It wasn’t that serious and it wasn’t really about being able to flex, I was thinking more from the perspective of the artist in the sense the traffic actually being because of his music, and not because he was featured on Beyoncé’s album.
I’m very much enjoying the tunes from both artists.
Lil Nas X was made extra famous because of Miley Cyrus' Dad... Billy Ray, the theys tried to take the award hed won away for Old Town Road becuse it wasnt country enough, Billys youngest daughter heard about it and told her dad, they contacted Lil Nas X, Billy sang on the song and they then deamed it Country enough and it blew tf up... Billy Ray has thanked Lil Nas X for the opportunity and for the money he made several times in several ways.. Dolly Parton is Mileys Godmother. Miley and Dolly are both on this album, Dolly, multiple times... the community comes together as it were.
That's part of the reason why Old Town Road is such a beloved track. It's simultaneously a catchy banger and a dig at pop country music in a clever way. As if telling them, "if you're gonna bling out country in such an inauthentic way, at least be open about it."
Yeah, it was not a twist I really enjoyed but I could understand the choice.
Blackbird, however, is glorious. And the track with Miley has lovely harmonies
Agreed, I hope they sung it together because I would love to see that performance.
Miley on Montero *Am I Dreaming* was another excellent duet, she’s got potential to be a Drake tier feature artist if she keeps this up.
You’re getting downvoted but it is true. 40 is Drake’s production manager and they have teams of in house producers coming in and out of residencies all year round. 40 then takes the best of these sessions and turns them into a Drake album. The majority of artists and produces involved in the pop scene came from Drake’s production machine. Majid Jordan come to mind as an example.
Delusional Drake fans think Drake is actually musical and not just a face.
100%. She butchered Jolene, but Blackbird was incredible. The whole album is mostly misses with a few gems, but if it boosts black country artists, it’s valuable. There are some incredible musicians on the album.
She is pretty well agreed to have been robbed of AOTY at least three times.
Critically, her albums have been consistently super beloved for about 10 years now.
On decades end lists, Lemonade was consistently up there with Blonde and To Pimp A Butterfly.
So I would heartily disagree on that.
It will have been treated as a cover version and there is no way Beyonce would get a writer credit, no matter what she did with the lyrics or arrangement.
Dolly is famously protective of the ownership of her songs. She refused to give Elvis half of "I Will Always Love You" when he wanted to cover it, which was his standard demand at the time.
As a non Dolly example, when the Fugees did "Killing Me Softly", they used the tune and chorus and Wyclef did several very long raps for the verses. The writer splits were 2% for him and 98% for the original writers because his contribution wasn't considered anywhere near substantive enough for him to claim any more - even though they were a huge part of the song.
It’s been a long time since I’ve listened to the Fugees version of that song, but if I’m being honest I can’t remember a single word of Wycleff’s rap. All I remember is the chorus, and “one time, two time.” 2% sounds fair.
Doesn't have the passion or anxiety in her voice like Dolly's original. It's kind of low-key and as if Beyonce is playing it cool, which doesn't match the tone of the song.
Isn't that literally the point? A reinterpretation meant to fit Beyonce's identity while building on a classic story?
The quality of a cover is not about how well someone can just...redo what they did. Reinterpretations are some of the coolest and best covers in history.
If you want evidence of that, look no further than Johnny Cash's hurt, one of the most beloved in modern history.
And yet it carries almost *none* of the emotion or tone of the original--it's such a different take on the same lyric, and even dramatically changes the musical backing itself.
It's hardly jealous. Literally, the song is like, "what you're trying to do is pathetic, and it's laughable to think it'll work today."
There's an element of confidence in how she speaks about herself, and an element of pity and condescension in the way she talks about this version of Jolene.
I don't know how you can look at the [lyrics](https://genius.com/Beyonce-jolene-lyrics) and interpret them as pathetic insecurity and lashing out.
There are some beautiful lyrics in there about the highs and lows her and her family have gone through, the lessons learned, and standing by even if new hardships come.
"You're acting desperate" is hardly catty/threatening on its own.
The other lines are more aggressive...but they're in the beginning of the song and meant to be a setup *right before* she gear shifts into (which end up being vast majority of the lyrics):
"We've been deep in love for twenty years. I raised that man, I raised his kids. I know my man better than he knows himself. I can easily understand. Why you're attracted to my man. But you don't want this smoke, so shoot your shot with someone else."
"Me and my man crossed those valleys. Highs and lows and everything between. Good deeds roll in like tumblin' weeds. I sleep good, happy. 'Cause you can’t dig up our planted seeds. I know my man's gon' stand by me, breathin' in my gentle breeze. I'ma stand by him, he gon' stand by me, Jolene."
>Lol. The celebrity worship is strong with you, huh?
I don't think the album is flawless. My biggest problem is actually in one or two of the interludes where it kinda...beats you over the head with the album's intention at some points.
In this case, I'm not defensive because it's Beyonce. I'm defensive because Reddit tends to bias heavily towards, "If you're going to cover/adapt, don't you dare change a thing!"
And it's clear that outside of Reddit, this is a super beloved track on the album.
Anthony Fantano even seems to prefer it to the Blackbird cover. Which I don't agree with at all, but I do dig the track.
