Fans in Beyoncé’s native Houston fete new country album
In Beyoncé’s hometown of Houston fans turned out in full force at a roller rink listening party celebrating the megastar’s new country album.
The scene last week was a jubilant display of support for the 42-year-old Texan, who faced some bigoted criticism when she announced her new project Cowboy Carter, which was released in full last Friday.
Despite the long lineage of black artists in country music, overwhelmingly white and male gatekeepers of the genre have long vied to rigidly dictate its boundaries.
But t hey were no match f or Beyoncé, who pressed on and dropped a 27-track epic to great fanfare.
“I think Beyoncé’s new album is awesome simply because in my opinion she’s bringing back awareness as to where country music started — a lot of people don’t know that country music started with us as black Americans,” said Lashria Hadley, a nurse.
“I think it’s a beautiful thing. A lot of things were appropriated from us and taken from us,” she continued. “So she’s just bringing back that awareness as to where it all started, and she’s doing it so effortlessly because she’s Beyoncé.”
Cowboy Carter is the second instalment of her Renaissance trilogy, a rollicking, history-rich honky tonk of an album that quickly soared to the top of the streaming rankings.
It’s rife with country elements but also draws across the genres, including rap, dance, soul, rock, gospel and funk.
“This I think is probably her best album yet. I think it is so thoughtful, it is so new, it is so different really than anything else that she’s done before,” said fan Austin Davis Ruiz, a civil servant.
He noted that Beyoncé both pays homage to groundbreaking black country artists like Linda Martell — who features on the album — and also makes a point of “uplifting newer black country artists that maybe haven’t also gotten their due”.
And for anyone who says Beyoncé isn’t country enough to sing country?
“She’s from the south, she’s from Texas,” said Valeria Pasquel, who works in marketing. “She’s always been a country girl, but it was just a matter of time before she actually did a whole country album.”
Lindsey Cooksen agrees: “She’s always repped Houston, she always talks about how she’s a country girl at the bottom of her heart.
“It makes perfect sense to me. I don’t know why anybody was confused,” she continued. “We’re very proud of her.”
That the listening party was held at a roller rink was also in line with Beyoncé’s roots; she used to skate as a child, and even filmed her 2013 music video for the track Blow at a Houston roller rink. Teacher Candice Williams said that “being from Houston and from Texas, we’ve always sang country music”.
“Black women have always sung country music, this is nothing new, it’s just the fact that she’s such a worldwide known artist,” Williams said.
“So she’s bringing country music like out there to pop artists and people who don’t know the background.”