Hey, everyone. Rootin' Tootin' here, the internet's busiest music nerd. It's time for a review of this new Beyoncé album, Cowboy Carter.

Here we have a brand new record from veteran vocalist, songwriter, multi-genre phenom, the be, be herself, Miss Carter, Beyoncé Knowles. This is the Renaissance woman's second installment in an ongoing trilogy series that kicked off in 2022 with her ode to dance and house music Renaissance, which was one of the best records of that year. Since then has grown to really become my favorite Beyoncé album due to its incredible vocal performances, its bold production choices, how well Beyoncé executed the concept of it all.

Her ambitions are clearly growing even bigger on this new LP, as not only are a lot of the lyrical themes and messages on this album getting deeper and more personal, but Beyoncé is also heading boldly into a genre many don't consider to be in her wheelhouse, country. Now, of course, hardcore fans will instantly recall classic moments like "Daddy Lessons" from her landmark album Lemonade, where, yes, she dabbled in a bit of country, but still, this is not a style of music she really made her name in.

So, of course, an album in this direction is going to be a tough swallow for some fans and many detractors because there are a lot of Beyoncé listeners that aren't necessarily country listeners. There are a lot of country listeners that are going to look at Beyoncé like she's an outsider for reasons that are valid, but also do very much in part to feelings of entitlement, fear of the unknown, and of course, bigotry. While I might be preaching to the choir here, of course, Beyoncé is very much allowed to make a frigging country album if she wants to.

There's a range of arguments that could be made. The first being that she's from Texas of all places. Texas. She would also be far from the first modern artist who didn't start in country and yet is jumping onto the bandwagon as the genre is seeing a commercial gold at the moment, Post Malone being a very recent example, a dude who's been more or less accepted instantly by large swaths of the country fandom, despite him breaking into the music industry as "White Iverson," if you guys remember.

Beyond this, we could dig into deeper conversations that would take hours to unravel, like America's troubled history of copying, pasting, and whitewashing various strains of black music, or the fact that the country industry for years has lost complete touch with the soul of the genre for well over a decade now as it has repeatedly pumped out all of this bro country commercial sludge.

Thankfully, you have a new generation of commercially successful artists who are finally bringing it back to basics again, but that's another article. There are numerous YouTube videos on the internet going over the various ways in which country has also stolen so many production esthetics and musical ideas from hip hop music as of late, from RnB music. A shout out to Grady Smith's video on Snapbeats.

Beyoncé doesn't get into the weeds of the discourse on this record per se, but she does come ready with preemptive chest moves to quiet down the stupid arguments, as this record is loaded with tastefully rustic instrumentation. You have the aformentioned Post Malone on the album, featured too. The great Dolly Parton is on the album, one time specifically as a means of introducing Beyoncé's cover of "Jolene." Willie Nelson is on the LP in these cute little vocal bit skits where he's like a radio host. Beyoncé also pays homage to country's Black contributors, bringing on Grand Ol, Opry performer, Linda Martell. Then things come full circle as she invites on a newer face who is making waves in the genre these days, Shaboozey, for a couple of tracks.

Beyoncé has seemingly crossed all of her T's and dotted all of her I's for this album, but it makes for better marketing than it does art. Because while I understand Beyoncé wanting to stand up for her right to make this record, the extent to which she does it comes off as a bit insecure. It makes the vibe of the record feel more unnatural and more of a put on than it really needs to be, which, mind you, is the polar opposite vibe of Renaissance. Nearly everything that record did felt natural, felt so confident, even the most outlandish moments on it. Conversely on Cowboy Carter, just the abundance of justification-based interludes and crossovers, it does throw things off, especially the flow. It also serves as a bit of a distraction from what really should be the selling point of the album, the songs, the core songs of the record.

For music fans, for real, actual music fans here, those good songs would be all Beyoncé would truly and honestly need for a justified country crossover. I think that is displayed in the fact that people were already loving the teaser singles to this record without all the extra rigmarole the tracklist on here brings, "Sixteen Carriages," "Texas Hold'em," the latter of which went number one on the country charts. As a result, this record is probably on track to win some Grammys in the country category next year. The sad truth is there's no number of Dolly Parton endorsements that would make a Beyoncé hater or a naysayer at this point get on board with this record. So you might as well just sing your songs with the talent and passion that you know you have and just let the track speak for themselves.

There's maybe my biggest criticism of the record out of the way, that it's a little bloated, defensive at points. But when you dig past that to the meaty songs on this record, the central songs on this record, Cowboy Carter becomes a great addition to this trilogy. A lot of its best moments aren't even country per se. More of a celebration of classic mid-century popular American music.