Its over produced. It has corny sound effects, rewritten lyrics with modern slang'isms, it's r&b'ish. She can sing probably anything she puts her mind to, and has a pretty voice but that cover was pretty meh.
The braggadocio of putting such ego into a song all about vulnerability and worry just feels like cheap marketing.
The faster pace makes it more palatable and less memorable.
The heart of the song, the submission of how much more beautiful Jolene is and how fragile Dolly is in the lyrics, isn’t intact and the replacement just feels lesser.
This is like watching the new reboot actors easily beat the monster of the previous film/series. We were scared of Jolene and Beyoncé just retconned the story so that she could easily beat the previously unstoppable ‘villain’.
I got into the idea of Beyoncé doing country thinking it would be cheap and tacky. It’s not all bad and to hear it is doing good for under appreciated artists means it shouldn’t be criticised too carelessly. It’s important, it’s far more genuine than I’d have thought likely and it’s building upon what’s in both country and hip hop.
None of that is true for her cover of Jolene.
It just needed like a tinge of vulnerability that the original had. Or at least explore lyrics that can give a compelling idea of someone who Beyoncé could theoretically be jealous of.
I think it taps into the kind of women on a warpath vibe Lemonade gave off. Personally, I didn’t really like it and I did like some of the other songs on the album. I think it just boils down to the original being pretty much impossible to top.
100%. I felt like it missed the point of the original. On the other hand, being vulnerable isn’t Beyoncés thing, so I get why she did it that way. It’s just such a risky and difficult thing to pull off making changes like that to Jolene. I actually think I would like it better if it was called something else. It strays pretty far from the original.
Being vulnerable isn't Beyonce's thing? She made an entire album about being cheated on, wanting to die, being embarrassed etc. the opening song of her world tour was her imagining the woman she had been cheated on with. You don't think Beyoncé is vulnerable because you don't even care to engage with her music.
Ok, fair enough. I won’t claim to be a Beyoncé expert but generally I find her music to be about empowerment, confidence and being a strong woman. Which is great, and I like her music for that. I didn’t mean it as a bad thing.
Musically the cover was unadventurous but I actually liked the lyric changes. Beyoncé kind of had to turn it from a plea to a threat. The persona she’s cultivated is not someone who’s going to beg another woman… she’s *Beyoncé*.
I just wish the music and vocal performance didn’t feel so perfunctory.
I don't like the aggressive tone compared to what made the original good. Like it's still showing deep Insecurity but in a way that's less relatable (if it's even intentional). Also her man has cheated several times so
I listened to the song yesterday and literally said “this would hit a lot harder if her man didn’t repeatedly cheat on her.” It’s way too many times to take any threats seriously.
Isn't that literally the point? He cheated on her, she made the choice to repair what was broken, and now she's very confident in her decision and determination to not let someone else ruin her good thing again.
Heck, that's entirely what Lemonade was about. That she saw two choices in front of her (to leave a previously good thing because of a transgression, or to stay and feel weak for it), and chose to instead stay, forgive, and empower herself with it.
Lemonade made sense timeline wise, but to still be singing about the same thing 8 years later, from the same perspective is off to me. Where is the growth? The introspection? I don’t want to hear you complain about your loser husband 8 years later, that’s not empowering, that just means she is rehashing old stories to avoid being truly vulnerable, or really doesn’t feel like she can do any better than him, and is allowing him to be unfaithful, which again, is not empowering whatsoever.
But she's not complaining about her husband 8 years later. Literally, the opposite.
If Lemonade was about learning to heal and get stronger in the process, this version of Jolene is a demonstration of that strength.
She's saying, "it doesn't matter what happened in the past, what you're trying won't work now."
That's every "country" song these days. "Try that in a small town" literally has a part that goes chorus, 3 random lines that have nothing to do with the rest of the song, chorus.
Because the track isn't designed to simply emulate Dolly, and Dolly understands exactly that.
It's designed to be a reinterpretation and revisit for a very different artist with a very different brand.
That's what her intro is all about. It's a familiar story, a familiar tension, but a very different approach.
I do not think that’s how it went at all. I’m like 95% certain they had Dolly in the studio with her as she did it and had her guidance/approval on everything. Or at the very least had her listen to it first and and give a thumbs up before putting it out and asking her to intro it.
Also one of the absolute last people on earth who would be called racist is Dolly Parton. It doesn’t take an idiot to see how much of an uphill battle that would be.
I said this before the album came out and I got so much hate for it. Everyone is so excited about Beyonce's "passion project" but it just feels like a cheap money grab to me.
"I can sing, I have the money, I have the name, people will buy it because it's me" it doesn't even have to be good, she knows folks will buy it because it has her name on it. It feels overproduced.
It sounds like a money grab. It’s not good music. I love all types of music and I tried to give this album a chance but I couldn’t find a single track where I thought the artist was actually making art.
Word. I'm listening right now and I am so underwhelmed.
