Music Review: Beyoncé's epic 'Act ll: Cowboy Carter' defies categorization, redefines American style
“Nothin’ really ends / For things to stay the same they have to change again,” Beyoncé sings on “Act ll: Cowboy Carter,” the opening lines of the opening track, “Ameriican Requim.”
“Them big ideas, yeah, are buried here / Amen.”
In some ways, it is a mission statement for the epic 78-minute, 27-track release — or at the very least, functions like a film's title card to introduce yet another blockbuster album.
In the days leading up to “Cowboy Carter,” the pop superstar said this “ain’t a Country album” but “a ‘Beyoncé’ album” — positioning herself in opposition to country music's rigid power structures and emphasizing her ability to work with the style with her latest genre-defying opus.
A capital-C country album it is
