Things are about to get real, as we’re just days away from the March 29 release date of Beyoncé’s new album, Cowboy Carter. In the lead-up, fans have been clamoring for details about the project, and today (March 27), Beyoncé revealed some big ones, unveiling the tracklist.
Erykah Badu is a powerful woman, there’s no denying that, but even someone who’s done as much work on their energy as she has feels the impact of the full moon. In particular, this month’s lunar transit through the sign of Libra, which also coincides with an eclipse, has “The Healer” singer feeling “low vibrational” as she put it during an Instagram Live session. Badu’s announcement comes just days after she went viral for seemingly accusing Beyoncé of copying her with the album artwork for her upcoming COWBOY CARTER project.
“Stomach feels bloated,” she told those watching her stream. “The moon got me feeling guilty, stressed all out. I don’t know why. But I’m up and I’m going. Past few days I’ve been feeling kinda not on my best behaviour, kinda like low vibrational a little bit.” Thankfully, Badu isn’t letting the energetic shifts get her down, as she knows that “it’s all part of the process, it’s all part of the cycle.”
It’s unclear if the 53-year-old’s guilt is related to the comments she made about Queen B, or if it’s a theme arising all throughout her life right now. Regardless, we’re glad Badu has the foresight and intuitive connection to know she’s more than her feelings. She did try to make amends with Bey by asking Jay-Z to intervene and calm down the swarming Beyhive, but the most bitter among them continue to pester the Dallas-born songstress.
Those of you who love Erykah Badu for her music will be happy to know that she’s been back in the studio as of late. She and Rapsody will be collaborating on the latter’s Please Don’t Cry LP, which is due out on May 17. Explore the full tracklist for that at the link below, and check back later for more hip-hop/pop culture news updates.
Beyoncé is one of the most unpredictable active artists. Every image, online caption, and article of clothing the “Texas Hold ‘Em” singer wears is a clue of sorts. The only problem is you never know what to look for until her business venture is announced (e.g., Cécred) or the project drops.
So, the Beyhive is always on high alert. With her forthcoming studio album, Cowboy Carter, expected to hit streaming platforms this Friday, March 29, many believe Beyoncé could be hitting the road yet again. Continue below for further speculation.
Will Beyoncé Go On Tour For ‘Cowboy Carter?’
Between May and October 2023, Beyoncé galavanted around the globe on her Renaissance World Tour. The tour was not only a chance to experience the Grammy Award-winning album live. But an event experience to let attendees and her stellar dancers (including daughter Blue Ivy) cast their worries behind. So, can fans expect an extension of the musical celebration for a Cowboy Carter tour? The answer is maybe.
If history serves as an indication, it is highly likely that Beyoncé will embark on another tour. In the past, she’s had a headlining tour for each of her solo albums (with the expectation of 2011’s 4 and 2019’s The Lion King: The Gift).
However, Beyoncé has never done tours this close together, the closest being 2013’s The Mrs. Carter Show World Tour (which ended in 2014) and 2016’s The Formation World Tour. Beyoncé hasn’t officially announced anything, but that’s no solace for supporters’ wallets. A tour announcement could come right after Cowboy Carter is officially dropped.
For now, just be prepared to saddle up and kick off the yeehaw agenda from the comforts of your home via your favorite streaming platform.
Beyoncé’s ability to break the internet is well-documented. The latest example was the frenzy she caused when she announced her songs “16 Carriages” and “Texas Hold ‘Em” during the 2024 Super Bowl. Now, the singer’s Cowboy Carter album rollout (which included multiple artwork reveals) has users online feverishly looking for clues.
To keep the fan flames burning, a text display of the body of work’s scheduled release date was projected outside of the Guggenheim in New York. However, according to The Hollywood Reporter, the museum denies authorizing the stunt despite its marketing brilliance.
Promotion for Beyoncé’s ‘Cowboy Carter’ outside of the Guggenheim Museum in NYC. pic.twitter.com/8nacfrSPMu
In a statement shared with the outlet, a representative for the facility shut down the artistic collaboration. “[The Guggenheim] was not informed about and did not authorize this activation,” they said. “However, we invite the public — including Beyoncé and her devoted fans — to visit the museum May 16–20 when we present projections by artist Jenny Holzer on the facade of our iconic building to celebrate the opening of her major exhibition.”
With Guggenheim’s dismissal of involvement, it is unclear who was behind the ploy. Was it the singer’s management company, Parkwood? A rouge Beyhive fan? Batman? We guess the world will never know. But what we do know is Cowboy Carter will prance onto streaming platforms on March 29.