Take the opening track, "American Requiem," for example, which is like this grand psych gospel odyssey intro with gorgeous vocal harmonies spread across these insane and lush layers of synthesizers, sitar, and tambourine. Some booming drums pop into the mix later. The whole track is like Beyoncé's own personal Woodstock. Lyrically, we get the central stance of the record at this point as well. She is facing the wind. She is not pretending anymore. We also have allusions to familial struggles that she will dig deeper into later on the album, specifically when it comes to burdens and behaviors inherited from her father.

To fast forward really quickly, can I say that I love the fact that a lot of the music and the themes on this track are repreased on the closing song of the album "Amen?" Past this track, it is really smooth sailing into a very solid leg of the album. We get a very simple, tasteful, and beautiful cover of the Beatles' "Blackbird," a Paul McCartney track. That's one of my personal faves. The song contains what sounds like an original sample of the guitar parts from that Beatles recording. There are some added strings into the mix. It sounds like Beyoncé is laying down some great vocal harmonies, a killer lead, too. It's not the most ambitious revision of this track or song on the album, but in the overall flow of the record, it just seems like a very pretty, serene interlude-type moment that sets us up for the bigger tracks to come.

Like "16 Carriages," which I loved as a single. I love even more in the context of the record. The track is this powerful country rock fusion moment with crashing guitars and cymbals, a steady patient beat, lots of swells of organ and pedal steel, monstrous bass too. With all of this soundtrack, Beyoncé penning lyrics about all the blood, sweat, and tears that she's put into music and performing over the years, as well as her family. The track is really poetic, especially when it comes to the imagery around the chorus of the 16 carriages riding off into the distance with her fears, with her anxieties.

If you didn't think things could get more teary-eyed, we have the following "Protector," which is an amazing acoustic ballad where Beyoncé is singing about motherhood, wanting to protect and take care of her children, but simultaneously be someone who's also going to let them go when it comes time to let them just be their own people. And honestly, if anything makes this album country, it's moments like this. It's not the crossovers, it's not the co-signs. It's these beautiful strip-back moments where Beyoncé is bearing her soul and making herself more relatable than she's ever been. You would truly need to be souless to stare into the way Beyoncé is exposing herself on this track and just pooh-pooh it and just look at it as garbage or a put on or a façade because it's really anything but.

From here we have a few more interludes and then, of course, it's "Texas Hold'em," which I also loved as a single. But if you're yet to hear it, do not go into this track taking it or yourself too seriously. It's just pure, silly, wholesome fun with a lot of tongue-and-cheek clichés thrown into the mix for a country appeal. If you were really going to try to sell this album cycle on a whole country thing, I maybe wouldn't have gone with a track that comes across maybe so metropolitan as far as how methodical its production is or mentions of, "Hey, we're just going to go vibe at the dive bar," and "park your Lexus." Jesus Christ. But still, the vocal harmonies on this thing do go off. The chorus is quite snappy. The banjo and guitar licks are great, too. The groove is on point as well. If we're judging this merely by the standards of modern day commercial country pop, this track is a winner.

Surprisingly Beyoncé explores different eras of this very thing, too, like with the track "Bodyguard," which, production-wise, is like a '90s pop rock crossover radio tune, Sheryl Crow, Shania Twain, that vibe. There are some groovy bass, some sticky background vocals, with a lot of focused lyrics about Beyoncé's need to protect a lover, someone who she cares for, with hilarious bars about protecting this person in the mosh pit. Beyoncé throwing elbows during the breakdown.

Then following this, we have the "Jolene" cover on the record, which has been a bit polarizing. Calm down, for one, because unless you've been living under a goddamn rock. Covering this track is not sacrilege. There's been a million versions of it already. There will be a million more after this. How is Beyoncé crossing a line here, especially given the cover is so quality? She's gone the extra mile to lay some great vocals on it, and I love that she put in the effort to switch the lyrics and the narrative of the song around to update it and make it about her and make it work within the grander scheme of the narratives around her relationship, her marriage, cheating that she delved into on previous records. If you've been paying attention, you get the references, and it works. It works as an addition to the Beyoncé narrative. It works as a standalone moment.

I think things get even more incredible from here on the song "Daughter," which, again, this is like really the singer-songwriter core of the LP, another amazing, lyrically-focused part of the record where Beyoncé is going more into those dad ties. Again, this track is also one of the most theatrical on the record as well, with the narrative and lyrics reading as almost Shakespeareian at points. Some of the vocal passages read as operatic.

Then things get surprisingly campy on the track "Spaghetti," which implies we're going to be heading into a different direction with the Linda Martell intro. Beyoncé is not going to be simply confined by this country thing. Of course, she from here goes into a banger, a trap trunk knocker, where Beyoncé is rapping and making reference to her holster. It's absolutely pure hype, but unfortunately, from here, we go into a spotty midpoint on the record.

There's "Alligator Tears," which is not my favorite tune here, but I do like the narrative of the track a lot with Beyoncé describing bending over backwards and giving into the whims of somebody who is always whining, crying, manipulating. The song "Just For Fun," I think, might be one of the biggest snoozes on the LP. Lyrically, this one just didn't really hit like other tracks on this record do. The instrumental palate is a lot blander than other cuts on here. Melodically, I don't think it's a standout either. I mean, it passes. It's listenable but it's not really a moment that rocked me, either instrumentally or emotionally.