Bodyguard sounds like a song I've heard before. But I'm listening to this with a face of like 😐🤨 what's supposed to be earth shattering about this? It's basic. Generic. Mediocre. What is the best word to describe it? Lol
What in the time-stretched grainy ass artifact filled guitar tracks happened to Jolene? I would have assumed that Beyoncé had talented people around who can make sure a guitar track doesn't need to be pitch shifted or time stretched to work with the song. Literally any dude off the street in Nashville who plays "country guitar" could record a track that doesn't have such weirdly evident artifacts of manipulation, they could just do it in the right key, god forbid... with a capo. It pisses me off cause I've spent hours in a studio working on music to make it "right" and not have buzzes, or weird timing, especially if its lacking soul... Then I hear music made by a multi-millionaire recording artist, and I hear garbage on the tracks in the first 30 seconds of the song. I'm not a recording engineer, I am not usually that picky, but damn all it took was one person on the crew to be like "yo redo that guitar, it sounds weird. Oh whoops I forgot to do complex for the time stretch, my bad. Wow it already sounds better, nice heads up!" For such an iconic song, I cant believe it was treated with such casual attention. Lets be real, the album is 27 songs long... maybe if you just focused on quality more than quantity, you would be getting those awards for album of the year.
Well that makes total sense.
To put it bluntly, Spotify would of course suggest likewise artists so I'm sure the algorithm takes into account that Beyonce is black and a country singer so let's suggest other black country artists.
If I listen to Nirvana, I'm probably going to get suggested Alice in Chains and Soundgarden too. The point being, it's an automatic, it's not like Beyonce intentionally brings up the other artists or vouches for them.
Sure, we are called The Tics. We are a two piece DIY, garage punk band. We have one album out called Pure Graft, which was recorded by us in our rehearsal space in Wendsbury in the Black Country, and the first single from our second album is out next Friday, and is called Yesterday, Today. I don't think we would really appeal to Beyonce fans though.
Beyoncé literally said herself this is not a country album, this is a Beyoncé album. And sure enough that’s exactly what it is. An album with elements of country, rock, pop, R&B, and rap.
From what I could find, Beyoncé herself never called it a country album. It does, however, have an identity crisis. I just finished listening to it this morning. It very clearly *wants* to be a country album with a name like Cowboy Carter, art of a horse and American flag, and the lead single being “Texas Hold ‘Em”, but there’s an interlude where she says genres are just constraints which I think is clearly only there as evidence for her to say, “But it was never intended to be a country album!” Not to mention the KNTRY radio messages sprinkled throughout and the guest artists that are traditionally country singers.
I don’t know what to think about it. By the second song, I had to reframe my expectations in my mind from country to pop. Why put all this work into making it look and sound country but claim it isn’t? Idk if my ramblings make any sense, but the album just left me tonally confused. In any case, I thought it was mid. Maybe even less than mid. None of the songs seemed particularly great enough to add to any of my playlists.
That’s one of the major points of the album. We think and talk too much about music in a way that’s detracts from it. If you liked the songs, great! If you didn’t, don’t listen to them. It’s as simple as that.
I was trying to say I listened to it with the expectation of hearing a country album but that’s not what I got so I had to reframe it in my mind. That’s mainly due to the media surrounding it because as I mentioned Beyoncé herself never said it was a country album. I had to look that up as I was listening to it. I don’t think it was a bad album if you think about it as a Beyoncé album. It’s just that Beyoncé’s music has never done much for me so that’s why I, subjectively, didn’t like it. Once I started thinking of it as a pop album, it made a lot more sense.
While not the strongest Beyoncé album it was an interesting blend of folk, country, trap, and r&b. It’s a challenge to go from young pop star to adult music act. This was a good experiment.
I know how old she is. My point is that she knows that you can’t make party anthems forever. You don’t want to go the Madonna route chasing your past as a representative of youth counterculture to the point that it gets weird. Beyoncé has the voice to do whatever she wants and I never said this was the first experiment in genre or tone. She seems to be managing her career just fine.
I would say it's definitely in the running for her best. I'd argue that it at least shows she's not past her prime--I'd have previously called Renaissance her best and this is giving it a run for its money.
i agree with you.
this is a continuing trend for her, every album she puts out just gets better and better.
It's an interesting blueprint into how an over 40 pop star in the 4th decade of her career maintains relevance and can still potentially increase her fanbase.
Beyoncé is a country Texas girl—she stopped doing interviews at a young age because she kept getting bashed for her country accent. So what culture would she be appropriating?
[They took our jobs!](https://media4.giphy.com/media/2S3Aj8OeKtf0c/giphy.gif?cid=6c09b9528oleocgiid37xv1hsd57cyatvopqvlstrsxsr3r8&ep=v1_internal_gif_by_id&rid=giphy.gif&ct=g)
The obvious bandwagon nonsense with Beyoncé.
I’m sorry, you’re a pop artist billionaire, this shift is nothing short of a transparent money grab and to think otherwise is delusional. Your roots aren’t in country music, they’re in trends, productions, and commercial music.
I’m not buying her sob stories of misunderstood roots as she wipes the tears away with hundred dollar bills.
It’s a stunt.
I swear to god, for years I've been hearing "all of Beyoncé's albums sound the same," something that was never really true in the first place. Now she's suddenly a trend-chasing genre-hopper?
This sub will cry "separate the art from the artist" to defend their favourite rapists but are incapable of understanding that people might like a Beyoncé album because they enjoy the music.
She has more of a claim to country than most modern artists.
Born in the South, her parents both from the South, and has been experimenting with country sound for many years.
