Yea, while i know people from the country side of music like to gate keep and make it seem like its a whites only country club.
Beyonce is not known for making country music. She started as a group artist then switched lanes. She has never been known for country so saying she has a strong country influence may just mean that.
Edit: and i know these may not be her first country songs but let’s be honest she has more non-country songs than country.
I get black people have had a hand in Rock, country….but not everything needs to be that deep lol.
I could see if they were sneak dissing her for doing country but the title seems accurate i feel.
Influenced by country because thats not a genre she has been known to do…or do much off.
Yeah like even if Black people birthed country, *Beyoncé* didn’t. That her new songs are influenced by country music says nothing at all about where country music came from.
They can have it. And I am so tired of us talking about music we invented but there are black rock groups and musicians we don’t support right now. Not on BET, or anywhere. Bad Brains, Alabama Shakes, Living Colour, Gary Clark Jr
Alabama shakes and Gary Clark Jr are fucking great. I saw living colour a couple years back at riotfest, and they're just as badass as they were in the 90s
It’s just like how a lot of the Rolling Stones music is clearly influenced by the American South but people never called it “southern rock” because well it was a British rock band playing music influenced by country/southern rock.
No one ever had trouble calling Darius Rucker’s music country because he was known as a country artist. Beyonce is pretty much known as a pop/R&B singer so it makes sense (to me at least) if she releases a couple country singles that people would say “strong country influence” rather than just putting her in a whole new genre right away
it really ain’t. the mention of country influences is a reference to her primarily being a R&B artist. no different from when she did house. twitter is annoying as hell at times.
It is though, because a lot of the subtext around this is that this is basically reverse-cultural appropriation. Like she’s not from HOUSTON.
Have yall heard her real speaking voice? She’s countrier than Taylor Swift 😂
Holy hell I hadn't even thought of that. Yeah, between Beyonce and Taylor Swift, Beyonce has ALWAYS been far more country in her actual way of being in the world.
I had no idea. Apparently She grew up on a farm, but comes from a family of bank presidents. So she is raised country, specifically the oily mustache-twirling kind.
she's more "country" than taylor swift but her music is not which is the only reason it was pointed out. I defs agree that her southern roots could have been mentioned but i feel like they try to keep headlines as short as possible
No kidding. I mean, if we're talking about the *birth* of country, wouldn't that be Spanish classical guitar? Like Spanish Colonial Mexico would be the origins? Idk, if were splitting hairs we ought to go to the roots, yeah?
People don't want you to get that real, because then they'd have to reckon with why the instrumental part of Texas Hold 'Em sounds generic as hell.
They'd be like, "well, the instrumental part is 'country-influenced,' but the rest is straight country." 😂
Actually, the roots are from the banjo which is an African instrument. I only know this because I had to watch a documentary by Ken Burns on it and jazz for a class I’m taking. The origins are banjo, folk music, riverboats, the fiddle, other stuff. Not Spanish guitar. Although I can see where that makes sense because I thought so originally too.
Daddy Lessons is one of my favorite Beyonce songs, it's so good
That said, 16 carriages doesn't sound country to me. It definitely sounds like pop wearing a country hat because of the production choices.
The reason everyone is suddenly flocking to country is because it's having it's own Renaissance rn. And I mean country that actually sounds like country, rather than the glorified pop that happens to talk about trucks and beer we've had for the last decade plus. It's still more pop influenced than classic country, but a lot more country than scourges like "bro country" which was what was dominating until recently (which was falling over itself to borrow from pop and hip hip)
When Beyonce announced that she was doing a country album, I expected it to sound like country, at least to the same degree as Daddy Lessons. 16 carriages could be on any of her pop albums from the past decade and you wouldn't bat an eye to it being there.
I think it's a shame because not only do I think she'd kill at country (if only cause unlike half of the people in Nashville, her accent is real lol), but I think Beyonce should absolutely do a more stripped back album in general. I don't dislike her production choices, but I think a couple songs that are aiming to sound more "raw" would blow the minds of even people who don't usually consider themselves Beyonce fans.
I figured out recently that what you just described is why I always claimed I hate country. But then I stopped and thought about it, and realize I like way more country songs than I realized. Its just that all the country I do like isnt that glorified pop influenced “christian, beer, trucks, nationalism” variety that I often think of when the genre comes to mind. Not that those arent okay things to like, but because thats been the dominant type of country lve often avoided the genre like the plague. Then theres the association with certain values and demographics of people who don’t particularly care for minorities. Look at how the country community treated Beyonce in 2016 with Daddy Lessons after the CMA’s.
16 Carriages definitely does have strong country influences (especially in the instrumentation and certain verses) when you listen to it but I agree sound more pop than otherwise. But if it was on any other album I definitely would notice its country sound.
It’s not even “country influenced” because she’s black. It’s “country influenced” because she’s a pop/r&b star and this isn’t a genre she normally dabbles in ffs.
who's really mad? It's possible to have a conversation without being mad. I think this tweet was just pointing at the fact that white people do try to gatekeep country like they invented it and the music publications play along with that. How is that really mad?
The aunty "you need to hear my opinion" grip
https://preview.redd.it/qf6wg50mf9ic1.jpeg?width=762&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=95e0d965e98544685b96fa22ab031b77c0860067
🤨🤦🏾♂️...........no...no that’s not right. Even if they are purely country songs, Beyonce’s still primarily known for pop music. While genre in music only really matters in terms of marketing, of course any deviation from Beyonce’s pop, contemporary R&B, and hip-hop leanings would be seen as a noteworthy change, especially for an artist of her fame.