But "II Most Wanted" with Miley Cyrus, this one's a barn burner. Great killer duet whose chorus I'm going to be singing for months. Not singing well, mind you, but singing "I'll be your shotgun rider." But yes, very simply, it's a love song. It's a song of devotion with some great writing, some standout lyrics, and just some killer, killer vocal chemistry, especially when those Beyoncé and Miley vocals are doubling up on the chorus. The trades on the verses are nice, too. They just play into each other really well, and that's all there is to it.

Following this, though, we have "Levi's Jeans" featuring Postie. Yes, Post Malone, who, again, I see why his inclusion would be necessary in a way on the record. I also enjoy the fact that Beyoncé really got him to sing on this album without a bunch of bullshit vocal manipulations that are so heavy-handed or a ton freaking reverb. But the songwriting, I'm not really crazy about. I just feel like this track, the more I hear it, the more it just feels like product placement. This could literally just be the soundbed to a Levi's commercial. Not a bad Levi's commercial, but still. There's not as much soul going into this track as there are others, I'll say that.

Going further into the last leg, unfortunately, I feel like the general bloat of this record is contributed to by shorter moments that don't really go much of anywhere and just don't stand tall next to other more key highlights. I'm talking about tracks like "Desert Eagle" as well as "Flamenco." But I do see Beyoncé's vision for the final leg of the record because it feels like she is trying to create a bit of a bridge between the country direction she's moving into on this record and what she previously did on Renaissance, as the song "Ya Ya" is this crazy trap soul, vintage rock hybrid period that's very much Tina Turner. It kicks off with this Nancy Sinatra sample as well. There are some background vocal bits that call back to the very girl group era that Beyoncé is known to be a fan of and paid homage to in her own right previously, like in the role she played in the film Dreamgirls.

It's a simultaneous update of numerous music styles that are all being clashed together in a way, not too unlike stuff we've heard in the past from artists like Janelle Monet on records such as The ArchAndroid, but still, it's a thrill of a song on the album. Then "Riverdance" is a dance number with a lot of plucky bluegrass style instrumentation. And once again, you're getting a lot of those acoustic bits chopped and looped, like you're hearing some endless dance grooves or a house track, something like that, like we would have heard on Renaissance. It's like house or dance music build, but esthetically, we're getting rootsy. And again, it works. It's a very creative and functional meld. And I love the way this track transitions into "Two Hands to Heaven, "too, which gets way more low-key, introspective.

Like I said, while the flow of this record might be a little weird and spotty and not super consistent given all the interludes, all the breaks, when Beyoncé and her team nail the transitions on these tracks, they really nail them. And the song "Tyrant" gives us the real best final bop on the record. Steamy track where we're getting more driving hip hop fusion, dance, instrumentation, some fiddle as well. And Beyoncé is really just in her sexual bag, just going crazy. Absolutely crazy going on about how she's riding it like a tyrant. It's just one of those moments where you have to fan yourself off. There were many of those on Renaissance for sure.

But after this, we get "Sweet Honey Bucking," which I think is my least favorite track here. I do not like this one at all. It's actually a nightmare. Again, it feels like another illusion to renaissance with all these crazy transitions and ideas and musical styles crashing into each other. But the whole thing just has no direction, no focus. The transitions are a mess. On top of it, Beyoncé doesn't really seem to know what to do over much of it as a lot of her spoken word bits and refrains are landing pretty flat. Even when Beyoncé is delivering some good, skilled quality melodic vocal lines, like in the first leg of this track, they're smothered by some really annoying incessant vocal samples in the production.

But at least from here, we do go into a very solid finish with "Amen" that I mentioned earlier. And that's the record that closes things out. And it's a very lengthy listen, lengthier than I think it really needed to be. But it's still, as I said earlier, a great album and a very good addition to this trilogy. On the macro level, with the flow, I think the record could have been better, could have been a stronger, more cohesive vision. But when it comes to the core songs of the album, Cowboy Carter is stellar.

I don't prefer it to Renaissance per se, but it's mostly due to reasons that are more surface level or are more just window dressing. Because if you stripped away a lot of the unnecessary bits, I do think there is another Renaissance in the rough here. There just was not as much finesse, unfortunately, when it came to the execution. But still, great album. Love the majority of the songs on the record. You could say it's Beyoncé's most personal album, too, since Lemonade.

Even if I'm not loving it as much as Renaissance, it's really right there. And at this point, I'm still very much holding out hope, and I'm anticipating a total blowout on the third installment of this trilogy.

And all of that is why I'm feeling a decent 8 on this album.

Anthony Fantano, Beyoncé, Cowboy Carter. Forever.