Beyoncé’snew albumCowboy Carteris finally out in the world, and it features several surprises — one of which is a cover ofThe Beatles' 1968 classic “Blackbird.”
While the superstar doesn’t usually opt for covers, there are two that appear onher 27-track projectwhich was released on Friday, including her take onDolly Parton’s 1974 hit “Jolene.”
However,“Blackbiird,“which appears to be a nod toAct II, holds a special significance to Beyoncé, 42, as she teams up with a quartet of Black country singers:Brittney Spencer,Reyna Roberts, Tanner Adell andTiera Kennedy.
As the singer said herself,Cowboy Carter"ain’t a country album, this is a Beyoncé album,” so it’s not too shocking that the 32-time Grammy winner experiments with genre throughout the project, including putting her own spin on this folk-rock ballad.
Beyoncé; Paul McCartney.BLAIR CALDWELL; Paul Popper/Popperfoto via Getty
BLAIR CALDWELL; Paul Popper/Popperfoto via Getty
McCartney has often discussed how the American civil rights movement and specifically the Little Rock Nine, the nine Black teenagers who, in 1957, faced discrimination after they enrolled in a formerly all-white high school after the ruling ofBrown vs. Board of Education.
“I was sitting around with my acoustic guitar and I’d heard about the civil rights troubles that were happening in the ’60s in Alabama, Mississippi, Little Rock in particular,” hetoldGQin 2018. “I just thought it would be really good if I could write something that if it ever reached any of the people going through those problems, it might give them a little bit of hope. So, I wrote ‘Blackbird.'”
He also clarified that “in England, ‘bird’ is a ‘girl’” so “Blackbird” he used as a metaphor for “Black girl.”
He also had the opportunity to meet two members of the Little Rock Nine, Thelma Mothershed Wair and Elizabeth Eckford, following the performance.
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Beyoncé.Blair Caldwell
Blair Caldwell
“Incredible to meet two of the Little Rock Nine— pioneers of the civil rights movement and inspiration for Blackbird,” the “Hey Jude” artisttweeted at the time.
The team-up of the “Cozy” performer and her collaborators also gives power to Black women in the country genre, which not only has a racist history but continues to be exclusionary to non-white and female artists.
source: people.com
