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When Beyoncé sang “Changed the game with that digital drop,” it was not a one-time event.
Since the release of “Act II: Cowboy Carter” on March 29, Spotify streams for the Black country artists featured on Bey’s latest album have skyrocketed, per The Hollywood Reporter. The 27-track album has already broken streaming records, according to CBS News, becoming Spotify’s “most-streamed album in a single day in 2024 so far.”
On Monday, Beyoncé was honored with the Innovator Award at the iHeartRadio Music Awards. In her acceptance speech, she thanked musical figures such as Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Tina Turner, Prince and Tracy Chapman, leading fans to believe that Act III of her in-progress musical trilogy could be a rock or alternative album.
She’s been a busier Bey than usual, out and about far more than we’re accustomed to seeing her — and the internet has been ablaze with theories, especially after a new website shared by her label Parkwood has sprung up: Beencountry.com. Will she be announcing an Act II tour soon? Will Beyoncé finally give us the long-awaited visuals we’ve been asking for?
The verdict is still out on why, exactly, this new website exists. However, the URL is likely a dig at those who’ve told Beyoncé that she “‘wasn’t ‘country enough,’” as she sings in “Ameriican Requiem.” As Michael Arceneaux wrote for HuffPost, “her foray into country is not forced or fake.” This isn’t cosplay for Queen Bey; it is undeniably her culture, and she’s been country since birth.
White artists, such as Canadian Shania Twain, Australian Keith Urban and Pennsylvanian Taylor Swift, aren’t questioned about their authenticity, but the goal posts are moved, or rather narrowed, for Black musicians. Despite hailing from Houston, wearing cowboy hats since the 2000s and being ridiculed by TV personalities for her Southern accent, Beyoncé remains the subject of nebulous “country enough” litmus tests.
Thus far, the website’s main page only shows a few images, scattered across a black background: a banjo; present-day Beyoncé sporting fur chaps; a photo of her mother, Tina Knowles, born Celestine Beyincé, in grade school; and a young Bey participating in the Texas Sweetheart Pageant. On Thursday, she released a “Pony Up” remix of “Texas Hold ’Em.” (She did the same with numerous remixes of “Break My Soul” and “Cuff It” from her 2022 album, “Act I: Renaissance.”)
We have nary a clue what’s next, but what I do know is this: Beyoncé, ma’am, we are broke. As you sang in “Pure/Honey,” the world’s at war and we are certainly low on cash. Very, very low. Please, do not succumb to the trend of artists releasing tour announcements, then giving fans only two days to scrounge up money.
Now, very credible sources (i.e. my friends) recalled that although Beyoncé released “Renaissance” on July 29, 2022, she announced the subsequent tour on Feb. 1, 2023. Fans then siphoned themselves off into respective groups — Groups A, B, and C — and a peer of mine secured her tickets just six days later. (Thank you, Zoe, for the timeline.)
Maybe, just maybe, there is hope for us. So, please, spare our pockets momentarily, Bey. I hope to see you in Club Rodeo soon — but that can only happen if you give the Beyhive time to get our money up.
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