Music Review: Album of the Year Cowboy Carter

Written by Paxton Towe

With the Grammy’s being over, it’s time to visit one of its most earth-shattering and unexpected winners: Beyonce. With her album Cowboy Carter, Beyonce won her 35th Grammy, a statistic no other artist has even come close to. While some may say that she deserved this award (these people consisting of fanatics or judges with their families at threat), we beg to differ.

Cowboy Carter is Beyonce’s eighth studio album, and it aims to push the boundaries of country music. It debuted at number one on Billboard's Top Country Albums chart, making Beyoncé the first African American woman to achieve this milestone. Most songs combine country lyrics with hip-hop and funk beats, creating a “unique” sound that very few other albums have had. 

However, there is a reason not many artists have done what Cowboy Carter attempts to do. Country music is a genre that follows strict chord progressions and stylistic choices, a characteristic that is put on full display in this album. The hard bass drops, loud drum machines, and smooth synthesizers simply feel out of place throughout the album, especially when Beyonce starts singing with country legends like Willie Nelson or Dolly Parton. Furthermore, many of the lyrics are cliche and frankly unthoughtful. For example, the infamous line “This ain’t Texas, so don’t hold ‘em” is one of the worst extensions of a poker phrase I’ve ever heard.

So, did Cowboy Carter deserve the Grammy? No: no it didn’t. Considering all the revolutionary albums that came out in the same year, such as Charli Xcx’s Brat or Andre 3000’s New Blue Sun, this album should not have even been on the ballad. Additionally, everyone knows that Beyonce really won: if she didn’t, the judges all would’ve mysteriously “disappeared”. This perception makes Beyonce’s win a joke, taking away from her pedigree and prior prestige as an artist.

We Rate it a 1/5