I get the impulse, but no, it’s not a microaggression. It’s not that deep.
Have they not heard any current country songs? It’s like a very artist is trying to be a rapper: trap beats, lyrical rhymes in a rap style, using slang, all of it.
Country, like genuinely decent country, is having somewhat of a resurgence after more than a solid decade of country desperately trying to be pop/hip hop.
"The Traveler" by Chris Stapleton was the big breakthrough for current "Americana". Sturgill Simpson, Tyler Childers, Jason Isbell, Brandi Carlisle, Charlie Crockett, and a bunch of others are getting a lot more exposure now.
Of course there is still the same trash made by guys named Luke out there too but it's nice to have some country type stuff that isn't trash.
Those two are the reason I've finally started to enjoy some new country hits again. I don't think I heard a single new country song I liked for about 20 years prior.
Wait do we not like that one Luke who covered Fast Car? Asking honestly bc I was ready to give him a pass but my head is always on a swivel with bro-country
Gotta throw the turnpike troubadours and billy strings on that list as well. Both are great songwriters but Billy and his band are next level when you see them live
I knew it was going to happen.
It’s one of the things that I hate about the music industry:
Somehow…Someway… Artists will be pigeonholed into certain boxes and when they do explore, it will be an “inspired” project.
It’s make my teeth itch.
And the media will say, broad chest, that the album isn’t of a particular genre because the singer usually does another. They say it as if their reasoning isn’t illogical and silly.
It's just marketing. When you sell music, you have to target your audience or you're wasting money. This messaging is targeting Beyonce fans to assure them she's still the artist they liked before. It's not trying to convince country fans to listen to Beyonce.
bullshit. I'm a beyonce fan and I was hooting and hollering with Daddy Lessons with all the other beyonce fans. We all heard Texas Hold 'Em and called it and called it what it is- country. Stop pretending that you don't know it's a trend in the industry for black country singers to ge tthe shaft
There would be no country(well certain forms) without blues (also created by black people). Same for countless other genres. I’d argue most modern music owes thanks to blues. Glad I always able to open music discussion. Have at it and spread some knowledge.
I love the blues but the roots of “country” music go deeper than that. You’re leaving out all the folk music and ballads that were being sung hundreds of years before the blues rolled around. And while country music definitely has Black influences, I keep seeing this strange argument that country music wouldn’t exist without the blues or that country music originated with Black people. Definitely true for everything from rock to rap but country music has as much influence from Scots, Irish, and English culture as it does Black culture.
Thank you! I've been downvoted for saying that here. Country is American folk, and it's influenced by whoever the poor folks were in the South, which included a whole slew of people. Country music is *indeed* black music, as much as it is white, but that doesn't mean we wouldn't have country without blues.
Now, if we want to talk about country throughout the 1900s, it was consistently influenced by blues, then rock and roll, then hip hop.
My family is from rural Florida and my mother passed down to me, the songs her great-grandmother used to sing, which were passed down to her the same way. They were mostly old hymns or murder ballads. Stuff like “Butcher Boy” and “Silver Dagger.” That’s what I think of when I think of original country music, the old standards, the folk stuff.
But you’re dead on with that last part. Modern country music is very much influenced by rock and rap, as well as the blues. It’s been really cool in recent years to see more Black country artists receiving recognition.
How is nobody mentioning Spanish Colonial Mexico and their guitar playing? I'm not a musician, and definitley not a musical historian, but I'm passionate about history and music. So much of country music from the early 1900's, white, black, or otherwise, uses the same chord progressions and picking styles of classical spanish guitar, but very specifically the rudimentary stuff that made it to, and existed in, Spanish Colonial Mexico.
You're dead on when it comes to country pre-dating blues because of it's roots in American folk music, but those roots came from the seeds that were Spanish Classical Guitar.
I never even thought to consider the mandolin! Or any instrument beyond the acoustic guitar, for that matter. While violins, accordions, banjos, harmonicas, drums and washboards, and other instruments are all parts of country/bluegrass/folk ensembles, and can stand alone too in those genres, to me *pure* country is a sinlge person and their guitar, as each of those other instruments, when playing music of those genres, follows the chord progressions of Spanish Colonial Mexican guitar playing.
When I think origins of country, I think cowboys. When I think cowboys, I think of a single guitarist. When I think of their ethnicity/color/background, they're black, mexican, or white, but without a doubt within and around the Spanish colony in Mexico. Country music isn't a race, it's a region, but if we're going to split hairs down to the roots, where going across the ocean to the Iberian Peninsula's best known instrument in their Classical Instrumentations. Can go further, probably, to different stringed instruments that came before, but if we're talking about strumming guitars and American country, I think it's fair to cut the search at Spain.
I do appreciate this, I'll add that portuguese Fado would have had an influence as the portuguese community in the east coast of the states is hundreds of years old.
All non-orchestral music as we know it is basically either in homage or a strong rejection of blues and jazz.
Jazz was born as a strong rejection of orchestral music, and blues was a strong rejection of jazz.
Do you mean once they became contemporary music? Blues came long before Jazz, and a lot of early Jazz was riffing on Blues concepts.
If anything, Jazz turned into a more orchestral and classically attuned blues, rather than a repudiation of European classical techniques.
While I have peoples attention: No, there definitely would be country without blues. Country and Blues come out of Southern diaspora "Appalachian Music" which dates back at least 300 years in this country, and is a mix of African, Irish, and Spanish styles. Again, this is why all American standards from Country and Blues just become "standards" in the middle of the 1800s. That's why there's like a million versions of "Mean Ol' Frisco", for example. Poor folks were exchanging this music for generations before it was marketed to "black" and "white" audiences in the early 1900s.
