- By Noor Nanji
- Cultural Correspondent
image source, Good pictures
Beyoncé's highly anticipated new album has been released
Critics and fans alike have praised Beyoncé's new country music album, Cowboy Carter, which was released on Friday.
The American pop star's eighth studio album was given four out of five stars By Guardian critic Alexis PetritisShe said it shows that she is “capable of doing whatever she wants”.
Page Six Critic Nicholas Hatman called it “a much-needed renaissance for country music”.
“She didn't disappoint,” raved one fan on X, formerly known as Twitter.
Another social media user said he thought Beyoncé's voice was “the best it's ever been in her life”.
The album included duets with Miley Cyrus and Post Malone, as well as covers of Dolly Parton's Jolene and The Beatles' song Blackbird.
Also featured are country singers Willie Nelson and Linda Martell.
Many critics welcomed Beyoncé's ability to transcend the country-pop genre.
He added: “These genres overlap so seamlessly that Beyoncé's technical mastery is a testament to her central thesis: Nashville's marginalization of outsiders, and black women in particular, weakens the music in the long run.”
Petritis said the album demonstrated the singer's “ability to bend musical styles to his will”.
But he noted that the 27-track project “could have worked better split into two separate albums”.
Will Hodgkinson of The Times Cowboy also gave Carter a four-star review, praising it as a “smooth and star-studded western epic” with a “sense of fun and adventure”.
But he admitted it was too long, and said he “would have been better off leaving the remaining seven songs for another album”.
Hatman praised the new album as “immediately timeless” and a “soulful celebration of Southern values and the genre's African American roots.”
Many critics also agreed with Beyoncé's own warning, “It's not a country album, it's a Beyoncé album”.
The new album was preceded by two hit singles — Texas Hold 'Em and 16 Garages — that marked the beginning of the Texas-born singer's foray into country music.
Both singles became instant streaming hits, and last month Beyoncé became the first black woman to top Billboard's country music chart with Texas Hold 'Em. He also topped the UK Singles Chart for the first time in almost 14 years.
Beyoncé has said that the album came from her experience of being “unwelcome,” which prompted her to delve deeper into the history of country music.
American singer-songwriter Tanner Adele, who appears on the album, described Cowboy Carter's release as “a very special moment” for black country artists like him.
“I'm not the only one,” he told BBC Radio 5 Live. “There's a lot of us in country music.”
He added: “This is the music my ancestors played and the instruments my ancestors made.”