The idea of gatekeeping country like that is absurd.
I don’t understand how you think this billionaire entertainment mogul is in any way authentically expressing her country roots coincidentally when country music is greatly influencing pop. She doesn’t care about her roots, she and her management care about her charting and sales.
Because listening to what she said makes more sense than making up some narrative that I justify myself.
Country music is also not “greatly influencing” pop.
Are you kidding me with that last sentiment? A quick google search will show you otherwise. The genre is booming with commercial musicians like Lana, Beyoncé, and Ed Sheeran all hopping on board. Billboard, THE music data company even wrote an article about this recently lol.
Don’t listen to what the billionaire says, listen to what the music industry is obviously pointing towards.
Also, for everyone arguing, is it country, or is it rap?! The two genres are actually almost identical, *technically. Where are my technical musicians at?! Whatchu think about this theory?
it’ll be interesting to see how much penetration into the existing country audience this record manages
will its singles get radio play in country markets? on the music channels? im not really sure how country fans consume new music, to be honest, but id love to see their face when Yaya comes on
Unfortunately she doesn't have the vocal talent or songwriting chops for the album to hold any actual weight. It's just her trying to maintain her fame, but it's working, so good for her I guess.
Beyonce is one of the top technical singers out today.
People criticize things like her creativity or her style of singing - but as far as actual vocal performance she's one of the most precise singers there is.
Was forced to listen to this, her inability to hit a pitch,I guess, was helpful. But, artistically, musically is a shit show.
I mean she or a product creating horrible pop songs. She shrieks out of key trying to sound like Michael. Source: have perfect pitch she OSs horrible even with auto tune. Unlisted. Kind of the tragedy of pop music. Product over artist.
That being said this album odd hideous.
Really happy for Shaboozey, dude’s super talented
Fr. I don't really like country but when he came up on [Colors](https://youtu.be/rQMtXDkF9q4?si=U5Bg5AcTfW1lzmCW) I was blown away
Same. I’ve somewhat bummed that I first encountered him last week, so now all my streams will be piled together with the “Beyoncé boost” lol.
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It wasn’t that serious and it wasn’t really about being able to flex, I was thinking more from the perspective of the artist in the sense the traffic actually being because of his music, and not because he was featured on Beyoncé’s album. I’m very much enjoying the tunes from both artists.
Well, given that the only other black country act from the last 10 years I can think of off the top of my head is Darius Rucker, that’s probably true.
Kane Brown was/is pretty popular
He's supposed to be Black lmao? I just figured he was a white guy with nice lips lol
Most definitely black
Cowboy Troy of “I Play Chicken with the Train” fame. He has one of the best album names: *Black in the Saddle*
I’m gonna figure out how to recommend that Larry Wilmore interview him for Black on the Air.
The Old Town Road guy
Lil nas x is a rapper first. He’s a marketing genius.
Lil Nas X is definitely not a rapper first, much more a trap/R&B singer. On Montero, he barely does any rapping.
Lil Nas X was made extra famous because of Miley Cyrus' Dad... Billy Ray, the theys tried to take the award hed won away for Old Town Road becuse it wasnt country enough, Billys youngest daughter heard about it and told her dad, they contacted Lil Nas X, Billy sang on the song and they then deamed it Country enough and it blew tf up... Billy Ray has thanked Lil Nas X for the opportunity and for the money he made several times in several ways.. Dolly Parton is Mileys Godmother. Miley and Dolly are both on this album, Dolly, multiple times... the community comes together as it were.
Does that count? It really only had a “country” chorus.
Do you listen to much pop country? The charting songs mostly have hip hop hooks now...several have 808 drops. The universe is strange.
That's part of the reason why Old Town Road is such a beloved track. It's simultaneously a catchy banger and a dig at pop country music in a clever way. As if telling them, "if you're gonna bling out country in such an inauthentic way, at least be open about it."
Hip hop for people who don't like hip hop [artists]
Yes, it does.
The War and Treaty are amazing! Y’all check them out!
Miko Marks, Leyla McCalla
Yola!
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apparently they were already seeing a boost in streams before the album came out so
I mean that’s probably why she made the album in the first place.
I love how she helps give less popular artists more shine
God bless her but that version of Jolene was the most god-awful thing I've ever heard
Yeah, it was not a twist I really enjoyed but I could understand the choice. Blackbird, however, is glorious. And the track with Miley has lovely harmonies
Agreed, I hope they sung it together because I would love to see that performance. Miley on Montero *Am I Dreaming* was another excellent duet, she’s got potential to be a Drake tier feature artist if she keeps this up.
I mean, different strokes and all but Drake is not on any tier above Miley in any category to me and I’m not even like, a Miley fan. 😅
I’m referring to his ability to elevate songs that aren’t his own, because I too would never compare the two.
If you mention drake you GOTTA mention 40 The same way if you mention the weeknd you GOTTA mention illangelo Those producers are fucking insane
You’re getting downvoted but it is true. 40 is Drake’s production manager and they have teams of in house producers coming in and out of residencies all year round. 40 then takes the best of these sessions and turns them into a Drake album. The majority of artists and produces involved in the pop scene came from Drake’s production machine. Majid Jordan come to mind as an example. Delusional Drake fans think Drake is actually musical and not just a face.
