy nominated pedal steel guitarist of Robert Randolph and the Family Band.
Protector
That's Rumi Carter, Beyoncé's youngest daughter, asking her mother for a lullaby on the opening of this ode to maternal love. Like her big sister Blue Ivy, she gets an artist credit (to quote Sose Fuamoli's take in ABC's album review: "Set up that generational wealth, mama!")
The song was co-written with Ryan Beatty, a young songwriter who cut his teeth as a Radio Disney singer before becoming a solo artist and gun-for-hire for hip hop idols like Tyler, The Creator (on the song I Think), BROCKHAMPTON and that group's ringleader, Kevin Abstract.
With credits on Protector, Bodyguard, Just For Fun and II Hands II Heaven, Beatty wrote in an Instagram post that: "writing these songs over the last four years has been one of the brightest highlights of my life on earth."
My Rose
Beyoncé shares songwriting credits on My Rose, and later Flamenco, with Shawntoni Ajanae Nichols. As a solo artist, the 22-year-old makes a blend of R&B, funk, gospel and alt-rock under the stage name Mamii (a neat bit of double-i stylisation, like many Cowboy Carter songs).
"This is the first set of songs out that I've been able to write and produce for someone other than myself," she wrote on Instagram.
"It's really a dream come true."
Smoke Hour ★ Willie Nelson
Willie Nelson needs little introduction. He's a country music legend with progressive political views who helped popularise the "outlaw country" subgenre in the 1960s.
In the world of Cowboy Carter, Nelson appears on two interludes "hosting" The Smoke Hour, a fictitious show "on KNTRY Radio Texas". (A reference to KNTY News from predecessor Renaissance).
Prior to Willie's invitation for "y'all to sit back [and] inhale" there's the sound of a dial flicking through stations that acts as tiny tour through American music pioneers.
We hear 1924 yodelling song Laughing Yodel by Charles Anderson; Don't You Mind People Grinnin' In Your Face by Delta blues singer Son House; Down By The River Side by Sister Rosetta Tharpe, aka the 'Godmother of Rock'n'Roll'; Maybellene, an early hit from fellow rock'n'roll pioneer Chuck Berry, and lastly Don't Let Go the 1958 single by Roy Hamilton, who was said to be a big influence on Elvis Presley.
It's Beyoncé slyly yet explicitly nodding to how the roots of country music weren't white, they were black.
Texas Hold 'Em
This twangy ode is a sonic homage to Beyoncé's Houston roots, and features banjo and viola played by Rhiannon Giddens — the North Carolina artist who often uses her platform to emphasise the African American roots of country.
Case in point: defending Cowboy Carter in an episode of Hulu's Impact x Nightline.
"Nobody's askin' Lana Del Rey, 'What right do you have to make a country record?'," Giddens remarked.
"The 'Stay in your lane,' [and] 'Well, that's not real country' [attitude] that's just racism. People don't wanna say it's because she's Black. You know? But they use these coded terms, you know? And that's problematic."
Bodyguard
This feel-good moment features the second credit (following Texas Hold 'Em) for Elizabeth Lowell Boland, a Canadian artist who performs under the mononym Lowell.
She has a decade-long list of songwriting credits for modern pop stars like Charli XCX, Tate McRae and Madison Beer.
Dolly P
The titular Dolly Parton shows up as another LP narrator, introducing the upcoming re-working of her iconic country hit Jolene.
She calls Beyoncé "Honeybee" (a nickname dating back to her 2010 Lady Gaga collab Telephone) and draws parallels between the auburn-haired Jolene and "that hussy with the good hair" — a reference to her 2016 Lemonade track Sorry, where she blasted Jay-Z's alleged infidelity with "Becky with the good hair".
Jolene
Did you know it's none other than Stevie Wonder playing harmonica? Beyoncé casually revealed that fact onstage at the iHeartRadio Awards, accepting the Innovator Award from Wonder.
Where the tone of Dolly P's original Jolene is a desperate plea to the titular red-haired temptress ("I'm beggin' of you, please don't take my man… just because you can"), Beyoncé's spin is a domineering threat, almost goading this Jolene to "f**k around find out" what happens when you cross a "Creole banjee bitch from Louisiane".
