If you’re Queen B, you don’t spill the tea — you spill the honey.
And that’s exactly what Beyoncé did in an Instagram post revealing the cover of her upcoming country album, “Act II: Cowboy Carter,” due March 29.
Mrs. Carter’s news left the Beyhive buzzing, with many recalling the cold reception the artist appeared to have once received from the country-music community, which inspired her to make her new LP.
“It was born out of an experience that I had years ago where I did not feel welcomed…and it was very clear that I wasn’t,” she wrote in an unusually lengthy post.
And fans are speculating that Beyoncé is referring to the 2016 Country Music Association Awards, when she performed “Daddy Lessons” — a distinctly country ditty off her much-lauded “Lemonade” album — with the Chicks.
Country star Alan Jackson reportedly walked out on the performance in protest, later tweeting #KeepItCountry.
But seven years after that controversial CMAs appearance, Beyoncé has become the first black woman to have a No. 1 country single with “Texas Hold ’Em,” one of two “Cowboy Carter” tracks — the other being “16 Carriages” — that she released last month.
“I feel honored to be the first Black woman with the number one single on the Hot Country Songs chart,” she wrote in her post.
“That would not have happened without the outpouring of support from each and every one of you. My hope is that years from now, the mention of an artist’s race, as it relates to releasing genres of music, will be irrelevant.”
But the experience in question inspired Beyoncé to begin digging into the black roots of country music when she began working on “Cowboy Carter” over five years ago.
“Because of that experience, I did a deeper dive into the history of Country music and studied our rich musical archive,” she wrote.
And her haters in the country music community have only fueled the 42-year-old pop superstar’s creativity.
“The criticisms I faced when I first entered this genre forced me to propel past the limitations that were put on me,” she wrote. “act ii is a result of challenging myself, and taking my time to bend and blend genres together to create this body of work.”
After revealing that she has “a few surprises” on the album — which she describes as “a continuation” of the Act 1 that was 2022’s “Renaissance” — Bey makes it clear that she cannot be contained by any genre.
“This ain’t a Country album. This is a “Beyoncé” album,” she wrote.
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