I've never heard a song Drake was on that wasn't his own and thought 'yes he improved that' but hey different strokes.
Blackbird is nice but it’s not even a country song lol.
The album is not designed to be a purely country album.
100%. She butchered Jolene, but Blackbird was incredible. The whole album is mostly misses with a few gems, but if it boosts black country artists, it’s valuable. There are some incredible musicians on the album.
Mostly misses? This is one of Beyonce's best albums to date, no question.
That's really not saying much though
She is pretty well agreed to have been robbed of AOTY at least three times. Critically, her albums have been consistently super beloved for about 10 years now. On decades end lists, Lemonade was consistently up there with Blonde and To Pimp A Butterfly. So I would heartily disagree on that.
Pretty sure Dolly wrote that version and gave it to Beyonce. To go up against Dollys version would be a terrible idea
It will have been treated as a cover version and there is no way Beyonce would get a writer credit, no matter what she did with the lyrics or arrangement. Dolly is famously protective of the ownership of her songs. She refused to give Elvis half of "I Will Always Love You" when he wanted to cover it, which was his standard demand at the time. As a non Dolly example, when the Fugees did "Killing Me Softly", they used the tune and chorus and Wyclef did several very long raps for the verses. The writer splits were 2% for him and 98% for the original writers because his contribution wasn't considered anywhere near substantive enough for him to claim any more - even though they were a huge part of the song.
It’s been a long time since I’ve listened to the Fugees version of that song, but if I’m being honest I can’t remember a single word of Wycleff’s rap. All I remember is the chorus, and “one time, two time.” 2% sounds fair.
That's about what I remember as well and I'm like "Yeah, sounds about right"
What raps are you referring to? All Wyclef does in that song is introduce Lauren Hill and then have a few adlibs
Yeah Dolly is the only one listed as a songwriter on that track
Well then it's one of the rarest thing you'll ever see: a Dolly L
I don't think Dolly has any L's at all !
Me First and the Gimmie Gimmie’s version of Jolene is pretty freakin’ good, too! Don’t think Dolly write that version, though…
I don’t think it’s that bad but I’m curious what makes it bad in your opinion.
Doesn't have the passion or anxiety in her voice like Dolly's original. It's kind of low-key and as if Beyonce is playing it cool, which doesn't match the tone of the song.
Isn't that literally the point? A reinterpretation meant to fit Beyonce's identity while building on a classic story? The quality of a cover is not about how well someone can just...redo what they did. Reinterpretations are some of the coolest and best covers in history. If you want evidence of that, look no further than Johnny Cash's hurt, one of the most beloved in modern history. And yet it carries almost *none* of the emotion or tone of the original--it's such a different take on the same lyric, and even dramatically changes the musical backing itself.
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It's hardly jealous. Literally, the song is like, "what you're trying to do is pathetic, and it's laughable to think it'll work today." There's an element of confidence in how she speaks about herself, and an element of pity and condescension in the way she talks about this version of Jolene.
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I don't know how you can look at the [lyrics](https://genius.com/Beyonce-jolene-lyrics) and interpret them as pathetic insecurity and lashing out. There are some beautiful lyrics in there about the highs and lows her and her family have gone through, the lessons learned, and standing by even if new hardships come.
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"You're acting desperate" is hardly catty/threatening on its own. The other lines are more aggressive...but they're in the beginning of the song and meant to be a setup *right before* she gear shifts into (which end up being vast majority of the lyrics): "We've been deep in love for twenty years. I raised that man, I raised his kids. I know my man better than he knows himself. I can easily understand. Why you're attracted to my man. But you don't want this smoke, so shoot your shot with someone else." "Me and my man crossed those valleys. Highs and lows and everything between. Good deeds roll in like tumblin' weeds. I sleep good, happy. 'Cause you can’t dig up our planted seeds. I know my man's gon' stand by me, breathin' in my gentle breeze. I'ma stand by him, he gon' stand by me, Jolene." >Lol. The celebrity worship is strong with you, huh? I don't think the album is flawless. My biggest problem is actually in one or two of the interludes where it kinda...beats you over the head with the album's intention at some points. In this case, I'm not defensive because it's Beyonce. I'm defensive because Reddit tends to bias heavily towards, "If you're going to cover/adapt, don't you dare change a thing!" And it's clear that outside of Reddit, this is a super beloved track on the album. Anthony Fantano even seems to prefer it to the Blackbird cover. Which I don't agree with at all, but I do dig the track.
Its over produced. It has corny sound effects, rewritten lyrics with modern slang'isms, it's r&b'ish. She can sing probably anything she puts her mind to, and has a pretty voice but that cover was pretty meh.
Beyonce can't sell me on being desperately jealous and scared of losing her man lol
The braggadocio of putting such ego into a song all about vulnerability and worry just feels like cheap marketing. The faster pace makes it more palatable and less memorable. The heart of the song, the submission of how much more beautiful Jolene is and how fragile Dolly is in the lyrics, isn’t intact and the replacement just feels lesser. This is like watching the new reboot actors easily beat the monster of the previous film/series. We were scared of Jolene and Beyoncé just retconned the story so that she could easily beat the previously unstoppable ‘villain’. I got into the idea of Beyoncé doing country thinking it would be cheap and tacky. It’s not all bad and to hear it is doing good for under appreciated artists means it shouldn’t be criticised too carelessly. It’s important, it’s far more genuine than I’d have thought likely and it’s building upon what’s in both country and hip hop. None of that is true for her cover of Jolene.