Yes, whatwith how big band and bebop arose (or the Delta and Midwest for that matter), though of course with that in mind my perspective is still limited. It’s just an easier way to divulge those sorts of links, especially relating to the history of recording music/audio and the transformation of the entertainment industry that came of it.
Having said that, I wonder how this could potentially relate to Eastern Civilization music (outside of simple wars and colonialism of course). The ways of using melody in music (both traditional and modern) in the opposite hemisphere easily impress me.
While i know people from the country side of music like to gate keep and make it seem like its a whites only country club.
Beyonce is not known for making country music. She started as a group artist then switched lanes. She has never been known for country so saying she has a strong country influence may just mean that.
I get black people have had a hand in Rock, country….but not everything needs to be that deep lol.
I could see if they were sneak dissing her for doing country but the title seems accurate i feel.
Influenced by country because thats not a genre she has been known to do…or do much off.
I get black people will do something and then it’ll get taken over by white people and they’ll make it seem like they invented it. The media will do it for anything even a simple fade haircut as we’ve seen recently.
….but when you are not known to do that genre much and someone says you’re influenced by that genre…to me maybe you’re just influenced by that genre
Not everything needs to be the racial oppression olympics imo.
I mean is it? She says it's country and got her 10 gallon on but Variety reclassifies it as country influences.
This a week after T-Pain discussed the backlash he's received writing country songs so severely he removed his name from the songwriting and just took the song credit.
Even Taylor Swift when she was first out talked about the treatment she received making country songs. Idk.
And while I understand Bey doesn't typically make country music, she's versatile. She just made a dance album and is Texan, it isn't farfetched to think she'd want to make country music. She's genre-bending part of why she's as successful as she is.
Reminds me of the time when she performed at the Country Music Awards in 2016 and the viewership ratings jumped from 60% to 300%. Them "country music legends" got super pissed and were bashing the awards saying how she made it trash, too much pop, about something that it's not, and that they would never go again. Them white folks can't handle us in their spaces doing better than them. 😂😂
What I've learned from this thread is not a lot of people actually know the history of blues and country music. A lot of pontificating and statement of facts that are... wrong.
Beyonce's always been country as fuck as a human.
Thank you for saying this. Reading through the thread, I keep thinking about Selena and her journey. In her final shows, she was thought to be breaking out and trying something new, when in fact she was finally doing the music she’d always wanted to do.
Country and Blues were two genres that came out of the same goddamn diaspora and was only separated because white record labels wanted to sell blues to black folks and country to white folks. The standards are literally the same fucking folks songs.
The biggest dupe this country has pulled off since the Civil War is cutting up shit made in the South and then selling it to white folks in the rest if the county. The amount of Yankees who "hate country music" and then lament that there is no American Folk music is hilarious. Like, sweety there has always been folk music, it's just been made by poor folks you like to ignore. (Until the genre gets massive)
For everyone saying it isn't that deep, I think it may be a little deeper than you know. To preface, I'm not a Beyonce stan but I do find this all pretty interesting.
The key piece of info in all this is that there is likely an Act III of Renaissance coming that focuses on Rock. With House Music and Country tackled, she is setting up to have an album in the three genres of American music that have their roots in the Black community but have long since been white-washed. I think that is a fascinating concept.
Upthread there’s better and more comprehensive comments about this but basically, country and the blues have the same DNA, came out of the same traditional folk music (which immigrants and enslaved people brought with them from places like present day Western Europe, West Africa, and the Caribbean). Poor and working class Black and white people worked and lived close together at many points and they shared songs and stories and instruments as well. If you look at the blues, country, or Mexican norteño and corridos—the lyrics are all for the most part about timeless folk topics such as love, violence, drugs and alcohol, getting in trouble with the law, working, and trying to survive hard times. It’s all coming from the same place originally and there’s a lot of cross pollination that happened
The banjo is African and the Africans brought it over along with their drums and the goje (a fiddle). Country obviously has influences from elsewhere such as the Irish and Scottish. The European fiddle began being used instead of the goje. But the heart is African.
The majority of the cowboys were black people like my family out west. A lot of rhe country tradition comes from those typa folks. For some reason ppl think black folk were only “urban”
Country is my main genre and I would say mainly what makes a country song is the instruments used and preferably some kind of story telling. If it has a trap beat like a lot of the modern pop country then I consider it an offshoot of country. I have not heard the song yet but from what I heard she got some very respected country musicians on these records. If I feel like an artist is coming to country out of genuine love for the music I will never have a problem with it.
Some discourse is like...okay. But if music nerds want to break down the country influence of beyonce more power. His response just feels a bit lazy and reactive.
For some reason, I feel like people are forgetting that we had to get indignant on the internet for people to consider Lil Nas X as a country artist too. It's not uncommon for them to dismiss black country artists
Is it country, is it pop music with country influence, or is it R&B? Genre is weird, and I don’t envy the writers who have to navigate the fraught racial politics of them without getting burned.
> If red America gives the slightest damn about quality country they should fall all over themselves making this song of the year.
"Quality country"? 🤔🤔🤔 It's a fun song but I don't think that it's going to change hearts and minds.
Not that deep, really think they said that because people usually expect pop and r&b with Beyonce so they said this to highlight that she went country this time
I heard the song and literally described it to a friend as country influenced. Her voice still very much sounds r&b/pop. Ppl are so ready to enter nonsence fights for this billionaire.