The song has had a polarising response online, with some loving the novel spin on a well-worn classic, while others think it disrespects the emotional centre of the original.
Daughter
Beginning as a dark folk-country number, this track takes a surprising classical turn, for which we turn to the expertise of Janine Marshman from ABC Classic, who writes:
The main highlight here is the appearance midway through of Italian art song, Caro Mio Ben, much to the delight of the Italian Beyhive.
Usually attributed to Tommaso Giordani, Caro Mio Ben (My Dear Beloved) features in a collection of music that's a rite of passage for most singers with classical voice training.
The lyrics fit seamlessly with the broader story arc of Daughter, reflecting the singer who languishes when they are without their beloved, and requests the lover to stop being cruel.
You can hear hints of what's to come in Beyoncé's vocal ornamentation early in Daughter, but when she transitions into Caro Mio Ben, her vocal style shifts distinctly, with longer legato (smooth or connected) vocal lines that are more common in classical singing.
As she progresses, the instrumental accompaniment adds more strings, and choral backing vocals, which also shifts the sound world closer to what you might hear on a classical concert stage.
Even her elaboration of Caro Mio Ben's melody is in keeping with performance norms of the 1700s, where singers would have been expected to add their own take on the melody.
Reflecting the darkness of Daughter's lyrics, Beyoncé takes Caro Mio Ben from its original major key, which often sounds a bit happier or brighter, and makes it minor.
The transition from Italian art song in Daughter to the next track, Spaghettii, is itself a wink to the Italian filmmakers of Spaghetti Westerns, including their iconic composers, like Ennio Morricone.
This isn't Beyoncé's first crossover into the classical world. She starred in 2001's Carmen: A Hip Hopera, melding the famous Bizet opera with hip hop.
Spaghetii
This surprise detour into hard-hitting hip hop begins with another key piece of narration.
"Genres are a funny little concept, aren't they?" asks Linda Martell, the 82-year-old South Carolina singer who was the first Black woman to play the Grand Ole Opry.
"In theory, they have a simple definition that's easy to understand. But in practice? Well, some may feel confined."
Those words carry significant weight coming from Martell, who found commercial success around her 1970 debut LP Color Me Country but was ostracised by the music industry and, by the 90s, had to drive a bus to support herself.
We also hear the first of the album's two feature verses from Shaboozey, a 28-year-old Nigerian-American artist based in Virginia who bridges hip hop and country.
"Honored to be in the company of two historically significant black voices," he wrote on Instagram of his contribution. "Thank you for always being the one to step up and kick in a door when others are afraid to."
Alliigator Tears
Okay, let's talk about The-Dream, who has multiple credits on 10 of the album's 27 tracks. He's a frequent Beyoncé collaborator: he first teamed up with her in 2008 for Single Ladies and scored his first Grammy in the process.
As well as being a prolific producer and songwriter to the stars with two decades of credits to his name, as a solo artist, The-Dream is widely credited with pioneering the hybrid singing-rapping style that dominated pop music from the 2000s onwards.
Just For Fun
This track features Willie Jones, a Louisiana artist who got his start as a contestant on X Factor. These days he makes music R&B and hip hop inflected country music that — in his own words — acts as the bridge between "the block party and the barn dance".
II Most Wanted
There was a lot of speculation that Taylor Swift or Lady Gaga may appear on Cowboy Carter but Miley Cyrus ended up being the major pop star feature — providing the raspy whisky vocal to Beyoncé's proverbial vermouth on this ride-or-die, road-trippin' duet.
A life-long fan, Cyrus shared her admiration for Beyoncé in a social media post paying tribute to the artist.
The track utilises a chord progression similar to Fleetwood Mac's 1975 track Landslide, and features a few indie rock players.
Adam Granduciel from The War On Drugs plays electric guitar on the duet, Jonathan Rado from Foxygen provides guitar, piano, organ, synth, and additional production. Both have previously worked with the co-producer, Grammy-winning Canadian Shawn Everett.
