Beyoncé - act ii COWBOY CARTER (ALBUM OF THE YEAR)

he/him
It's basically from "SPAGHETTI" to "FLAMENCO" but I maybe need more time with everything!

The way I don't disagree. Actually, I love "SPAGHETTI" but it gets me so hype and then I'm thrown into a bunch of ballads (which I also love) when I kind of want to skip to "YA YA" and keep getting my life. It's just a pacing thing for me, personally, but it's not a knock on the songs themselves. I think I just need to be out on the open road and feel the heat on my skin and wind in my hair...
 
He/him
I didn’t think much of II MOST WANTED on the first few listens but then this has basically been me all day today:

I'LL BE YOUR SHOTGUN RIDAAAAA TIL THE DAY I DIIIIIIIEIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

F9X0oZ7WUAAVHLI
so I guess they got me
 
I loveee Alligator Tears and will be her defender, it's her slight '90s alternative rock moment. Just For Fun is a bit of a downer I suppose dd, but I appreciate that "I've gotta get through this" hook (me in a war w/ her webstore support).

II Most Wanted is an easy 10 in my book. I wish I fangirled as hard for Levi's Jeans as some of you. It's a cute 8/10 moment. The run from Blackbird through Texas is arguably the dry part of the album for me, and yet I also think that was intentional in some ways (especially compared to the last third of the tracklist).
 
"FLAMENCO"
Spidey sense alert!

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Just kidding, but you did remind me that I never wrote about that particular track.

When I tell you my heart skipped several beats as I read the title on that image she shared. The song itself goes into interlude territory, but I feel like it packs so much as it pertains to what it is about flamenco Beyoncé might have pulled from for it. And to begin with, there's the palmas (hand claps), which... made me emotional to hear for the first time. They are muted, but they are there, and they are flamenco hand claps! Call me crazy, but her choice of runs and melisma on this one do give me a bit of a flamenco tea as well, albeit sideways. And there's also the scansion and structure of the verses, which are suspiciously familiar to my favorite flamenco sub-genre: fandango. Nothing is right on the nose, and I don't think I would have made half of these connections beyond the hand claps if she hadn't right out named the track "FLAMENCO," but it's such a lovely thought that Beyoncé might have found inspiration in a genre so close to my entire identity. Academia does find historical links between flamenco and country, funny enough.
 
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I loveee Alligator Tears and will be her defender, it's her slight '90s alternative rock moment. Just For Fun is a bit of a downer I suppose dd, but I appreciate that "I've gotta get through this" hook (me in a war w/ her webstore support).

II Most Wanted is an easy 10 in my book. I wish I fangirled as hard for Levi's Jeans as some of you. It's a cute 8/10 moment. The run from Blackbird through Texas is arguably the dry part of the album for me, and yet I also think that was intentional in some ways (especially compared to the last third of the tracklist).
My album starts with “Bodyguard,” though I do love “American Requiem.”
 
Utterly thrilled with this. I somehow couldn’t get as excited as this as I hoped I would be for act ii. Mainly as country typically doesn’t get me going, but I almost started to find Texas Hold Em irritating as a result of its social media dominance.

But this body of work is just delicious, and is once again proof that anything she touches is golden. Bodyguard, Riverdance and Tyrant are immediate favourites, but 16 Carriages and II Most Wanted are pulling up the ranks too.
 

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