Beyoncé took to Instagram today to reveal the cover of her upcoming album, Cowboy Carter, and to kick off the countdown to its release on Friday, March 29.
"Today marks the 10-day countdown until the release of act ii," Beyoncé posted while thanking fans for their support of "Texas Hold 'Em" and "16 Carriages," her first two singles from the album. "I feel honored to be the first Black woman with the number one single on the Hot Country Songs chart. ... My hope is that years from now, the mention of an artist's race, as it relates to releasing genres of music, will be irrelevant."
After revealing that this album has been in the works for five years, the Houston, Texas native said "it was born out of an experience that I had years ago where I did not feel welcomed...and it was very clear that I wasn't."
She is presumably referring to her 2016 performance at the CMA Awards with the Chicks (then known at the Dixie Chicks) of her single "Daddy Issues" from the album Lemonade. The song itself and the live rendition with the country trio was met with critical praise, but Beyoncé, the performance, and her inclusion at Nashville's annual awards show faced backlash and overt racism from conservative country fans.
"Because of that experience," Beyoncé's post continued, "I did a deeper dive into the history of Country music and studied our rich musical archive. ... The criticisms I faced when I first entered this genre forced me to propel past the limitations that were put on me. act ii is a result of challenging myself, and taking my time to bend and blend genres together to create this body of work."
Later in the statement, Beyoncé teased surprises on the album, including collaborations with "some brilliant artists who I deeply respect." One of those musicians is steel slide guitarist Robert Randolph, who played on "16 Carriages."
"Beyoncé already had an idea of what she wanted to do," Randolph told Rolling Stone in February. "She wanted to do something with some playing, with some country fire. She said she liked the way I make my instrument sound like a singer."
Beyoncé dropped a pair of country singles, "16 Carriages" and "Texas Hold 'Em," last month during the Super Bowl. Within two weeks, she became the first Black woman to top Billboard's Hot Country Songs chart and the first Black woman to top the Hot 100 with a country song, both with "Texas Hold 'Em." This upcoming album is considered a promotional and aesthetic continuation of Renaissance's "act i." Her widely acclaimed 2022 album won four Grammys last year, making Beyoncé the most-awarded Grammy winner of all time.
"This ain't a Country album. This is a 'Beyoncé' album," she concluded in her post. "This is act ii COWBOY CARTER, and I am proud to share it with y'all!"