Sean and Sara Watkins from bluegrass band Nickel Creek also provide acoustic guitar and fiddle, respectively.
The song was co-written with Ryan Tedder, former OneRepublic frontman and prolific songwriter-to-the-stars, and Miley Cyrus collaborator Michael Pollack.
Levii's Jeans
Another duet, this time with Post Malone, who's become a chart-busting sensation by mixing elements of sad boy pop, emo-rap and, more recently, licks of country music that honours his Austin, Texas roots.
Surprisingly, the track's spindly guitar patterns were provided by Nile Rodgers, the legendary Chic frontman and hitmaker to everyone from David Bowie and Madonna to Daft Punk.
Ya Ya
Okay, here's where things get really wild.
Channelling the spirit of her late, great idol Tina Turner at her sweaty, screeching, late sixties rock'n'roll soul revue best, Ya Ya threads together a whole history of American music genres and dances (including shakin', swimm', jerkin', and twerkin').
Oh, and there's an Ike & Tina Turner track called Ya Ya, too.
The track begins with a sample of Nancy Sinatra's signature These Boots Are Made for Walkin' and interpolates the hook from The Beach Boys' Good Vibrations. Later, there's a brief lyrical nod to Love Is Strange, a 1958 duet by Mickey & Sylvia that was made popular again in the 1988 Dirty Dancing soundtrack.
Among the track's many co-writers is Anaïs Marinho, better known as Arlo Parks — the British indie-pop poet behind the 2022 Mercury Prize winning album Collapsed In Sunbeams.
Oh Louisiana
This interlude is a sped-up sample of Chuck Berry's song of the same name, and another nod to Beyoncé's heritage via her mother, Tina, who is Louisiana Creole.
Desert Eagle
This funky, sexed-up interlude begins with encouragement to "do-si-do" – the popular square dancing move. But the star of the arrangement is the greased-up bassline, played by Marcus Reddick, whose credits include Drake, Lucky Daye, and touring bassist for Victoria Monét.
Riiverdance
This lush, layered number was co-written by Raye, who recently made history at the Brit Awards. It's her second collaboration with Beyoncé following Bigger, from The Lion King: The Gift.
The percussive bed features Beyoncé using acrylic nails as rhythm — another nod to Dolly Parton, who demonstrated how she used the technique on her song 9 to 5 in an interview with Patti LaBelle.
II Hands II Heaven
This pillowy cut features six-string from Gary Clark Jr., an American blues guitarist and singer who previously joined Beyoncé and Ed Sheeran for a 2015 Grammys tribute to Stevie Wonder.
"Genre bending, needle moving, boundary breaking project," Clark Jr. wrote in tribute on Instagram post.
Tyrant
Following a call-out from Dolly Parton to "light up this juke joint", Tyrant heads to the club for some sexed-up affirmations with a swaggering beat that combines a string-band sample with chest-rattling bass and trap drums.
The beat is courtesy of D.A. Got That Dope, aka Chicago producer David Lewis Doman, who said it was an "honour" to work with Beyoncé and have his producer's tag used "not once, but a bunch of times in the song. Crazy, and so appreciated."
Sweet ★ Honey ★ Buckiin'
This three-parter marks another verse from Shaboozey but it's also co-written, co-produced and features vocals from prolific hit-maker Pharrell Williams (who's worked plenty with Bey before).
Amen
The closing track interpolates the album opener, Ameriican Requiem, and many of that track's credits. But a new name in the mix is co-producer, co-writer and vocalist 070 Shake.
The artist born Danielle Balbuena kicked off her career through her involvement with Kanye West's string of 2018 albums produced in Wyoming, including show-stopping features on Ghost Town and Violent Crimes from West's album Ye, as well as appearing on Pusha T's Daytona and Nas' Nasir.
She also gained attention for a feature on Raye's breakout single Escapism and previously collaborated with Beyoncé on Scar, from The Lion King: The Gift.
Beyoncé's Cowboy Carter, this week's triple j Feature Album and ABC Country's Spotlight album, is out now.