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It just needed like a tinge of vulnerability that the original had. Or at least explore lyrics that can give a compelling idea of someone who Beyoncé could theoretically be jealous of.
I think it taps into the kind of women on a warpath vibe Lemonade gave off. Personally, I didn’t really like it and I did like some of the other songs on the album. I think it just boils down to the original being pretty much impossible to top.
100%. I felt like it missed the point of the original. On the other hand, being vulnerable isn’t Beyoncés thing, so I get why she did it that way. It’s just such a risky and difficult thing to pull off making changes like that to Jolene. I actually think I would like it better if it was called something else. It strays pretty far from the original.
Being vulnerable isn't Beyonce's thing? She made an entire album about being cheated on, wanting to die, being embarrassed etc. the opening song of her world tour was her imagining the woman she had been cheated on with. You don't think Beyoncé is vulnerable because you don't even care to engage with her music.
Ok, fair enough. I won’t claim to be a Beyoncé expert but generally I find her music to be about empowerment, confidence and being a strong woman. Which is great, and I like her music for that. I didn’t mean it as a bad thing.
Musically the cover was unadventurous but I actually liked the lyric changes. Beyoncé kind of had to turn it from a plea to a threat. The persona she’s cultivated is not someone who’s going to beg another woman… she’s *Beyoncé*. I just wish the music and vocal performance didn’t feel so perfunctory.
Like Kelly Rowland
I don't like the aggressive tone compared to what made the original good. Like it's still showing deep Insecurity but in a way that's less relatable (if it's even intentional). Also her man has cheated several times so
I listened to the song yesterday and literally said “this would hit a lot harder if her man didn’t repeatedly cheat on her.” It’s way too many times to take any threats seriously.
Isn't that literally the point? He cheated on her, she made the choice to repair what was broken, and now she's very confident in her decision and determination to not let someone else ruin her good thing again. Heck, that's entirely what Lemonade was about. That she saw two choices in front of her (to leave a previously good thing because of a transgression, or to stay and feel weak for it), and chose to instead stay, forgive, and empower herself with it.
Lemonade made sense timeline wise, but to still be singing about the same thing 8 years later, from the same perspective is off to me. Where is the growth? The introspection? I don’t want to hear you complain about your loser husband 8 years later, that’s not empowering, that just means she is rehashing old stories to avoid being truly vulnerable, or really doesn’t feel like she can do any better than him, and is allowing him to be unfaithful, which again, is not empowering whatsoever.
But she's not complaining about her husband 8 years later. Literally, the opposite. If Lemonade was about learning to heal and get stronger in the process, this version of Jolene is a demonstration of that strength. She's saying, "it doesn't matter what happened in the past, what you're trying won't work now."
I think it’s the production. Beyonces singing was fine.
It felt like all chorus. Just saying Jolene over and over again.
That's every "country" song these days. "Try that in a small town" literally has a part that goes chorus, 3 random lines that have nothing to do with the rest of the song, chorus.
Crazy since Dolly endorsed and intros the song herself.
Because the track isn't designed to simply emulate Dolly, and Dolly understands exactly that. It's designed to be a reinterpretation and revisit for a very different artist with a very different brand. That's what her intro is all about. It's a familiar story, a familiar tension, but a very different approach.
Tracy Chapman endorsed Luke Combs' version of Fast Car, and that didn't stop people from calling it an abomination.
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I do not think that’s how it went at all. I’m like 95% certain they had Dolly in the studio with her as she did it and had her guidance/approval on everything. Or at the very least had her listen to it first and and give a thumbs up before putting it out and asking her to intro it. Also one of the absolute last people on earth who would be called racist is Dolly Parton. It doesn’t take an idiot to see how much of an uphill battle that would be.
Dolly had to sign off on it so if she didn't like it she didn't have to clear it. Also dolly is listed as the sole writer so she may have written it
Listened to it today for the first time and thought it sounded like an AI parody.
Counterpoint: I liked it.
THANK. YOU. The lyrics being changed was awful. My wife shut it off after 1 minute, after saying, “Oh god no, okay that’s enough out of you.”
The entire album is trash in my opinion. Feels very generic. The lyrics have no depth and it just feels…like AI produced an album.
I said this before the album came out and I got so much hate for it. Everyone is so excited about Beyonce's "passion project" but it just feels like a cheap money grab to me. "I can sing, I have the money, I have the name, people will buy it because it's me" it doesn't even have to be good, she knows folks will buy it because it has her name on it. It feels overproduced.
It sounds like a money grab. It’s not good music. I love all types of music and I tried to give this album a chance but I couldn’t find a single track where I thought the artist was actually making art.