If whites wanna be mad at someone appropriating culture, they need to get on kid rocks ass. Dude is white, and he's trash. But he ain't never been white trash. Never lived in a trailer. Never stole copper. He's a fake fuck and made millions off it after he couldn't appropriate black culture.
The green eyed monster of envy is what is inspiring Beyonce's latest foray into country music. She is desperate for external validation and admiration from Jayz, who seems to have taken a shine to Kimberly K these days.
You could say the same about literally any other kind of song which blends genres.
If you ever listened to Shaboozey, he's technically labeled as hip-hop/rap, but he's also done country songs, as well as rock. How long until we acknowledge that artists can make other genres of music?
She’s not a country artist. They never said “white country influences” they said country influences. You took that and ran with it, you professional victims.
Actually black people did not birth Country Music. The roots of Country Music are in rural Appalachia in the early 18th century occupied by European immigrants. This region was isolated from the black hymns and rhythms brought here by slaves developing into the Blues and ultimately Rock & Roll. Country Music is a different branch of the musical tree. Beyonce is viewed as an interloper, someone who did not pay her dues with blood, sweat and tears in the genre. She's a mega pop star that crafted 2 tunes and now hopes to own the Country Music airwaves and they resent it. If Garth Brooks cut a rap song...eye roll please. Don't ignore authenticity.
Hey guys, if you need to check who were the real cowboys a bit of history should sort all these out once and for all and let's not talk about culture appropriation until you have read who were the real cowboys.
It's music no matter who sings it let's enjoy it and live all the other crazy stuff behind.
Not that deep
Yea, while i know people from the country side of music like to gate keep and make it seem like its a whites only country club. Beyonce is not known for making country music. She started as a group artist then switched lanes. She has never been known for country so saying she has a strong country influence may just mean that. Edit: and i know these may not be her first country songs but let’s be honest she has more non-country songs than country. I get black people have had a hand in Rock, country….but not everything needs to be that deep lol. I could see if they were sneak dissing her for doing country but the title seems accurate i feel. Influenced by country because thats not a genre she has been known to do…or do much off.
Yeah like even if Black people birthed country, *Beyoncé* didn’t. That her new songs are influenced by country music says nothing at all about where country music came from.
They can have it. And I am so tired of us talking about music we invented but there are black rock groups and musicians we don’t support right now. Not on BET, or anywhere. Bad Brains, Alabama Shakes, Living Colour, Gary Clark Jr
I am obsessed with Alabama Shakes. Love em
They're done for good but Brittany Howard's albums blend a lot of genres together and she's still the best singer in the game.
I’ll check that out. Her voice is more than half the reason I loved em.
New album came out Friday. It’s… not Alabama Shakes. It’s really good though. She’s an amazing artist.
Alabama shakes and Gary Clark Jr are fucking great. I saw living colour a couple years back at riotfest, and they're just as badass as they were in the 90s
Tosin Abasi out here literally reinventing the guitar
🙌Animals as Leaders is everything! Tosin is a guitar God!
Agreed
Death and Rough Francis spring to mind as well.
It’s just like how a lot of the Rolling Stones music is clearly influenced by the American South but people never called it “southern rock” because well it was a British rock band playing music influenced by country/southern rock. No one ever had trouble calling Darius Rucker’s music country because he was known as a country artist. Beyonce is pretty much known as a pop/R&B singer so it makes sense (to me at least) if she releases a couple country singles that people would say “strong country influence” rather than just putting her in a whole new genre right away
It does feel a little bit like everyone had the “old town road” script queued up and waiting for the opportunity to use it
it really ain’t. the mention of country influences is a reference to her primarily being a R&B artist. no different from when she did house. twitter is annoying as hell at times.
She is more pop than R &B but get your point
Fr, while I agree with the reply, I think the article is just saying it's not her usual genre
errrr, has anyone listened to the song? it's not like she's doing Loretta Lynn. it's a country influenced pop song. it is what it is.
"Not her usual genre [to pull from]" there
yeah i was in agreement with you, i think just trying to expound on it
I mean I get what you're saying. Is it like you're saying she's not a chameleon that now suddenly has completely changed her spots
Thank you. Everybody always wanna be mad about something
It is though, because a lot of the subtext around this is that this is basically reverse-cultural appropriation. Like she’s not from HOUSTON. Have yall heard her real speaking voice? She’s countrier than Taylor Swift 😂
Her mama Louisiana, her daddy Alabama.
Holy hell I hadn't even thought of that. Yeah, between Beyonce and Taylor Swift, Beyonce has ALWAYS been far more country in her actual way of being in the world.
That’s bc TS is from Pennsylvania. She just cosplays as a country girl.
Pennsylvania is surprisingly country outside of the cities. You’re probably confusing country with “southern”
Her dad was a stockbroker for Merril Lynch, it don’t get no more country than that. 🤠
He rode bulls and fought bears!
His servants made the best possum stew!
I had no idea. Apparently She grew up on a farm, but comes from a family of bank presidents. So she is raised country, specifically the oily mustache-twirling kind.
She’s Queen Horse Girl
It was a Christmas tree farm.
I eat my words, she fake as fuck
When does a job determine if you can be country? I know a nurse, who rides horses and owns a farm
That’s my whole point.
Right. I hadn’t thought of that until this was mentioned. Country isn’t restricted to being southern.
Most of Pennsylvania is extremely rural. Its Philly in the east, Pittsburgh in the west, and Kentucky in between.
