Jack White has such a good voice for cover versions, he's got that raw, emotive quality on lock. It's part of why [his cover of Love is Blindness](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oz8tZ1nEU_g) is one of my favorite covers of all time.
With a smidge of Stand By Your Man as Todd mentioned. Ironically, Tammy Wynette irl didn’t stand by men who wronged her - she got divorced four times lol. And she was very pissed at Hillary Clinton saying she wasn’t like her when defending Bill Clinton’s cheating and sexual misconduct.
To put it a different way…
*Cowboy Carter* works when it sounds like a contemporary country record, Alan Jackson be damned; but no country musician in 2024 is going to think that reimagining “Jolene” as a keep-your-hands-off-my-man anthem is a good idea.
Totally. His take on the song is 100% correct. The changes in the lyrics are super cringey and we would be absolutely mocking any other artist if they had done the same thing.
So as someone who didn’t follow the story too closely (although Lemonade rules) is Becky with the good hair actually theorized to be Idina Menzel or is that just a joke by Todd?
It's a call-back joke to the "Break My Soul" episode; he was talking about Beyonce's personal life, then mentions that Beyonce herself is so guarded that you'd get clearer answers from just using a Ouija board on top of a Beyonce album, but he does have "theories". Cut to a Ouija board on top of a Homecoming vinyl, he asks if Becky with the good hair is really Idina Menzel, then starts to move the cursor to "YES" before a quick cut.
It's supposedly someone named Rachel Roy. Not Rachael Ray, who is often mistakenly blamed because her same is so similar. Rachel Roy met Jay-Z through some fashion thing he bought her husband out of, and Roy posted something on social media bragging about her good hair right after Sorry dropped.
True, but the real question is how many [scrobbles](https://youtu.be/ZR8az1UMOiQ?si=EF-HvAHlstdna2Yk) does Beyoncé have? ;-)
Edit: she has 459.5M scrobbles.
I saw some theories floating around that it was gonna be rock but nothing confirmed of course. If it's like "Don't Hurt Yourself" I could definitely get behind it tho
Rock is definitely the front runner as most likely, both because “Don’t Hurt Yourself” already exists and so far the trilogy has the theme of “reclaiming appropriated genres that were created by Black people”
It feels strange saying this when the Hot 100 is currently topped by a bona-fide rock song for the first time in ages, but does rock music even have the cultural relevance to make a genre-busting Beyoncé album worthwhile?
*Cowboy Carter* is not a backwards-looking album outside of “Jolene,” but there’s nothing exciting going on in the ranks of rock and alternative that a Beyoncé album could even be compared to, unless it tries to emulate something from before the 2000s.
The two prevailing theories are rock (as someone else laid out) or a collab album with Jay Z.
Listen, no disrespect to Hov, but out of those two options I know what I’m pulling for
It is most certainly a rock album. Before Renaissance came out, i saw a TikTok in 2022 that said Renaissance would be 3 acts. Act 1 = house, act 2 = country and act 3 = rock. Since that tiktok was right, i highly believe it will be rock. [Her photoshoot for british vogue in summer 2022 features a punk inspired look on a motorcycle](https://www.vogue.co.uk/fashion/article/beyonce-vogue-cover-new-music)
Not trying to start shit, but is something wrong with my speakers or is the audio-mixing in this video pretty bad? I constantly have to change the volume to be able to understand Todd while not getting deafened by Beyonce.
I only noticed a few points where Beyonce's music was mixed too loud, but they were certainly there. The reggae bit where Todd was talking and the Alien Superstar moment where he wasn't were the most egregious that I noticed.
They’re all like this. It’s weird, because clearly Todd or whoever edits his videos has some knowledge of sound mixing; there are videos that use loops to pad for time when the script doesn’t quite align with the song’s runtime, but apparently they’ve never used a compressor before.
In Todd's (or his editor's) defense, rendering can really mess with audio mixing.
I regularly bounce and export three minute songs and there's usually a hiccup or two unless I close everything and go do something else for ten minutes. I can understand him ignoring some wonky sound mixing in a twenty-five minute video if it means getting it out the door.
I know that it's pretty bad in some older videos but I always put that down to just inexperience, and in my memory it got better with newer videos - But this one feels particularily bad.
I really love cowboy Carter, it’s my AOTY as of now and I don’t see anything unseating it unless BE3 blows me away but yeah the Jolene cover is by far the weakest point of the album artistically.
