Beyonce’s Newest Country Singles & Act II of Renaissance
During the Super Bowl, she partnered with Verizon on a commercial. The ad played a joke on Beyonce’s ability to ‘break the internet’, meaning to send people on the internet into hysteria. In her ad with Verizon, Beyonce attempts to break the internet, but no matter the shenanigans she pulled, she couldn't break Verizon's connection.
These shenanigans included making a lemonade stand, surprise dropping new music, joining Twitch live streaming platform, creating an artificially intelligent robot of herself named ‘Beyonc-AI’, and even going to and performing in space. The ad ends with Beyonce saying, “Okay, they’re ready, drop the music.”
Following the ad's airing, Beyonce released two singles, “Texas Hold Em'' and “16 Carriages”. She also announced the release date of her second album. Act II of Renaissance is set to release on March 29. This is the second installment in a planned trilogy and will be the artist’s eighth studio album. This album is a follow-up album to Renaissance, which was released in July 2022, for which the artist held a world tour and made a movie about. This album received four Grammys, earning Beyonce the title of the most decorated artist in the award’s history (32 Grammys total).
From the first two songs, her next album will presumably be in the country genre, an ode to Beyonce’s Texan heritage. In Act I of Renaissance, she honored Black queer culture and ballroom. In Act II, it’s possible that she will highlight Black country music. Along with these first two singles, Beyonce has been opting for country looks, including a cowboy hat in her outfit worn to the Grammys and in the artwork for both of her new singles, furthering the speculation.
This wouldn’t be the first time Beyonce’s ventured into the country genre, as she did so in 2016 on her sixth studio album with her song “Daddy’s Lessons”, which she performed at the Country Music Awards in 2016 with the Chicks.
This track shined a light on the bias within the country music industry. Many fans and even the Recording Academy, who decide the considerations for these genres, didn’t believe that the song belonged in the genre. This is a recurrence of some of the challenges Black artists Tina Turner and Ray Charles faced.
Along with her new music, Beyonce is releasing a haircare line called Cécrad on February 20.
Zuri Primos is an Intern for Hope Magazine. She is a student at Dillard University and the Editor-in-chief of the Dillard University student paper, the Courtbouillon.