oh my god the rednecks are gonna fucking lose it this is delicious.
They already lost it before the album came out: https://www.forbes.com/sites/maryroeloffs/2024/02/14/beyoncs-new-songs-arent-getting-played-on-country-radio---despite-streaming-success/?sh=19f22d027a1f
No qualms with rich white Detroit Kid Rock doing country but can't have a black woman who grew up in Texas making country songs.
Look, if anything, Beyoncé being as wealthy as she is should make her more qualified for the genre lol
They are going to lose it even more when they watch the new Willie Nelson/Orville Peck video.
Just wait for a white woman to cover it, they'll eat it up then.
About a quarter of cowboys were black. Which makes sense. After the Civil War there were probably a lot of free black men with experience riding and herding cattle, and they'd head west to where the cattle trade was located.
I heard all cowboys were Black. If they were white, they were called "cowhands."
I'd love to see a citation on that because then I'd feel more comfortable repeating it, as it's a pretty good fact if true
It's something I had heard before but didn't see an attribution (though the perjorative "boy" referring to Black men vs "hand" for white men seemed to me to give credence to the idea). The Rancho Los Cerritos Historic Site makes the same claim:
Originally, White cowboys were called cowhands, and African Americans were pejoratively referred to as “cowboys.” African American men being called “boy” regardless of their age stems from slavery and the plantation era in the South. Many southerners moved to the West and westerners would have been familiar with southern racial etiquette. So, it is no surprise that the racial issues prevalent in the North and South were also impacting the American West.
While they do provides sources for that blog post, they don't directly attribute that statement to a particular work. However, this clip from PBS is an interview with Tyree A. Boyd-Pates, curator at the Autry Museum of the American West and he also states that "cowboy" would have referred to a Black cowhand.
Thanks!
just to tack on come context from wikipedia -
“"Cowboy" was first used in print in 1725, and was used in the British Isles from 1820 to 1850 to describe young boys who tended the family or community cows.”
not to say it might have taken on some racial connotations later (or, in fact, if we believe swift’s words literally), but i’m not sure it’s 100%.
I'm happy for her and all, but I feel this would be more impressive if it was anyone Else. Beyonce has a huge following and "The Hive" would help prop her up more than anyone else. Get your bag I guess.
I'll never quite understand the hype to artists like Beyonce. Of course "she" won. She is actually a conglomerate of like 100 song writers, dozens of producers, hundreds of engineers, mixers and editors, backup vocals, etc. It's not like back in the day when an artist got big by their own merit, now it's an over produced and manufactured artist that wins, and yes she's talented, because she's been manufactured to be
Newsflash: with enough money you can buy almost anything in the US.
It’s not like back in the day when an artist got big by their own merit
Sorry, when, exactly, are you talking about? Frank Sinatra didn't write any of his major songs. Elvis Presley literally didn't write anything. Madonna didn't write most of her biggest early hits, though she did get much more involved in writing after the 80s. Plenty of Rhianna's big songs weren't written by her. Mariah Carey, Whitney Houston, and Celine Dion aren't songwriters. Meat Loaf didn't write a single song on 'Bat Out of Hell'.
So, what is this time period where every artist got by solely by their own unassisted talent? Because I could also point to Taylor Swift today, who's been heavily involved in the writing of every song she's ever made. Lady Gaga's writing influence is all over everything she's done. Zoomer superstar Olivia Rodrigo wrote every song on her latest album.
Just looking at some top albums from 2023:
The funny thing is that, compared to most of pop music history, it's actually far more common for artists to be involved in songwriting that it was in the past. Up until relatively recently, singers were mostly seen as just that - singers - and there was no real expectation for them to be writers as well, since the songs would be supplied by the large team assembled by the label.
So again, I ask, what was this golden age where all artists wrote everything they performed, and when did it end?
Mariah Carey IS a songwriter!
For all those people you named that didn't write their own songs, there are hundreds who did. Are you seriously telling me it's not more common now for music to be over produced and for artists to have more money to throw at it?
Did the Beatles have a hundred writers and engineers? The stones? Johnny Cash? The foo fighters? Abba?
But if they were around today they probably would because music today is over produced.
Anyways, I dunno who you're defending, Beyonce? You know she plays concerts for dictators and employs sweatshops right? You know she's a terrible person, don't defend her because you like her music
Whelp, I had a large response typed up that I lost by accidentally swiping back, so I'll just say that if you're going to call Beyonce a terrible person, I probably wouldn't cite rock stars as paragons of morality, or shall we ask Cynthia Lennon how nice John was to her? I hardly need to bring up Michael Jackson. Of course, that has absolutely nothing to do with whether they wrote their songs or not, which is the actual topic, so I'm not sure why you bring that up at all.
Genres have obviously shifted, but if you compare pop musicians of today to the pop musicians of the 70s and 80s, yes, there is absolutely more songwriting today by the artists. Rock is a very different genre with its own traditions and tends to be based around groups rather than solo artists, so it's not a very apt comparison. Not to mention, it's not like rock artists back then weren't shitting on disco groups for this exact reason back in the day. The Village People weren't exactly prolific songwriters.
It almost feels like your real issue is that rock is dead, and sure, that's unfortunate. But luckily for you, rumor has it that Beyonce's next album will be based in rock.
It's not like back in the day when an artist got big by their own merit
Back in what day? Small tribes where there was no collaboration with outside sources before the written word?
This guy's inability to fathom that there exists music outside of Rock is bordering on hilarious. Not to even mention the entire world of music before Rock, which is especially hilarious given him citing musical history. Does he think Nat King Cole or Ella Fitzgerald wrote their own music?
I mean if you're stupid and don't know about the history of say rock and roll, let alone music. Artists in the 60s and 70s like the stones, Beatles, hell even newer people like Nirvana, foo fighters, etc. Write all their songs, most even do their own editing and mixing. The Beatles didn't have a hundred people in the studio writing and mixing while they sipped margaritas and got their nails done.
Dude there are literally documentaries about musicians and the writing process, and they didn't always involve 100 people.
Edit: just want to look at my albums. So many like Metallica, all songs written and composed by the members of the group. Go look at the credits just for song writers in a Beyonce album, there's like two dozen writers
Beyond that, her husband is a billionaire investor (formerly musician, but who are we kidding to still use that descriptor). Even with her success, which can be criticized from both sides enough, that alone precludes her from being one of the "good ones."
How is the album?
My wife has played me some of the songs. The music is fine, if boring, but the lyrics... Amateurish would be the the kindest word I could use. I know pop musicians aren't known for deep meaningful lyricism but Beyonce sounds like a middle schooler that did her poetry assignment the night before it was due. It's honestly atrocious.
Even the covers are kinda bad too, at least to me. Your mileage may vary on those. At least the guitar on Jolene is pretty good.
People like her don't write her own lyrics. She's got a whole team. She doesn't really do anything but show up, she's got actual People who do the rest
Speaking as someone who has actually given the music a fair shake (sorry, other guy), it's actually really good. I wasn't super feeling it on my first listen, but it just keeps growing on me with each new listen lol. You're gonna get a lot of people that hate on it for the same reasons they do hip hop in general, or black women in general, especially because she's moving into the country space, but I wouldn't put too much weight on those opinions. It's a great album (except the Post Malone feature lol). I think DAUGHTER is a standout track if you just want to sample it.
Wow, that's crazy awesome. Good for her!
Not a big deal nowadays. Anyone can do that with hype.
Go for it, I believe in you
The hypes already started! We believe in you OP!
I am the hype!
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