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Beyoncé’s ‘Cowboy Carter’: All 27 Tracks Ranked
Park your Lexus, throw your keys up and dig into Billboard's preliminary ranking and review of Beyoncé's eighth solo studio album.
Although the road to Cowboy Carter began with Queen Bey’s upbringing in Houston, TX and reached an inflection point during the 2016 CMA Awards, the Grammy winner formally kicked off the album campaign during the 2024 Super Bowl with the dual release of “16 Carriages” and “Texas Hold ‘Em.” The former provided a gorgeous preview of the LP’s slower, more introspective moments, while the latter etched its name in the Billboard history books almost immediately. Before Willie gets on the mic: the song flips through different radio channels featuring snippets of Son House’s “Grinnin’ In Your Face,” Sister Rosetta Tharpe’s “Down by the River Side,” Chuck Berry ‘s “Maybellene” and Roy Hamilton ‘s “Don’t Let Go” — all references to the blues and rock influences that will flesh out Cowboy Carter as an exploration of Black Southern American music beyond country. It’s a haunting addition to the lexicon of country murder tunes (think: The Chicks’ “Goodbye Earl” or Carrie Underwood’s “Two Black Cadillacs”) that finds Beyoncé mixing opera — she performs a jaw-dropping rendition of “Caro Mio Ben,” in Italian, no less — with a brooding finger-picked guitar melody.
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