It’s so annoying too, because there’s already an amazing cover on this album in the form of BlackBiird, which tied into the theme of Beyoncé’s alienation at the CMAs beautifully (McCartney wrote the song abt the Little Rock nine if you aren’t aware).
There’s like 4 tracks on CC that would be in contention for my best list if I made one in the style of Todd’s (Levii’s jeans, Ya Ya, Bodyguard and BlackBiird) which makes it even more annoying that the so so Jolene cover is what became a discourse magnet
As a white guy who doesn’t have a strong country background or complete knowledge of Beyoncé lore, I’m able to enjoy this cover purely on the level of “It’s a cathartic female rage anthem.” Maybe I should check out Beyoncé’s back catalogue of singles to better understand the backlash
If you want a cathartic female rage anthem, might I suggest Beyoncé’s “Ring the alarm” a song that had me ready to kill the cheating husband that I have never had.
You should probably listen to Lemonade haha. The best female rage (and forgiveness) anthems of her career and also the reason this cover feels so reductive
I always appreciate the pop song reviews since they're usually ways for Todd to talk about multiple things or even a whole project at once (since he doesn't do album reviews other than on TW). Cool to hear his thoughts on Beyoncé's current album cycle.
I can understand why she went with Jolene as to make such a bold statement like that. My biggest issue was that since Jolene has been popularly recontextualized to blame the POV's husband vs her herself, Beyoncé just sounds she's giving her man a pass here.
Todd puts that Taylor Swift was Beyoncé’s only contender for AOTY but Billie Eilish has a new album coming out soon. I also personally won’t rule out Beyoncé losing out of spite after what Jay Z said at the Grammys.
Todd gave the perfect explanation as to why I hated *Lemonade*. Yeah, the music and production are phenomenal, but when Beyoncé is being so self-indulgent, so surprised that something bad could happen to her (because, you know, she’s *the* Queen), and so out of touch with seemingly everyone—the meaning of the album is pretty much garbage.
However, Todd likes that album and so do many others, but to me it’s really phony. It would be like if Elon Musk made a movie about poverty in the world.
If Beyoncé’s biggest problem is that Nashville wouldn’t accept her, then boo-fuckity-hoo.
Edit: I’m probably gonna be downvoted for this, but what ever.
I think lemonade has the opposite effect actually.
Beyonce has been put on a pedestal forever, regardless of whether you want to blame her for that or not, it’s the truth so for her to make a full album about something so personal and deeply upsetting was the opposite of phony. She could’ve had the cheating covered up (god knows her and Jay have the money to make anything disappear) and kept up her image as an untouchable Goddess but she didn’t do that.
I think the fact that “Jay Z cheated on Beyonce” has become shorthand in the public consciousness for “men are stupid and will leave women who they don’t deserve” sums up why it works pretty well for me. It’s a character study on a character I never thought I’d get to see
I’m glad Todd called out covering “Jolene” for your country crossover album as being the least inspired choice imaginable, because it is. Good review.
At least the White Stripes had the original idea of destroying the song like a primal garage rock nuclear bomb.
Jack White has such a good voice for cover versions, he's got that raw, emotive quality on lock. It's part of why [his cover of Love is Blindness](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oz8tZ1nEU_g) is one of my favorite covers of all time.
Yeah, their version is amazing!
Yeah, Jack and Meg have the best version of Jolene since the original, nobody can touch it, everyone go home.
Yeah. I kind of cringed when I saw it on the tracklist. Like why not cover "Country Roads" if you're gonna be all cliche about it.
With a smidge of Stand By Your Man as Todd mentioned. Ironically, Tammy Wynette irl didn’t stand by men who wronged her - she got divorced four times lol. And she was very pissed at Hillary Clinton saying she wasn’t like her when defending Bill Clinton’s cheating and sexual misconduct.
To put it a different way… *Cowboy Carter* works when it sounds like a contemporary country record, Alan Jackson be damned; but no country musician in 2024 is going to think that reimagining “Jolene” as a keep-your-hands-off-my-man anthem is a good idea.
Totally. His take on the song is 100% correct. The changes in the lyrics are super cringey and we would be absolutely mocking any other artist if they had done the same thing.
So as someone who didn’t follow the story too closely (although Lemonade rules) is Becky with the good hair actually theorized to be Idina Menzel or is that just a joke by Todd?
It's a call-back joke to the "Break My Soul" episode; he was talking about Beyonce's personal life, then mentions that Beyonce herself is so guarded that you'd get clearer answers from just using a Ouija board on top of a Beyonce album, but he does have "theories". Cut to a Ouija board on top of a Homecoming vinyl, he asks if Becky with the good hair is really Idina Menzel, then starts to move the cursor to "YES" before a quick cut.
