Beyoncé Cowboy Carter: Release date, tracklist, news and theories about the Act II album

28 March 2024, 11:30 | Updated: 28 March 2024, 11:35

Here's everything we know about Beyoncé's highly anticipated new country album Cowboy Carter and whether or not Beyoncé is covering Dolly Parton's 'Jolene'.

She's one of one, she's number one, she's the only one and Beyoncé's Act II is finally happening. It's called Cowboy Carter.

Ever since Beyoncé began referring to Renaissance as "Act I" on her website and social media, fans have been desperate to know what future acts would have in store for us. Beyoncé then confirmed in the Renaissance liner notes that Renaissance is the first act of a "three act project". She teased that the acts were "recorded over three years during the pandemic".

Now, Beyoncé has confirmed that Act II will be country inspired and it is officially out in New Zealand. With that in mind, here's what we know about Cowboy Carter including the release date, title, tracklist, collabs and more.

READ MORE: Is Beyoncé going on tour in 2024? Here's what we know about a Cowboy Carter tour

When does Beyoncé release Cowboy Carter?

On February 11, Beyoncé starred in a Verizon commercial at the Super Bowl. It ended with her saying "Drop the new music". Moments later, Beyoncé released two new singles: 'Texas Hold 'Em' and '16 Carriages'. Both tracks are country songs. Beyoncé then took to Instagram to announce that Act II will be dropping worldwide on March 29th, 2024.

On March 19, Beyoncé unveiled the art alongside a description about the album and how it was inspired by her experience at the Country Music Awards. She explained: "This album has been over five years in the making. It was born out of an experience that I had years ago where I did not feel welcomed…and it was very clear that I wasn’t."

She added: "But, because of that experience, I did a deeper dive into the history of Country music and studied our rich musical archive."

At the end she wrote: "This ain’t a Country album. This is a “Beyoncé” album."

The album is officially out in New Zealand and will drop locally at midnight.

What is Beyoncé's Act II called?

Following weeks of speculation, Beyoncé took to Instagram to announce that Act II is called Cowboy Carter on March 12th. She also added four limited edition pre-orders for Cowboy Carter on vinyl to her official store. The variants come in black, white, red and blue. There are also four CD variants that come with an exclusive bonus track and there's merch.

As for what Cowboy Carter means, it is likely a play on Beyoncé's married surname. However, fans have also pointed out that The Carter Family were widely regarded as the first family of country music and historically took songs from Black people to perform as their own. With Cowboy Carter, Beyoncé is reclaiming country music's legacy.

What is Beyoncé's Cowboy Carter tracklist?

On March 27, Beyoncé unveiled the Cowboy Carter tracklist with some pretty interesting names and 27 titles. Now, that the album is out in New Zealand we know that it contains 20 songs and seven interludes as well as multiple iconic features.

The titles are as follows:

1. American Requiem
2. Blackbiird
3. 16 Carriages
4. Protector
5. My Rose
6. Smoke Hour Willie Nelson
7. Texas Hold 'Em
8. Bodyguard
9. Dolly P
10. Jolene
11. Daughter
12. Spaghettii (feat. Shaboozey)
13. Alligator Tears
14. Smoke Hour II
15. Just for Fun
16. II Most Wanted (feat. Miley Cyrus)
17. Levii's Jeans
18. Flamenco
19. The Linda Martell Show
20. Ya Ya
21. Oh Louisiana
22. Desert Eagle
23. Riverdance
24. II Hands II Heaven
25. Tyrant
26. Sweet Honey Buckin
27. Amen

In her album announcement, Beyoncé teased that the project would feature multiple collaborations. She wrote: "I have a few surprises on the album, and have collaborated with some brilliant artists who I deeply respect. I hope that you can hear my heart and soul, and all the love and passion that I poured into every detail and every sound."

There is also an exclusive bonus track on CD editions of Cowboy Carter.

Has Beyoncé covered 'Jolene' for Cowboy Carter?

A longstanding rumour is that Beyoncé has recorded a cover of Dolly Parton's 'Jolene' for Act II and now we know it's true. Back in 2022, Dolly was a guest on The Daily Show with Trevor Noah and she said that she would love Beyoncé to cover 'Jolene'. She said: "I think she’s fantastic and beautiful, and I love her music."