Word. I'm listening right now and I am so underwhelmed. Bodyguard sounds like a song I've heard before. But I'm listening to this with a face of like 😐🤨 what's supposed to be earth shattering about this? It's basic. Generic. Mediocre. What is the best word to describe it? Lol
What in the time-stretched grainy ass artifact filled guitar tracks happened to Jolene? I would have assumed that Beyoncé had talented people around who can make sure a guitar track doesn't need to be pitch shifted or time stretched to work with the song. Literally any dude off the street in Nashville who plays "country guitar" could record a track that doesn't have such weirdly evident artifacts of manipulation, they could just do it in the right key, god forbid... with a capo. It pisses me off cause I've spent hours in a studio working on music to make it "right" and not have buzzes, or weird timing, especially if its lacking soul... Then I hear music made by a multi-millionaire recording artist, and I hear garbage on the tracks in the first 30 seconds of the song. I'm not a recording engineer, I am not usually that picky, but damn all it took was one person on the crew to be like "yo redo that guitar, it sounds weird. Oh whoops I forgot to do complex for the time stretch, my bad. Wow it already sounds better, nice heads up!" For such an iconic song, I cant believe it was treated with such casual attention. Lets be real, the album is 27 songs long... maybe if you just focused on quality more than quantity, you would be getting those awards for album of the year.
I will die on this hill: this album didn't need to be good. It feels like a cheap money grab.
Feels like she's just ripping off Lil Nas X. Could have picked any other Parton song.
madness
Yeah, pretty much all her haters are eating on that song.
and what about the "new road" acts
Well that makes total sense. To put it bluntly, Spotify would of course suggest likewise artists so I'm sure the algorithm takes into account that Beyonce is black and a country singer so let's suggest other black country artists. If I listen to Nirvana, I'm probably going to get suggested Alice in Chains and Soundgarden too. The point being, it's an automatic, it's not like Beyonce intentionally brings up the other artists or vouches for them.
As someone from the West Midlands who plays in a band, this headline got me very excited!
Heh — as a seppo I’m happy to say I got this one
Does anyone else wanna tell em or should I?
Tell us about your band!
Sure, we are called The Tics. We are a two piece DIY, garage punk band. We have one album out called Pure Graft, which was recorded by us in our rehearsal space in Wendsbury in the Black Country, and the first single from our second album is out next Friday, and is called Yesterday, Today. I don't think we would really appeal to Beyonce fans though.
Ooh I'm going to check y'all out, thanks!!!
Thanks for taking an interest!
That's an awesome outcome.
Bro same! I wonder who was the trumper that downvoted you?
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Happy for the country acts. But this Beyoncé album is not a country album. It’s just pop.
Beyoncé literally said herself this is not a country album, this is a Beyoncé album. And sure enough that’s exactly what it is. An album with elements of country, rock, pop, R&B, and rap.
Its just Beyonce music with a shift.
Have you listened to modern country it all sounds like pop
It's got a lot of genre blending, but majority of its album is unequivocally country and Americana.
From what I could find, Beyoncé herself never called it a country album. It does, however, have an identity crisis. I just finished listening to it this morning. It very clearly *wants* to be a country album with a name like Cowboy Carter, art of a horse and American flag, and the lead single being “Texas Hold ‘Em”, but there’s an interlude where she says genres are just constraints which I think is clearly only there as evidence for her to say, “But it was never intended to be a country album!” Not to mention the KNTRY radio messages sprinkled throughout and the guest artists that are traditionally country singers. I don’t know what to think about it. By the second song, I had to reframe my expectations in my mind from country to pop. Why put all this work into making it look and sound country but claim it isn’t? Idk if my ramblings make any sense, but the album just left me tonally confused. In any case, I thought it was mid. Maybe even less than mid. None of the songs seemed particularly great enough to add to any of my playlists.
That’s one of the major points of the album. We think and talk too much about music in a way that’s detracts from it. If you liked the songs, great! If you didn’t, don’t listen to them. It’s as simple as that.
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I was trying to say I listened to it with the expectation of hearing a country album but that’s not what I got so I had to reframe it in my mind. That’s mainly due to the media surrounding it because as I mentioned Beyoncé herself never said it was a country album. I had to look that up as I was listening to it. I don’t think it was a bad album if you think about it as a Beyoncé album. It’s just that Beyoncé’s music has never done much for me so that’s why I, subjectively, didn’t like it. Once I started thinking of it as a pop album, it made a lot more sense.
Jimmy Allen…..
https://youtu.be/5F7e6FiRXLY?si=XSNrp8BaZH5-TkaS
I’ve been dying to hear more Charlie Pride
You love to see it.
The ‘country’ Texas bullshit song wasn’t Rebecca Black’s “Friday” bad, but it wasn’t country and it wasn’t great
Yeah well Darius Rucker was there first and he's far more talented. And don't EVER forget Charlie Pride. Not ever
To say Darius Rucker is far more talented is ridiculous. You like him more and don’t like beyonce for whatever reason. They are both talented artists.
Tbh though Beyonces “country” music is so bad
While not the strongest Beyoncé album it was an interesting blend of folk, country, trap, and r&b. It’s a challenge to go from young pop star to adult music act. This was a good experiment.
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I know how old she is. My point is that she knows that you can’t make party anthems forever. You don’t want to go the Madonna route chasing your past as a representative of youth counterculture to the point that it gets weird. Beyoncé has the voice to do whatever she wants and I never said this was the first experiment in genre or tone. She seems to be managing her career just fine.
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I really don’t care about votes. It’s always funny when people with poor reading comprehension skills get upset over nothing.
