Beyoncé LPs have come over the past decade to be synonymous with the release of accompanying visual albums; so it was a surprise to fans when visuals didn’t pop up for either 2022’s Renaissance or this year’s Cowboy Carter — but now we know why.
During a recent email exchange with GQ, Bey explained why her last two projects were video-less.
“I thought it was important that during a time where all we see is visuals, that the world can focus on the voice,” she said. “The music is so rich in history and instrumentation. It takes months to digest, research, and understand. The music needed space to breathe on its own.
“Sometimes a visual can be a distraction from the quality of the voice and the music. The years of hard work and detail put into an album that takes over four years! The music is enough. The fans from all over the world became the visual. We all got the visual on tour. We then got more visuals from my film.”
Elsewhere in the interview, Bey shared what she’s been listening to these days.
“I love and respect all of the female singers-songwriters who are out right now.… Raye, Victoria Monét, Sasha Keable, Chloe x Halle, and Reneé Rapp,” she began, before moving on to Hip Hop.
“I love Doechii and GloRilla, and I just heard That Mexican OT, he’s from Houston…. He goes hard!” she continued. “I really like ‘Please Please Please’ by Sabrina Carpenter, and I think that Thee Sacred Souls and Chappell Roan are talented and interesting.”
The superstar admitted that she spends “most of my time” listening to classic r&b.
“[L]ike Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye, and music from artists on the Stax label,” she specified, shouting out the documentary Stax: Soulsville USA.
She also revealed the significance behind the name of her latest album Cowboy Carter — and it goes deeper than just its country sound.
The “Texas Hold ‘Em” hitmaker explained that she wanted the title to be a teachable moment for fans about the often buried history of Black cowboys in America.
“I wanted everyone to take a minute to research on the word cowboy,” she said when asked about her decision to name the album Cowboy Carter instead of Cowgirl Carter. “History is often told by the victors. And American history? It’s been rewritten endlessly.
“Up to a quarter of all cowboys were Black. These men faced a world that refused to see them as equal, yet they were the backbone of the cattle industry. The cowboy is a symbol of strength and aspiration in America. The cowboy was named after slaves who handled the cows.
“The word cowboy comes from those who were called boys, never given the respect they deserved. No one would dare call a Black man handling cows ‘Mister’ or ‘Sir.’”
