Whether you celebrate Christmas or not, tomorrow we’ll all be getting a Beyoncé gift — which, to be fair, is still considered a non-secular experience for some. Queen Bey’s halftime show during the Texans and Ravens game, which is set to stream live on Netflix, is a big deal for several reasons, the most important of which is simply: Beyoncé. (If this were a sports column, we could get into the NFL’s shameless decision to end its long Christmas Day truce with the NBA by using the world’s best living artist as a cheat code, but it’s not, so we won’t.)
But aside from her shows always being an event due to the maximum effort, spectacle, and showmanship she puts into every on-stage experience, tomorrow will be extra special because it will be the first time Beyoncé has taken part in her latest project, an Album of the Year contender, since its release before Nine months. Like a lot renaissancethe first album in this planned trilogy, was not there Cowboy Carter Visuals. Unlike renaissancethere were – at least at the time of writing – no tour and no other live performances. Aside from a couple of great Olympic spots and an Instagram reel here or there, when it comes to Cowboy Carter In this era, we lived only with music.
As she told me (I won’t face the light flex) earlier this year, this is what she wanted. “I thought it was important that during a time when all we see are visuals, the world can focus on sound,” she said in a Feverqueen cover story. “The music is so rich in history and instrumentation. It takes months to absorb, research and understand. The music needed space to breathe on its own. Sometimes the image can be a distraction from the quality of the sound and music. Years of hard work and detail put into an album takes More than four years! Music is enough.”
That’s very true, Ms. Knowles-Carter, although you can’t convince me that you didn’t shoot videos for all 27 songs, complete with appearances from Linda Martell, Dolly Parton and Willie Nelson – just for the love of the game – and store them on a hard drive somewhere for generations. Coming.
However, it will be interesting to finally see these heaters in a new context. This occasion will likely motivate those who may not qualify as a Beyhive to revisit Cowboy Carter Fully for the first time in a while. And when they do, we hope they find a new or deeper appreciation for the many wonderful, quieter, multi-layered and distinctive “album tracks” on this project. “Texas” is the sultry lead single and a contender for Record of the Year, “II Hands II Heaven” is the fan-consensus best song, “Jolene” is the flashy cover, and Miley and Post Malone’s duet get their due share of attention. .