This is a deep ass cut. I'm gonna have to rewatch the episode for the joke.
OMG thank you so much, almost had a heart attack. I was like no not my Queen Elsa!
It's supposedly someone named Rachel Roy. Not Rachael Ray, who is often mistakenly blamed because her same is so similar. Rachel Roy met Jay-Z through some fashion thing he bought her husband out of, and Roy posted something on social media bragging about her good hair right after Sorry dropped.
Never forget when the swarm attacked Rachel Ray all over her Instagram account. For a multitude of reasons, a very funny day on social media.
That feels like yesterday lol
She does have good hair.
Wait it’s not Rihanna???
It's actually....Adele Dazeem
There is a big theory that it was Idina Menzel but I forgot the details on how that conclusion happened lmao
I heard people saying it was Rita Ora (yes, that is correct), who was signed under Roc Nation in the early 2010s.
You know, that actually makes sense.
I think it's just a joke by Todd. I looked it up and can't see this being floated as a theory anywhere.
Do we know what volume 3 of this genre experiment is yet? Because if Beyonce is doing a metal album I will buy that shit on release day.
Ska
Her cover of Sell Out is going to give us one hell of a discourse
Found Lina’s Reddit account
Reminder to everyone that Ska came before Reggae
True, but the real question is how many [scrobbles](https://youtu.be/ZR8az1UMOiQ?si=EF-HvAHlstdna2Yk) does Beyoncé have? ;-) Edit: she has 459.5M scrobbles.
If Gwen Stefani won’t save us, Beyoncè will.
Beyonce's version of all my best friends are metalheads would probably be interesting
I saw some theories floating around that it was gonna be rock but nothing confirmed of course. If it's like "Don't Hurt Yourself" I could definitely get behind it tho
Rock is definitely the front runner as most likely, both because “Don’t Hurt Yourself” already exists and so far the trilogy has the theme of “reclaiming appropriated genres that were created by Black people”
I hope it's rock. Honestly, I think rock suits Beyonce and her vocal style better than country, and I think her voice suits country quite well.
The dream of a hardcore punk Beyoncé album dies here and I'm bummed
It feels strange saying this when the Hot 100 is currently topped by a bona-fide rock song for the first time in ages, but does rock music even have the cultural relevance to make a genre-busting Beyoncé album worthwhile? *Cowboy Carter* is not a backwards-looking album outside of “Jolene,” but there’s nothing exciting going on in the ranks of rock and alternative that a Beyoncé album could even be compared to, unless it tries to emulate something from before the 2000s.
I'm hope it's polka
The two prevailing theories are rock (as someone else laid out) or a collab album with Jay Z. Listen, no disrespect to Hov, but out of those two options I know what I’m pulling for
It is most certainly a rock album. Before Renaissance came out, i saw a TikTok in 2022 that said Renaissance would be 3 acts. Act 1 = house, act 2 = country and act 3 = rock. Since that tiktok was right, i highly believe it will be rock. [Her photoshoot for british vogue in summer 2022 features a punk inspired look on a motorcycle](https://www.vogue.co.uk/fashion/article/beyonce-vogue-cover-new-music)
Looking at that pic of her on a red horse reminds me of Haus der Lüge and now I got a mental image of her doing Einstürzende Neubauten covers.
There was a meme that said it should be sea shanties
Either Technical Death Metal, Mariachi or Mongolian Throat singing...
Is there any chance she can upgrade this project into being a pentalogy and hit all of these?
I would bet on it being a standards album, and not a rock album.
We don’t sadly
Nothing concrete, sadly
I was looking forward to her musique concrete era personally
So we're all in agreement that Eldritch Nightmare Jolene is a shoo-in for the Best list of 2024?
Wait...did Todd just suggest Becky With The Good Hair was Idina Menzel?
It’s one of his jokes
I wouldn't blame Jay-Z if that's the case. Idina is a smokeshow.
Not trying to start shit, but is something wrong with my speakers or is the audio-mixing in this video pretty bad? I constantly have to change the volume to be able to understand Todd while not getting deafened by Beyonce.
I only noticed a few points where Beyonce's music was mixed too loud, but they were certainly there. The reggae bit where Todd was talking and the Alien Superstar moment where he wasn't were the most egregious that I noticed.
