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Well, giddy up cowgirls and cowboys: Beyoncé’s country era-inspired album “Cowboy Carter” has officially come into town!

Encompassing 27 songs at nearly an hour and half worth of listening time, Bey’s newly released album spans across genres and styles, delivering good on not just her country roots, but the musical roots of Black folks as a whole. With gospel, funk, blues, folk, pop and even rock influences interspersed throughout—“Cowboy Carter” isn’t just a reclamation of a genre Black artists have notoriously been excluded from. The album is an ode to, and journey through, all the genres we’ve no doubt helped create, shape, and have shined bright in as performers. It’s also a true testament to Bey’s own declaration: “This ain’t a country album. It’s a Beyonce album.”

And in true Yoncé fashion, the project includes a myriad of surprising personal and professional insights, so let’s get into it!

‘Cowboy Carter’ was Supposed to Come Before ‘Renaissance’

In a newly released statement on Friday, Bey revealed that Cowboy Carter was initially slated to be act i in her three-act project instead of “Renaissance.” Explaining her decision to switch the order, Bey said:

“This album took over five years. It’s been really great to have the time and the grace to be able to take my time with it. I was initially going to put ‘Cowboy Carter’ out first, but with the pandemic, there was too much heaviness in the world. We wanted to dance. We deserved to dance. But I had to trust God’s timing.”

She later added:

“The joy of creating music is that there are no rules. The more I see the world evolving the more I felt a deeper connection to purity. With artificial intelligence and digital filters and programming, I wanted to go back to real instruments, and I used very old ones.

I didn’t want some layers of instruments like strings, especially guitars, and organs perfectly in tune. I kept some songs raw and leaned into folk. All the sounds were so organic and human, everyday things like the wind, snaps and even the sound of birds and chickens, the sounds of nature.”

The Features and Contributions Are Even More Iconic

On Thursday, we told you that that the album would feature contributions from folks like Tanner Adell, Willie Jones, Miley Cyrus, Dolly Parton, Willie Nelson, and Post Malone. But that was just the tip of the iceberg.

Additional features include: daughter Rumi Carter; Linda Martell (the first commercially successful Black country artist and the first Black artists to ever play at the Grand Ole Opry in 1970); Shaboozey; Brittney Spencer; Tiera Kennedy; Reyna Roberts; The Beatles.

Contributors include: The-Dream; The Beatles; Stevie Wonder; Nile Rodgers, Pharrell Williams; No I.D.; Raphael Saadiq; Ryan Tedder; Chuck Berry; Jon Batiste; Ryan Beatty; Swizz Beatz; Gary Clark Jr.; Rhiannon Giddens; Khirye Tyler; Derek Dixie; Ink; Dixson; Nova Wav; Mamii; Cam; Tyler Johnson; Dave Hamelin; Jay-Z; and Taylor Swift (surprise, surprise—she’s on background vocals on “Bodyguard”).

“I think people are going to be surprised because I don’t think this music is what everyone expects,” Beyoncé explained. “But it’s the best music I’ve ever made.”

“Becky With the Good Hair” Returns…Kind Of and Gets a Warning

If you’ll remember, the insinuation of Jay-Z’s infidelity was first made public years ago when Bey sang, “you better call Becky with the good hair” on the “Lemonade” album track, “Sorry,” back in 2016.

In the lead-up to Bey’s version of “Jolene,” Dolly Parton does a fitting callback to that moment, saying in an interlude: “You know that hussy with the good hair you sing about? Reminded me of someone I knew back when except she had flaming locks of auburn hair.”

Additionally, in Dolly Parton’s original “Jolene,” Dolly essentially pleads with Jolene to leave her man alone. However, in Bey’s interpretation, there’s no pleading—just a series of warning’s reminding Jolene that she better find somewhere safe to play instead of playing around and trying to meddle in Bey’s marriage.

An example:

Jolene I’m a woman too, the games you play are nothing new. So you don’t want no heat with me, Jolene.

And later: I’m warning you woman find you your own man. Jolene I know I’m a queen, Jolene. I’m still a Creole Banjee bitch from Louisianne (don’t try me.)

‘Cowboy Carter’ Was Inspired by Iconic Westerns and the History of Black Cowboys

Though we already knew this album would have heavy country influences, on Friday, Bey revealed that the album drew inspiration from a handful of western films such as: “Five Fingers For Marseilles,” “Urban Cowboy,” “The Hateful Eight, “Space Cowboys,” “The Harder They Fall” and “Killers of the Flower Moon.”

“Cowboy Carter” was also influenced by Spaghetti westerns, Blaxploitation films, and “the original Black cowboys of the American West.”

Per the statement:

“The word cowboy itself was used in a derogatory way to describe the former slaves as ‘boys,’ who were the most skilled and had the hardest jobs of handling horses and cattle, alike. In destroying the negative connotation, what remains is the strength and resiliency of these men who were the true definition of Western fortitude.”

‘BLACKBIIRD’ Has Hidden Ties to Black History

Remember that mention of The Beatles earlier? Well, the specific song Bey covered “Blackbird” written and performed Paul McCartney with contributions from John Lennon that was released in 1968. But what folks may not know is that that song was inspired by the nine brave Black students from Little Rock, Arkansas (dubbed “The Little Rock Nine”) that were the first to integrate Central High School back in 1957 and the Civil Rights movement in the South as a whole.

With this context in mind, it makes the inclusion of Black country singers like Tanner Adell, Brittney Spencer, Tiera Kennedy, Reyna Roberts—who are all featured on this track alongside Bey—that much more potent. Considering the impetus for this album was heavily inspired by the racist backlash Bey experienced at the CMAs five years ago, “BLACKBIIRD” is equal parts Black Girl Magic and Black History.