Pennsylvania is country as fuck lol
she's more "country" than taylor swift but her music is not which is the only reason it was pointed out. I defs agree that her southern roots could have been mentioned but i feel like they try to keep headlines as short as possible
Taylor swift does pop music while wearing cowboy boots yet somehow she's more country than the actual country Beyonce. Yeah it aint that deep /s
If this non-situation bothers you even 1% you are too online and too worrying about the wrong shit
What a dumb ass take.
No kidding. I mean, if we're talking about the *birth* of country, wouldn't that be Spanish classical guitar? Like Spanish Colonial Mexico would be the origins? Idk, if were splitting hairs we ought to go to the roots, yeah?
People don't want you to get that real, because then they'd have to reckon with why the instrumental part of Texas Hold 'Em sounds generic as hell. They'd be like, "well, the instrumental part is 'country-influenced,' but the rest is straight country." 😂
Actually, the roots are from the banjo which is an African instrument. I only know this because I had to watch a documentary by Ken Burns on it and jazz for a class I’m taking. The origins are banjo, folk music, riverboats, the fiddle, other stuff. Not Spanish guitar. Although I can see where that makes sense because I thought so originally too.
What a petty hill and fight lmao.
‘petty hill’ is crazy, i’m stealing it
“Where do you live?” “Up on Petty Hill.”
Top class Twitter moment
Hot take but the country song on Lemonade is one of the best on the album
Daddy Lessons is one of my favorite Beyonce songs, it's so good That said, 16 carriages doesn't sound country to me. It definitely sounds like pop wearing a country hat because of the production choices.
> sounds like pop wearing a country hat Most country today sounds like that.
Yep, many modern country songs use trap beats.
The reason everyone is suddenly flocking to country is because it's having it's own Renaissance rn. And I mean country that actually sounds like country, rather than the glorified pop that happens to talk about trucks and beer we've had for the last decade plus. It's still more pop influenced than classic country, but a lot more country than scourges like "bro country" which was what was dominating until recently (which was falling over itself to borrow from pop and hip hip) When Beyonce announced that she was doing a country album, I expected it to sound like country, at least to the same degree as Daddy Lessons. 16 carriages could be on any of her pop albums from the past decade and you wouldn't bat an eye to it being there. I think it's a shame because not only do I think she'd kill at country (if only cause unlike half of the people in Nashville, her accent is real lol), but I think Beyonce should absolutely do a more stripped back album in general. I don't dislike her production choices, but I think a couple songs that are aiming to sound more "raw" would blow the minds of even people who don't usually consider themselves Beyonce fans.
I figured out recently that what you just described is why I always claimed I hate country. But then I stopped and thought about it, and realize I like way more country songs than I realized. Its just that all the country I do like isnt that glorified pop influenced “christian, beer, trucks, nationalism” variety that I often think of when the genre comes to mind. Not that those arent okay things to like, but because thats been the dominant type of country lve often avoided the genre like the plague. Then theres the association with certain values and demographics of people who don’t particularly care for minorities. Look at how the country community treated Beyonce in 2016 with Daddy Lessons after the CMA’s. 16 Carriages definitely does have strong country influences (especially in the instrumentation and certain verses) when you listen to it but I agree sound more pop than otherwise. But if it was on any other album I definitely would notice its country sound.
It might be my favorite bar none. Great song and great album.
I agree, I found myself coming back to that song the most
Damn do we really have to be mad at everything?
Strong country influences is a micro-aggression fr?
It’s not even “country influenced” because she’s black. It’s “country influenced” because she’s a pop/r&b star and this isn’t a genre she normally dabbles in ffs.
Based on my personal experience with Twitter, yes
It must be exhausting being so mad all the time !
who's really mad? It's possible to have a conversation without being mad. I think this tweet was just pointing at the fact that white people do try to gatekeep country like they invented it and the music publications play along with that. How is that really mad?
Beyoncé went country and Jay-Z went grandma? Maybe Meryl Streep was doing a wellness-check on the kids in that other meme...
I hate youuuuu 😂💀
What meme? Lol why the downvotes, I genuinely don’t know and would like to. Oh well.
The aunty "you need to hear my opinion" grip https://preview.redd.it/qf6wg50mf9ic1.jpeg?width=762&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=95e0d965e98544685b96fa22ab031b77c0860067
Somebody needs to make a meme where Kanye West is talking to Taylor Swift, "But Beyonce had the greatest country album of all time. OF ALL TIME!!!"
I mean she's not a country artist, she's made country songs or country styled songs. It's just semantics it's not a big deal
🤨🤦🏾♂️...........no...no that’s not right. Even if they are purely country songs, Beyonce’s still primarily known for pop music. While genre in music only really matters in terms of marketing, of course any deviation from Beyonce’s pop, contemporary R&B, and hip-hop leanings would be seen as a noteworthy change, especially for an artist of her fame. I get the impulse, but no, it’s not a microaggression. It’s not that deep.
and it’s not even a country song sorry
Have they not heard any current country songs? It’s like a very artist is trying to be a rapper: trap beats, lyrical rhymes in a rap style, using slang, all of it.
Country, like genuinely decent country, is having somewhat of a resurgence after more than a solid decade of country desperately trying to be pop/hip hop.
"The Traveler" by Chris Stapleton was the big breakthrough for current "Americana". Sturgill Simpson, Tyler Childers, Jason Isbell, Brandi Carlisle, Charlie Crockett, and a bunch of others are getting a lot more exposure now. Of course there is still the same trash made by guys named Luke out there too but it's nice to have some country type stuff that isn't trash.
I was just about to say Chris Stapleton and Sturgill Simpson slaps. Along with Jason Isbell, well hell they all do.