Dolly added: "I would just love to hear ‘Jolene’ done in a big way, like how Whitney (Houston) did ‘I Will Always Love You,’ just someone that can take my little songs and make them powerhouses. That would be a marvellous day in my life if she ever does do ‘Jolene.’"

In March 2024, Dolly told Tennessee outlet Knox News that a cover may actually be coming. Dolly said: “I think she’s recorded ‘Jolene’ and I think it’s probably gonna be on her country album."

Who did Beyoncé write Cowboy Carter with?

Beyoncé co-wrote 'Texas Hold 'Em' with Brian Bates, Nathan Ferraro, Elizabeth Lowell, Megan Bülow and Raphael Saadiq. Country and roots musician Rhiannon Giddens also plays banjo and viola on the song.

As for '16 Carriages', she co-wrote the song with Atia Boggs, Dave Hamelin and Raphael Saadiq respectively. Steel guitar player Robert Randolph also appears on the song.

Beyoncé's longterm collaborator The Dream ('Single Ladies (Put a Ring On It)', 'Run the World (Girls)', 'Break My Soul') has also hinted that he's part of the album with an Instagram post in which he tagged Nile Rodgers, JAY-Z and Vegas Jones.

In 2022, Sol Was and Leven Kali, who worked on 'Virgo's Groove', were asked by Variety if they're involved in the next two acts of Beyoncé' project and they had quite an interesting response.

Sol said: "Who knows, who knows. We can't say, but we will say they're super fire." Meanwhile, Leven then added: "We can tell you everything is somehow going to keep getting better. Every time I hear some new shit I'm blown away. So like don't even worry about the next two acts." The piece was published in July and Variety later retracted those quotes.

Other than Ryan Tedder, no other names have been mentioned with regards to Act II so far.

We'll let you know as soon as soon as we find out anything more.

Is Beyoncé's Cowboy Carter a country album?

Before Renaissance was released, a source told Variety that it would "feature both dance and country-leaning tracks". Fast forward to the album and the "dance" detail was true but there were no country songs. The source also said that the LP would have songwriting credits from Ryan Tedder but Ryan isn't on Renaissance. Could he be on Act II?

Elsewhere, there was a theory that Beyoncé is going to reclaim genres created by Black artists with each project. Act I reclaims dance, we now know Act II reclaims country and the third could reclaim a completely different genre.

Adding to the country theories, Beyoncé released an IVY Park line in 2021 called Rodeo that was inspired by cowboy aesthetics. She wrote '16 Carriages' in 2019, so she would have have been working on Act II at the time.

Beyoncé herself has said: "This ain’t a Country album. This is a “Beyoncé” album." It's likely that the songs are inspired by country music but Beyoncé has blended them with other genres similar to what she did with Renaissance and dance music.

The wait for Act II has been long but the hive never lost hope. Speaking to Variety in 2022, Nova Wav, who worked on 'Alien Superstar', 'Cuff It' and 'Summer Renaissance', were asked about Act II. They teased: "It’s coming. And it’s good."

In December 2023, fans guessed that Beyoncé's 'My House' hinted that Act II could drop imminently. The song acts as the end credits to the Renaissance concert film. Was it the end credits to the Renaissance era as a whole? In the one off song, Beyoncé sings: "Get the fuck up out my house". Was she literally signing off on the Renaissance era?

The Dream then told The Hollywood Reporter that he and Beyoncé made 'MY HOUSE' back in October 2023 to wrap up Renaissance. He said the intent behind the song was: "How do we wrap Renaissance up in a way without also trying to compete with it or make something that’s light-Renaissance?”

To top it all off, the morning after the 2024 Grammys (Feb 5) Beyoncé removed any references to Renaissance from her Instagram bio and the title: 'Act I: Renaissance' was removed from her website homepage. Beyoncé has now officially replaced the titling with 'Act II' and '3.29'.

Read more Beyoncé news here:

• Beyoncé Renaissance Tour setlist: Every song Beyoncé plays on the Renaissance World Tour
• Beyoncé Renaissance Tour times: What time does Beyoncé take to the stage?
• Beyoncé Renaissance Tour merch: Prices, items, opening times and Club Renaissance gift information
• Beyoncé praised for gender neutral toilets at the Renaissance World Tour

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