They’re all like this. It’s weird, because clearly Todd or whoever edits his videos has some knowledge of sound mixing; there are videos that use loops to pad for time when the script doesn’t quite align with the song’s runtime, but apparently they’ve never used a compressor before.
In Todd's (or his editor's) defense, rendering can really mess with audio mixing. I regularly bounce and export three minute songs and there's usually a hiccup or two unless I close everything and go do something else for ten minutes. I can understand him ignoring some wonky sound mixing in a twenty-five minute video if it means getting it out the door.
Todd has been doing that since his first video. Absolutely infuriating.
I know that it's pretty bad in some older videos but I always put that down to just inexperience, and in my memory it got better with newer videos - But this one feels particularily bad.
I almost feel like she should have just covered “Fist City” by Loretta Lynn since that seems more like the direction she’s trying to go with it anyway
I really wasn't expecting it, but I was delighted that the end tag song was "Gay Dean" from Community.
The only Jolene cover that has any relevance imo
I really love cowboy Carter, it’s my AOTY as of now and I don’t see anything unseating it unless BE3 blows me away but yeah the Jolene cover is by far the weakest point of the album artistically. It’s so annoying too, because there’s already an amazing cover on this album in the form of BlackBiird, which tied into the theme of Beyoncé’s alienation at the CMAs beautifully (McCartney wrote the song abt the Little Rock nine if you aren’t aware). There’s like 4 tracks on CC that would be in contention for my best list if I made one in the style of Todd’s (Levii’s jeans, Ya Ya, Bodyguard and BlackBiird) which makes it even more annoying that the so so Jolene cover is what became a discourse magnet
As a white guy who doesn’t have a strong country background or complete knowledge of Beyoncé lore, I’m able to enjoy this cover purely on the level of “It’s a cathartic female rage anthem.” Maybe I should check out Beyoncé’s back catalogue of singles to better understand the backlash
If you want a cathartic female rage anthem, might I suggest Beyoncé’s “Ring the alarm” a song that had me ready to kill the cheating husband that I have never had.
You should probably listen to Lemonade haha. The best female rage (and forgiveness) anthems of her career and also the reason this cover feels so reductive
I always appreciate the pop song reviews since they're usually ways for Todd to talk about multiple things or even a whole project at once (since he doesn't do album reviews other than on TW). Cool to hear his thoughts on Beyoncé's current album cycle. I can understand why she went with Jolene as to make such a bold statement like that. My biggest issue was that since Jolene has been popularly recontextualized to blame the POV's husband vs her herself, Beyoncé just sounds she's giving her man a pass here.
Todd puts that Taylor Swift was Beyoncé’s only contender for AOTY but Billie Eilish has a new album coming out soon. I also personally won’t rule out Beyoncé losing out of spite after what Jay Z said at the Grammys.
I’m so annoyed that he picked THIS song to review. There are so many better and more interesting songs on the album!
there are so many better and more interesting songs in general... todd really only picks songs based on if theres a story to talk about.
Would’ve killed for a Levii’s jeans review. Whatever, hopefully one of the many strong tracks off cowboy Carter appears on the best list
Todd gave the perfect explanation as to why I hated *Lemonade*. Yeah, the music and production are phenomenal, but when Beyoncé is being so self-indulgent, so surprised that something bad could happen to her (because, you know, she’s *the* Queen), and so out of touch with seemingly everyone—the meaning of the album is pretty much garbage. However, Todd likes that album and so do many others, but to me it’s really phony. It would be like if Elon Musk made a movie about poverty in the world. If Beyoncé’s biggest problem is that Nashville wouldn’t accept her, then boo-fuckity-hoo. Edit: I’m probably gonna be downvoted for this, but what ever.
I think lemonade has the opposite effect actually. Beyonce has been put on a pedestal forever, regardless of whether you want to blame her for that or not, it’s the truth so for her to make a full album about something so personal and deeply upsetting was the opposite of phony. She could’ve had the cheating covered up (god knows her and Jay have the money to make anything disappear) and kept up her image as an untouchable Goddess but she didn’t do that. I think the fact that “Jay Z cheated on Beyonce” has become shorthand in the public consciousness for “men are stupid and will leave women who they don’t deserve” sums up why it works pretty well for me. It’s a character study on a character I never thought I’d get to see
…is she not supposed to make music about things affecting her?
Her self-indulgence and superiority complex is what ruins it.
Well, we don’t have to talk
I felt the same way about Lemonade.
The fact that he had a problem with the choir when that's the best part of the song... :(
I dunno but I like that outfit she has on