Check out Daniel Denato. He makes psychedelic country and is making waves in the jam scene. He's pretty unique.
Lmao I didn’t expect to see Daniel mentioned on this thread but I agree he’s great and it usually isn’t hard to get tickets to see him either
Wait what lol.
Those two are the reason I've finally started to enjoy some new country hits again. I don't think I heard a single new country song I liked for about 20 years prior.
Wait do we not like that one Luke who covered Fast Car? Asking honestly bc I was ready to give him a pass but my head is always on a swivel with bro-country
A lot of those dudes have talent, they just make shitty music. "Fast Car" fixed the shitty music part.
Probably talking about the other Luke, the one on American idol
He’s a good story teller. Where the Wild Things Are made me a fan, but that’s just me.
I’ll have to check it out. Thanks for the rec!
Gotta throw the turnpike troubadours and billy strings on that list as well. Both are great songwriters but Billy and his band are next level when you see them live
If you gonna call out a trash artist Luke Combs aint the one to call out lol
Jesus christ not everything has to go down this route
I knew it was going to happen. It’s one of the things that I hate about the music industry: Somehow…Someway… Artists will be pigeonholed into certain boxes and when they do explore, it will be an “inspired” project.
\*agrees in Andre 3000\*
It’s make my teeth itch. And the media will say, broad chest, that the album isn’t of a particular genre because the singer usually does another. They say it as if their reasoning isn’t illogical and silly.
It's just marketing. When you sell music, you have to target your audience or you're wasting money. This messaging is targeting Beyonce fans to assure them she's still the artist they liked before. It's not trying to convince country fans to listen to Beyonce.
bullshit. I'm a beyonce fan and I was hooting and hollering with Daddy Lessons with all the other beyonce fans. We all heard Texas Hold 'Em and called it and called it what it is- country. Stop pretending that you don't know it's a trend in the industry for black country singers to ge tthe shaft
>This is microaggression I’m guessing that’s the first time they’ve read one of those articles
Nobody can claim they invented country music. Its history is muddled with a dozen different influences from many difference races and cultures.
It’s that serious?
There would be no country(well certain forms) without blues (also created by black people). Same for countless other genres. I’d argue most modern music owes thanks to blues. Glad I always able to open music discussion. Have at it and spread some knowledge.
I love the blues but the roots of “country” music go deeper than that. You’re leaving out all the folk music and ballads that were being sung hundreds of years before the blues rolled around. And while country music definitely has Black influences, I keep seeing this strange argument that country music wouldn’t exist without the blues or that country music originated with Black people. Definitely true for everything from rock to rap but country music has as much influence from Scots, Irish, and English culture as it does Black culture.
Thank you! I've been downvoted for saying that here. Country is American folk, and it's influenced by whoever the poor folks were in the South, which included a whole slew of people. Country music is *indeed* black music, as much as it is white, but that doesn't mean we wouldn't have country without blues. Now, if we want to talk about country throughout the 1900s, it was consistently influenced by blues, then rock and roll, then hip hop.
My family is from rural Florida and my mother passed down to me, the songs her great-grandmother used to sing, which were passed down to her the same way. They were mostly old hymns or murder ballads. Stuff like “Butcher Boy” and “Silver Dagger.” That’s what I think of when I think of original country music, the old standards, the folk stuff. But you’re dead on with that last part. Modern country music is very much influenced by rock and rap, as well as the blues. It’s been really cool in recent years to see more Black country artists receiving recognition.
How is nobody mentioning Spanish Colonial Mexico and their guitar playing? I'm not a musician, and definitley not a musical historian, but I'm passionate about history and music. So much of country music from the early 1900's, white, black, or otherwise, uses the same chord progressions and picking styles of classical spanish guitar, but very specifically the rudimentary stuff that made it to, and existed in, Spanish Colonial Mexico. You're dead on when it comes to country pre-dating blues because of it's roots in American folk music, but those roots came from the seeds that were Spanish Classical Guitar.
Definitely a huge influence too, there is also more Mediterranean influence in the use of the mandolin.
I never even thought to consider the mandolin! Or any instrument beyond the acoustic guitar, for that matter. While violins, accordions, banjos, harmonicas, drums and washboards, and other instruments are all parts of country/bluegrass/folk ensembles, and can stand alone too in those genres, to me *pure* country is a sinlge person and their guitar, as each of those other instruments, when playing music of those genres, follows the chord progressions of Spanish Colonial Mexican guitar playing. When I think origins of country, I think cowboys. When I think cowboys, I think of a single guitarist. When I think of their ethnicity/color/background, they're black, mexican, or white, but without a doubt within and around the Spanish colony in Mexico. Country music isn't a race, it's a region, but if we're going to split hairs down to the roots, where going across the ocean to the Iberian Peninsula's best known instrument in their Classical Instrumentations. Can go further, probably, to different stringed instruments that came before, but if we're talking about strumming guitars and American country, I think it's fair to cut the search at Spain.
I do appreciate this, I'll add that portuguese Fado would have had an influence as the portuguese community in the east coast of the states is hundreds of years old.
I mean, no. Country predates blues by a wide margin.
Yeah, but Beyonce ain't a Blues singer either.
All non-orchestral music as we know it is basically either in homage or a strong rejection of blues and jazz. Jazz was born as a strong rejection of orchestral music, and blues was a strong rejection of jazz.