Erykah Badu felt the wrath of the Beyhive recently after she suggested that Beyoncé copied her look for the COWBOY CARTER album cover. Moreover, any reader with minimal exposure to social media knows that her fanbase is quite ardent, and they clapped back with staunch defense. In fact, this led the Neo-soul legend to call on Jay-Z to call off these attacks, which was probably in quite the joking manner indicating that it’s not really that serious. After all, taking inspiration and finding common ground as far as style can be its own form of homage, especially between two titans of Black female artistry.
“To Jay-Z. Say something Jay. You gone let this woman and these bees do this to me?? [laughing emoji],” Erykah Badu tweeted recently. What’s more is that Beyonce’s publicist seemed to respond as well, posting a video compilation of her many braided looks over the years. “She slays. She slays. Now. Then. Always. #criticswithoutcredentials,” Yvette Noel-Schure captioned her Instagram post. It’s also worth noting that when Badu made similar claims in the past, the Houston superstar actually responded to them by paying her more tribute and giving her more credit.
As such, it’s clear to see that there is a lot of mutual respect here, even if it’s obscured by what many see as an egotistical assumption. Given her status as one of the biggest musical influences of the past 30 years, Erykah Badu knows very well the ground she paved for others. But it’s very possible for icons like Beyonce to take that fertile ground and grow their own tree from it while recognizing the roots in open ways. Another example of this, albeit a purely musical and collaborative one, is the “On & On” creative’s upcoming appearance on Rapsody’s next album.
Meanwhile, with hype for COWBOY CARTER reaching all-time highs, we’re sure that the Beyhive will continue to stand up for their leader. Hopefully the next crossover exchanges between the fanbase and other artists are more explicitly appreciative and thankful. The last thing the world needs is for division to affect these indelible entertainers. On that note, come back to HNHH for the latest news and updates on Erykah Badu, Beyonce, and Jay-Z.
First and foremost, beef can’t be one-sided, so it’s hard to qualify Badu’s recent social media activity as “beef.” But Badu certainly feels some type of way. First, the four-time Grammy winner responded to Beyoncé’s limited-edition Cowboy Carter artwork on her Instagram Story, writing, “Hmmm.” About as cryptic as it gets.
@erykahbadu
However, people (probably the Beyhive) took it and ran with it over on X (formerly Twitter), leading to Badu posting, “To Jay Z . Say somethin Jay . You gone let this woman and these bees do this to me ??”
To Jay Z . Say somethin Jay . You gone let this woman and these bees do this to me ?? pic.twitter.com/oxNhNgvfWp
Last July, Badu threw similar shade during Beyoncé’s Renaissance World Tour — taking exception with her chrome hat and posting on her Instagram Story, “I guess I’m everybody stylist.”
As if Badu was the first to have this gorgeous style. Joanne McDuffie from Mary Jane Girls did it before Badu. You don’t hear her talking. And she looked GORGEOUS wearing the beads. This is a known Black Girl Stunner look. pic.twitter.com/gBfpUl2EZB
Earlier this week, Beyonce officially unveiled the album cover for her new album. act ii of her RENAISSANCE series is called “COWBOY CARTER” and is due out at the end of the month. The album cover landed with some controversy among Bey’s fans. It prominently displays the American flag, something that plays into the album’s themes of country music and Americana. Bey must have recognized the controversy as she quickly unveiled the deluxe edition cover which fans seemed to like a lot more.
But even that album cover is proving controversial. Erykah Badu reposted the newly shared album cover to her Instagram story with a caption reading “HMMM.” She seems to be suggesting that Beyonce copied her, specifically with her hair which looks quite similar to a look Badu has donned in the past. In the comments though, fans disagree. “It could easily be a tribute to Rick James, Venus and a Serena” one commenter suggests. “Rick James did it first if yall wanna get technical” another agrees. Check out the post Badu made and judge for yourself below.
Beyonce dropped two singles last month to tease towards the album. While “16 CARRIAGES” was met with fan acclaim and performed quite well, that success paled in comparison to the lead single “TEXAS HOLD EM’.” The song hit the number one spot on the Hot 100 and is still inside the top 10 after more than a month. The song has already racked up more than 182 million streams on Spotify.
Earlier this month, Dolly Parton accidentally made a major revelation about the upcoming album. She revealed that there’s a cover of her classic song “Jolene” included somewhere on the record. Whether it’s a straight up cover or just an interpolation is not yet known. What do you think of Erykah Badu’s claim that Beyonce is copying her hair? Do you think Bey was inspired by Badu or by someone else entirely? Let us know in the comment section below.
Sigh. Here we go again. After Beyoncé shared the cover of her upcoming album Cowboy Carter, fans were rightfully fascinated by its symbolism and the events that apparently inspired it. But, of course, there was one commenter who had further thoughts — and didn’t hold back on sharing them.
