Beyoncé used her new album “Cowboy Carter” to showcase fellow genre-bending Black artists, including Willie Jones on “Just For Fun.”
On the track’s hook Beyoncé sings :
Here’s to hoping I’ll fall fast asleep tonight
And I’ll just need to get through this
Born in the darkness, who brings the light?
And I just, I need to get through this
Oh, just getting used to it
And Jones join her on the second verse singing:
I’m goin’ down south just for fun, I am the man, I know it
And everywhere I go, I hide my face
From the cowboys and clovers, and the rodeo circus
I came here for a reason, but I don’t know the purpose
It’s all under the surface
The Louisiana musician is known for his fusion of hip-hop, R&B and country music. His 2023 album “Something To Dance To” was released under Sony Music Nashville in partnership with The Penthouse.
Ahead of this year’s Super Bowl, he released a cover of Usher’s hit “OMG.” He also hosts a show on Apple Music radio called “The Crossroads Radio With Willie Jones.”
In 2012 he appeared on “X Factor” and won over hearts with his rendition of Josh Turner’s “Your Man.” Over the years, he’s regularly played at the annual CMA Fest in Nashville.
Beyoncé first announced her eighth studio album during a surprise Super Bowl commercial on Feb. 11. Simultaneously, she released her first two singles, “16 Carriages” and “Texas Hold ‘Em.” The two songs quickly took the internet by storm as many fans saw the music as a reclamation of country music’s Black roots. On YouTube, Beyoncé reached over 2 million views on each song in just two days. Within weeks, Beyoncé made history as the first Black woman to top Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart when “Texas Hold ‘Em” hit No. 1.
The new album is “Act II” of a three-part series. The superstar released her first act, the “Renaissance” album, on July 29, 2022, through her company Parkwood Entertainment and Columbia Records. “Act III” has yet to be announced.
Prior to its release, the singer opened up about “Cowboy Carter” on Instagram. Beyoncé wrote while she was “honored” to become the first Black woman to Black woman to top Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart, she still hopes for the day “the mention of an artist’s race, as it relates to releasing genres of music, will be irrelevant.”
She revealed the new album took five years to make, adding 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.” The singer was likely referencing her 2016 performance of her song “Daddy Lessons” with The Chicks at the Country Music Association Awards, which received mixed reactions on social media.
“But, because of that experience, I did a deeper dive into the history of Country music and studied our rich musical archive,” she wrote. “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.”
She signed off with, “This ain’t a Country album. This is a ‘Beyoncé’ album.”
Follow Caché McClay, the USA TODAY Network’s Beyoncé Knowles-Carter reporter, on Instagram, TikTok and X as @cachemcclay.