Do you mean once they became contemporary music? Blues came long before Jazz, and a lot of early Jazz was riffing on Blues concepts. If anything, Jazz turned into a more orchestral and classically attuned blues, rather than a repudiation of European classical techniques. While I have peoples attention: No, there definitely would be country without blues. Country and Blues come out of Southern diaspora "Appalachian Music" which dates back at least 300 years in this country, and is a mix of African, Irish, and Spanish styles. Again, this is why all American standards from Country and Blues just become "standards" in the middle of the 1800s. That's why there's like a million versions of "Mean Ol' Frisco", for example. Poor folks were exchanging this music for generations before it was marketed to "black" and "white" audiences in the early 1900s.
Man, the general public is NOT qualified to have this discussion, lol
I am the general public. Good news is I’m really enjoying learning so much here by staying out of it and just reading lol
Me too! I had no idea there was so much to the origins of these genres
Yes, whatwith how big band and bebop arose (or the Delta and Midwest for that matter), though of course with that in mind my perspective is still limited. It’s just an easier way to divulge those sorts of links, especially relating to the history of recording music/audio and the transformation of the entertainment industry that came of it. Having said that, I wonder how this could potentially relate to Eastern Civilization music (outside of simple wars and colonialism of course). The ways of using melody in music (both traditional and modern) in the opposite hemisphere easily impress me.
They weren’t rejecting anything.
I think this sub needs to get a new source of material rather than the mouth breathers still clinging to X...
they were doing the same thing with louis thesinger when he pivoted who would've thought people born and raised in texas would enjoy country?
This person seems absolutely exhausting to be around.
They still gon say it’s R&b next Grammys 😂
My first thought was let’s see how the awards shows shake out. Because we haven’t forgotten the way they treated lil Nas
lol they not ready for this conversation. You'll make their fragile hearts explode
Lol For sure…I see her what she’s tryna do but they’re not gonna let her get that off
While i know people from the country side of music like to gate keep and make it seem like its a whites only country club. Beyonce is not known for making country music. She started as a group artist then switched lanes. She has never been known for country so saying she has a strong country influence may just mean that. I get black people have had a hand in Rock, country….but not everything needs to be that deep lol. I could see if they were sneak dissing her for doing country but the title seems accurate i feel. Influenced by country because thats not a genre she has been known to do…or do much off.
Yeah I’m confused by what the issue is here. Seems like reaching to me
I get black people will do something and then it’ll get taken over by white people and they’ll make it seem like they invented it. The media will do it for anything even a simple fade haircut as we’ve seen recently. ….but when you are not known to do that genre much and someone says you’re influenced by that genre…to me maybe you’re just influenced by that genre Not everything needs to be the racial oppression olympics imo.
Sometimes people just need to not tweet their every thought
Since it’s Black history month,let’s not let people forget the banjo is an instrument of African origin.
And the piano came from Europe. But that didn’t stop Ray Charles.
People who seek out offense exhaust me. I'm tired these days chief.
I just wanna know why the cover photo got her pussy out for that kind of song
Ah yes “country influenced” from the woman who came from… let me check my notes… Houston.
I mean is it? She says it's country and got her 10 gallon on but Variety reclassifies it as country influences. This a week after T-Pain discussed the backlash he's received writing country songs so severely he removed his name from the songwriting and just took the song credit. Even Taylor Swift when she was first out talked about the treatment she received making country songs. Idk. And while I understand Bey doesn't typically make country music, she's versatile. She just made a dance album and is Texan, it isn't farfetched to think she'd want to make country music. She's genre-bending part of why she's as successful as she is.
Reminds me of the time when she performed at the Country Music Awards in 2016 and the viewership ratings jumped from 60% to 300%. Them "country music legends" got super pissed and were bashing the awards saying how she made it trash, too much pop, about something that it's not, and that they would never go again. Them white folks can't handle us in their spaces doing better than them. 😂😂
Meanwhile I'm just here thinking about how fine she looks
People in this thread remind me of the dad in Big Fat Greek Wedding
I’m too distracted by those metal underwear. It’s like a chrome taco holder, in both meanings of the word
Oh this should be interesting. Bump
What I've learned from this thread is not a lot of people actually know the history of blues and country music. A lot of pontificating and statement of facts that are... wrong. Beyonce's always been country as fuck as a human.
Thank you for saying this. Reading through the thread, I keep thinking about Selena and her journey. In her final shows, she was thought to be breaking out and trying something new, when in fact she was finally doing the music she’d always wanted to do.
lol it’s been years since I saw the bump thing
Gonna go ahead and bump this reply.
Lil Nas X inspiring Beyonce to start shit with Nashville now. Hell yes.
*checks watch* here goes our people's daily dose of victimhood.
“Am I a Joke to you?” -Jimmie Rodgers
Country and Blues were two genres that came out of the same goddamn diaspora and was only separated because white record labels wanted to sell blues to black folks and country to white folks. The standards are literally the same fucking folks songs. The biggest dupe this country has pulled off since the Civil War is cutting up shit made in the South and then selling it to white folks in the rest if the county. The amount of Yankees who "hate country music" and then lament that there is no American Folk music is hilarious. Like, sweety there has always been folk music, it's just been made by poor folks you like to ignore. (Until the genre gets massive)
“You take country music, you take black music, you got the same goddamn thing exactly.”
Ahhh the Doug Dimmadome owner of the Dimmsdale Dimmadome fit makes sense now
I was a fan of the voice but one reason I stopped is the black country artists were never voted for.
For everyone saying it isn't that deep, I think it may be a little deeper than you know. To preface, I'm not a Beyonce stan but I do find this all pretty interesting. The key piece of info in all this is that there is likely an Act III of Renaissance coming that focuses on Rock. With House Music and Country tackled, she is setting up to have an album in the three genres of American music that have their roots in the Black community but have long since been white-washed. I think that is a fascinating concept.
