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By Maya Mackey
It was the commercial heard around the world. Fresh off of her $579 million-earning Renaissance World Tour, Beyonce is ready to release her next project. On Good Friday, March 29, the album we only know as Act II at the moment, will be released.
Beyonce led her global fan base, the “BeyHive,” on a bit of an Easter egg hunt, dropping a huge clue when she wore a cowboy hat bigger than the sun at this month’s Grammy Awards. A week later, during Superbowl LVIII, she appeared in a Verizon commercial to announce the release of two Country singles, “Texas Hold ‘Em” and “16 Carriages.”
Unfortunately, the racism is already in full effect. Not even 2 hours after the songs dropped, Variety Magazine tweeted that the songs have a “strong country influence,” which caused much deserved backlash.
Today, KYKC, a Country music station in Oklahoma, initially rejected requests to play “Texas Hold ‘Em,” telling fans they don’t play Beyonce’s music, as it is a Country station. A logical assumption to be fair as Beyonce is known for making Pop and R&B music typically. But when fans argued that her new songs indeed are Country, the station changed its narrative as to why they wouldn’t play her music. First, they said they’d play it when it charted at number one (which it did on iTunes). Then they said they would decide when to play Beyonce.
Why does this matter? Because Country music was derived from the Blues, which was created by Black musicians. Country music, widely associated with white Republicans and Christianity is a false narrative of itself. We invented this and we’re taking it back. Saddle up because it’s gonna be a long racist ride to this rodeo, Chile.