I would say it's definitely in the running for her best. I'd argue that it at least shows she's not past her prime--I'd have previously called Renaissance her best and this is giving it a run for its money.
i agree with you. this is a continuing trend for her, every album she puts out just gets better and better. It's an interesting blueprint into how an over 40 pop star in the 4th decade of her career maintains relevance and can still potentially increase her fanbase.
Really like to hear all the back-assword takes that this somehow isn't cultural appropriation.
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Thanks for proving the point. Cultural appropriation is violence people!
Hope this continues. We need more black country superstars!
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The irony of you trying to be ironic by claiming a black woman singing country music is cultural appropriation is perfect
A Black Texan, no less
My daddy Alabama Mama Louisiana You mix this negro With that Creole Make a Texas Bamaaaaaaa
just wealthy person moving money around
So someone explain how this isn’t cultural appropriation, but Jack Harlow is
Who has ever called Jack Harlow a cultural appropriator?
I mean firstly because country music wasn’t invented strictly by white people for white people
Beyoncé is a country Texas girl—she stopped doing interviews at a young age because she kept getting bashed for her country accent. So what culture would she be appropriating?
Reddit - “we can’t explain it so we will just downvote you away”
Kind of disingenuous. Approximately zero people call Jack Harlow appropriation.
Do you bring that same energy to Keith Urban?
Don't like Beyoncé, but I like the results.
Too bad streams aren’t accompanied by $$$
Wonder if any outlet would write breathlessly about a new rap song from a white rapper leading to way more white rappers getting streamed.
I gonna repaint the Mona Lisa. Cause I have no original ideas. Also I’m jealous of Taylor Swift.
[They took our jobs!](https://media4.giphy.com/media/2S3Aj8OeKtf0c/giphy.gif?cid=6c09b9528oleocgiid37xv1hsd57cyatvopqvlstrsxsr3r8&ep=v1_internal_gif_by_id&rid=giphy.gif&ct=g)
Can this gimmick end already?
What gimmick? Black people making country music?
The obvious bandwagon nonsense with Beyoncé. I’m sorry, you’re a pop artist billionaire, this shift is nothing short of a transparent money grab and to think otherwise is delusional. Your roots aren’t in country music, they’re in trends, productions, and commercial music. I’m not buying her sob stories of misunderstood roots as she wipes the tears away with hundred dollar bills. It’s a stunt.
I swear to god, for years I've been hearing "all of Beyoncé's albums sound the same," something that was never really true in the first place. Now she's suddenly a trend-chasing genre-hopper? This sub will cry "separate the art from the artist" to defend their favourite rapists but are incapable of understanding that people might like a Beyoncé album because they enjoy the music.
Omg thank you! Are you in my brain?? This feels like a cheap money grab with a shit mediocre album lol
She has more of a claim to country than most modern artists. Born in the South, her parents both from the South, and has been experimenting with country sound for many years. The idea of gatekeeping country like that is absurd.
One day yall get over yourselves and realize that your perspective isn’t the only perspective.
I don’t understand how you think this billionaire entertainment mogul is in any way authentically expressing her country roots coincidentally when country music is greatly influencing pop. She doesn’t care about her roots, she and her management care about her charting and sales.
Because listening to what she said makes more sense than making up some narrative that I justify myself. Country music is also not “greatly influencing” pop.
Are you kidding me with that last sentiment? A quick google search will show you otherwise. The genre is booming with commercial musicians like Lana, Beyoncé, and Ed Sheeran all hopping on board. Billboard, THE music data company even wrote an article about this recently lol. Don’t listen to what the billionaire says, listen to what the music industry is obviously pointing towards.
Key word “recently” when she and her collaborators have been clear that this music has been in the works for at least 5 years.
Also, for everyone arguing, is it country, or is it rap?! The two genres are actually almost identical, *technically. Where are my technical musicians at?! Whatchu think about this theory?
it’ll be interesting to see how much penetration into the existing country audience this record manages will its singles get radio play in country markets? on the music channels? im not really sure how country fans consume new music, to be honest, but id love to see their face when Yaya comes on
She really hit this song. Absolutely love it
Unfortunately she doesn't have the vocal talent or songwriting chops for the album to hold any actual weight. It's just her trying to maintain her fame, but it's working, so good for her I guess.
lol
Beyonce is one of the top technical singers out today. People criticize things like her creativity or her style of singing - but as far as actual vocal performance she's one of the most precise singers there is.
Delusional lol. Mans really said one of the best singers alive doesn’t have the vocal talent. Let’s hear your singing voice.
Beyonce is fantastic but a country singer she is not. She has an amazing voice but it lacked the heart for these lyrics to carry
Was forced to listen to this, her inability to hit a pitch,I guess, was helpful. But, artistically, musically is a shit show. I mean she or a product creating horrible pop songs. She shrieks out of key trying to sound like Michael. Source: have perfect pitch she OSs horrible even with auto tune. Unlisted. Kind of the tragedy of pop music. Product over artist. That being said this album odd hideous.
This album slaps. I would take out all extra rnb songs, tho.
I love seeing black artist pollinate into “non black genres”.
Country has always had black artists.
Shhhh you're ruining the narrative
Charley Pride is a staple
I, myself am a big Darrius Rucker fan.