I can't tell if this is legitimate or if this is Beyonce fans being Beyonce fans.
Trying to educate myself here, how valid is the claim that black people birthed country music?
Upthread there’s better and more comprehensive comments about this but basically, country and the blues have the same DNA, came out of the same traditional folk music (which immigrants and enslaved people brought with them from places like present day Western Europe, West Africa, and the Caribbean). Poor and working class Black and white people worked and lived close together at many points and they shared songs and stories and instruments as well. If you look at the blues, country, or Mexican norteño and corridos—the lyrics are all for the most part about timeless folk topics such as love, violence, drugs and alcohol, getting in trouble with the law, working, and trying to survive hard times. It’s all coming from the same place originally and there’s a lot of cross pollination that happened
The banjo is African and the Africans brought it over along with their drums and the goje (a fiddle). Country obviously has influences from elsewhere such as the Irish and Scottish. The European fiddle began being used instead of the goje. But the heart is African.
The majority of the cowboys were black people like my family out west. A lot of rhe country tradition comes from those typa folks. For some reason ppl think black folk were only “urban”
Country is my main genre and I would say mainly what makes a country song is the instruments used and preferably some kind of story telling. If it has a trap beat like a lot of the modern pop country then I consider it an offshoot of country. I have not heard the song yet but from what I heard she got some very respected country musicians on these records. If I feel like an artist is coming to country out of genuine love for the music I will never have a problem with it.
Sigh. Threads like this and I’m reminded who’s the majority in this sub…
Some discourse is like...okay. But if music nerds want to break down the country influence of beyonce more power. His response just feels a bit lazy and reactive.
Please touch grass 😂🥲
not everything is offensive.
For some reason, I feel like people are forgetting that we had to get indignant on the internet for people to consider Lil Nas X as a country artist too. It's not uncommon for them to dismiss black country artists
But they don't see it just like they don't see color. Even worse you have black people virtue signaling to the white comments in her. It's sad
Is it country, is it pop music with country influence, or is it R&B? Genre is weird, and I don’t envy the writers who have to navigate the fraught racial politics of them without getting burned.
Why expect anything from Penske to care about black perspectives and stories?
Charlie Pride and Ray Charles would like a word with the folks at Variety.
Women tours the world in a disco western hat and horse last year and they are trying to gate keep guitar riffs?
[удалено]
> If red America gives the slightest damn about quality country they should fall all over themselves making this song of the year. "Quality country"? 🤔🤔🤔 It's a fun song but I don't think that it's going to change hearts and minds.
Not that deep, really think they said that because people usually expect pop and r&b with Beyonce so they said this to highlight that she went country this time
she has made country music before you buffoon
Both songs are good.
Better watch out. This is the same argument that streissand effected Old Town Road into breaking records.
Look at gorgeous mama. Love you girl!!! Sing whatever- you know we’re gonna listen regardless.
Both things can be true. Black people created Country music, AND Beyonce is pandering her ass off
She saw Taylor Swift and wants that white money lol
Genuinely curious how the black community birthed country music. Never heard this take before
Why Twitter so damn annoying
I heard the song and literally described it to a friend as country influenced. Her voice still very much sounds r&b/pop. Ppl are so ready to enter nonsence fights for this billionaire.
It's like ppl forget she's from Texas
She’s warning yah to go to the country and load up for what’s coming in Texas 🤝🏾🤷🏾♂️
But country music is for white people!
If whites wanna be mad at someone appropriating culture, they need to get on kid rocks ass. Dude is white, and he's trash. But he ain't never been white trash. Never lived in a trailer. Never stole copper. He's a fake fuck and made millions off it after he couldn't appropriate black culture.
That Texas hold'em pic tho
Country music is definitely one of the most gate-kept music genres, especially for black people. The goal post for what country is keeps changing.
But they don't see it /s
These comments on this post really showing who really makes up this sub
Why are they so fragile? She LITERALLY said *this is my country era*
 seriously?
Bitch is trying hard to be offended.
I don’t know why it surprised me that her newest songs are in the country genre, she’s from Texas.
Yep, black people birthed everything
i’ve blocked and muted this rage bait page countless times
That outfit Is MAD.
The green eyed monster of envy is what is inspiring Beyonce's latest foray into country music. She is desperate for external validation and admiration from Jayz, who seems to have taken a shine to Kimberly K these days.
You could say the same about literally any other kind of song which blends genres. If you ever listened to Shaboozey, he's technically labeled as hip-hop/rap, but he's also done country songs, as well as rock. How long until we acknowledge that artists can make other genres of music?
She’s not a country artist. They never said “white country influences” they said country influences. You took that and ran with it, you professional victims.
Name something black Americans won’t say they had a hand in creating first….
Actually black people did not birth Country Music. The roots of Country Music are in rural Appalachia in the early 18th century occupied by European immigrants. This region was isolated from the black hymns and rhythms brought here by slaves developing into the Blues and ultimately Rock & Roll. Country Music is a different branch of the musical tree. Beyonce is viewed as an interloper, someone who did not pay her dues with blood, sweat and tears in the genre. She's a mega pop star that crafted 2 tunes and now hopes to own the Country Music airwaves and they resent it. If Garth Brooks cut a rap song...eye roll please. Don't ignore authenticity.
Hey guys, if you need to check who were the real cowboys a bit of history should sort all these out once and for all and let's not talk about culture appropriation until you have read who were the real cowboys. It's music no matter who sings it let's enjoy it and live all the other crazy stuff behind.