If you haven’t already, it’s officially time to trade in your silver and chrome outfits for chaps, lassos and rustic cowboy hats. On Friday (March 29), Beyoncé finally shared her highly anticipated Cowboy Carter album with the world.
Born out of “an experience that [she] had years ago where [she] did not feel welcomed,” Beyoncé’s latest record is a jaw-dropping ode to the breadth of regional and musical subcultures of the American South. From a fierce reimagining of Dolly Parton‘s classic “Jolene” to mind-blowing hybrids of country and house (“Riiverdance”), somehow, Cowboy Carter finds Beyoncé more experimental and more fearless than ever before.
Although the road to Cowboy Carter began with Queen Bey’s upbringing in Houston, TX and reached an inflection point during the 2016 CMA Awards, the Grammy winner formally kicked off the album campaign during the 2024 Super Bowl with the dual release of “16 Carriages” and “Texas Hold ‘Em.” The former provided a gorgeous preview of the LP’s slower, more introspective moments, while the latter etched its name in the Billboard history books almost immediately. With “Texas Hold ‘Em,” Beyoncé became both the first Black woman to top Hot Country Songs and the first Black woman to send a country song to the top of the Billboard Hot 100. Moreover, other Black women in country — including Reyna Roberts, Linda Martell and Tanner Adell — experienced streaming boosts thanks to “Texas.”
Both Martell and Adell appear on Cowboy Carter, alongside a star-studded list of collaborators that includes Miley Cyrus. Parton, Willie Nelson, Post Malone, Shaboozey, Willie Jones, The-Dream, Raphael Saadiq, Pharrell Williams and more. Presented as both the official follow-up to and “a continuation of” her Grammy-winning Billboard 200-topping Renaissance album, Cowboy Carter is just the latest in a decade-long string of projects that prove that Beyoncé is one of the all-time greats.
From the rousing “II Hands II Heaven” to the shape-shifting “Sweet ★ Honey ★ Buckiin,” here are all 27 tracks on Cowboy Carter ranked.