Azealia Banks, who previously called Beyoncé’s new singles “16 Carriages” and “Texas Hold ‘Em” a “big-time musical grift” (lol, girl, knock it off), went all the way in on the Cowboy Carter cover, deriding it for a lack of creativity. The covers features a beauty-queen Beyoncé sitting side-saddle on a white stallion, clad in a red, white, and blue Nudie suit with a sash bearing the album’s title holding an American flag. Here it is:
Parkwood Entertainment/Columbia Records
Banks declares herself “ashamed at how u switch from baobab trees and black parade to this literal pick-me stuff.” She doesn’t exactly explain what any of that means across no fewer than four Instagram Story slides. Side note: Just those four clock in at a full 900 words — if sis could pitch to an outlet, she could be getting paid to be a hater instead of just doing it for free (however unlikely it’d be that any editor would want to put up with her shenanigans).
There’s a lot to parse here, but it seemingly boils down to Banks’ view that Beyoncé, with all her culture-shifting power, could have yanked the visual aspects of country music closer to an aesthetic like that of her diaspora-dabbling Black Is King imagery. To be clear, Banks called that aesthetic hypocritical at the time, as well. She also picks on Beyoncé (inaccurately) for deigning to collaborate or share her platform with exclusively white artists — which… just, no. No. If you’re going to lie, do it convincingly. You can read the rant in full below.
I’ll take a shot at extracting some meaning from the bloviating above… Azealia Banks is still looking for someone to blame that she tanked her own career with all that mean-girl energy, and enjoys the attention she gets from flaming other artists who are more successful than her. Well, here you go, Azealia. Take it to the bank.
Azealia’s music is infinitely better than any of her cultural commentary and it really irks me that the only time people talk about her now is when she is pretending to be Khia on her IG stories
One thing About Azealia Banks is she will give her critique about another artist’s SUCCESSFUL career, but don’t have one solution for how to get her own career out of the lowest depths of hell… pic.twitter.com/yE8MHf8Glq
Took a nibble of the Azealia rant cause I keep seeing “points were made” on the TL and it’s just her projecting cause she let some crooked men in the industry railroad her career. Not quite what’s happening over here sis!
Beyoncé is less than ten days away from releasing her new country-inspired album titled Cowboy Carter. After revealing the cover art of it yesterday, she has now released an alternate version. Unlike the original where she rocks a sash reading the album’s name, the one in this new photo says “act ii / Beyincé” on it.
Although it might be a blink-and-you-miss-it detail, internet users have been wondering why she changed it to an “i” instead of the “o” in her name.
Here’s why it says that.
Why Does Beyoncé’s Alternate Cowboy Carter Cover Say ‘Beyincé?’
For those who might not have known, Beyoncé was named after her mother Tina Knowles-Lawson‘s real last name.
“A lot of people don’t know that Beyoncé is my last name. It’s my maiden name,” Tina previously told People Magazine. “My name was Celestine Beyoncé, which at that time was not a cool thing to have that weird name. I wanted my name to be Linda Smith because those were the cool names.”
However, Tina’s mother and siblings spelled their last name with an “i” to make it Beyincé because there was an error with the birth certificates. When Beyoncé’s grandmother (aka Tina’s mom) tried to correct Tina’s, she was told she should just be lucky because Black people didn’t previously receive certificates.
“It’s interesting — and it shows you the times — because we asked my mother when I was grown. I was like, ‘Why is my brother’s name spelled B-E-Y-I-N-C-E? You know, it’s all these different spellings,’” Tina added. “And my mom’s reply to me was like, ‘That’s what they put on your birth certificate.’ ”
Check out Beyoncé’s alternate Cowboy Carter cover referencing this below.
We are just days away from Beyoncé‘s highly anticipated eighth album, Cowboy Carter. The album is said to have much country influence, and as we can see, she has been fully embracing her Texas roots this era. In the days leading up to the album, the Beyhive is abuzz, theorizing about the album’s collaborations and sound. Earlier this week, Bey teased some collaborations via Instagram, and even shared what seems to be a snippet from the album via her story. Following this clip, fans believe she may have collaborated with another fellow Texan.
Is Travis Scott Featured On Beyoncé’s Cowboy Carter?
Though the sound she teased sounds more hip-hop-influenced, as opposed to country, it accompanied a pre-order link for Cowboy Carter. So it’s likely the song appears on the album.
Fans recognized what sounded like vocals and hums from Travis Scott, with whom, Bey previously collaborated on the Utopia track, “Delresto.” Though, it hasn’t been officially confirmed if Scott will have a full verse on the song, or simply contributing to the song’s background vocals and production.
Beyoncé teases snippet featuring Travis Scott ahead of “Cowboy Carter” release pic.twitter.com/nPfHipfZZP
After all, Bey is known not to stick to one genre. In her Instagram post revealing the cover, she did, in fact, say “This ain’t a Country album. This is a ‘Beyoncé’ album.”
Cowboy Carter is out 3/29 via Parkwood. Find more information here.
(@BaddieTia) 
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