Beyoncé - act ii COWBOY CARTER
- Thread starter Overdose
- Start date
Right.
Solenciennes
Staff member
I think to get away with being pretentious, to pull off being grandiose, you need to have an undeniable work ethic. That’s not an accusation that could have ever been levelled at Beyoncé until she told us she made 3 albums in lockdown and has been largely absent for the promotion of this second one, so I think there’s also an undercurrent of resentment that this is material she’s been sitting on for years, she’s not done anything to make it seem special by any standard and yet there’s talk of it potentially winning the long awaited Album of the Year prize. It’s confusing for fans.
It’s Smoke Hour II, Just For Fun and II Most Wanted. Sorry! But they can go.
To clarify I am not saying it's bloated, I listen to it front to back without skipping every time, I am just saying I would understand if someone made that argument vs some of the other contenders this year.
Let's also not ... I did not count interludes so it would never be out of 27.
Let's also not ... I did not count interludes so it would never be out of 27.
So, where is that announcement?
Smoke Hour II is a tiny interlude and Just For Fun and II Most Wanted are 10s!
I'm not against criticism but I would like it to be specific. Because while the criticism has generally been light it's also been pretty noncommittal and generalized. If you're going to criticize the best in the game bring your best as well!
A career highlight mind you.
After re-listening multiple times for BPG ‘24, it feels so important in the grand scheme of things but so did RENAISSANCE (in terms of Grammy's, AOTY). I don't think she'll be taking home the AOTY which is fine but please for the love of fuck, give her Best Country Album. Let those conservatives seethe!
I also would have preferred she sing for either of this as well but Cowboy Carter is still an impressive work of art.
She’s not performing though, is she?
He/Him
For me, Cowboy Carter feels like the first Beyoncé album since Self-Titled (no shade to 4!) that I cannot defend as “No Skips” for at least narrative purpose. Self Titled is a masterwork and her first egregious AOTY snub, changed the game etc. Lemonade is a perfect album in my eyes and you can’t absorb the full story without sandcastles and forward even if I skip them most days on my millionth listen. I will always love Adele for giving me 21 on my first breakup and being honest about lemonade deserving aoty. The Gift remains slept on but it is ultimately a Disney connected soundtrack album so we move on to Renaissance. Her ode to the most innovative and overlooked of her fans, black and queer people, especially those whose lives have been touched by the AIDS/HIV crisis. The sequencing as if you are at Beyoncé’s own club is undeniable, press play and let her guide you through the dance floor. She lost to Harry Styles. Now Cowboy Carter has an inside chance if the white pop girls cut into each others voting blocks and Beyoncé picks up enough from rnb and country to overtake a New Blue Sun from rising BUT does an album that features another unnecessary Jolene cover, a few solid but unnecessary duets (post, Miley, Willie Jones) and a few too many interludes really represent Beyoncé’s most deserving album for the win?
Side note; FLAWLESS*** is such a track!
Artists rarely win for their most deserving albums anyway.