Beyoncé adds some special guests to the BeyHive on Cowboy Carter

If you heard the drone of hundreds of buzzing wings this morning, it’s probably members of the BeyHive flying off to New Zealand and Australia where—at least from the perspective of this writer’s desk in New York—it’s already tomorrow. And tomorrow means that Cowboy Carter, Act II of Beyoncé’s three-part project that began with 2022's Renaissance, is officially out in the world. While fans in this timezone still have to wait an excruciating 12 (or so) hours to fully experience the Queen’s dive into country music (set your alarms for midnight, people!), we did get a few teases from our friends down under.

According to Rolling Stone, Beyoncé has officially stepped away from the KNTY 4 News desk for a turn spinning records at KNTRY, a fictional Texas radio station whose broadcast—featuring spoken interstitials from Dolly Parton, Willie Nelson, and Black country pioneer Linda Martell—serves as the frame of the record. But Parton isn’t just featured in this one clip. The Australian release also confirmed that Bey is, indeed, fulfilling her predecessor’s hopes and dreams with a cover of “Jolene” on track 10. In addition to that iconic song, the album also contains yet another cover. As many fans predicted when the official track list was released yesterday, “Blackbiird” is Beyoncé’s take on the classic Beatles White Album track, which Paul McCartney has said was inspired partly by “Black people’s struggle in the southern states” (via KCRW) and the experience of the Little Rock Nine.

In addition to the covers, the album was also revealed to feature vocals from Miley Cyrus on the track “II Most Wanted” as well as Post Malone on “Levii’s Jeans.” Some fans (including Azealia Banks) have already expressed their disappointment that the album includes such big-name white singers instead of creating more space for Black artists to shine, especially after Beyoncé wrote in a lengthy post on Instagram about how unwelcome she felt in country music spaces. There are other Black singers featured on the album, although as of this writing it’s unclear how prominently. “Beverly Hills” singer Shaboozey appears on the song “Spaghettii,” with Tanner Addell and Willie Jones also credited as guests. While not listed as “featured artists,” folk multi-instrumentalist Rhiannon Giddens also contributed to “Texas Hold ‘Em” (viola and guitar), with Justin Schipper, Robert Randolph, and Raphael Saadiq providing instrumentals for “16 Carriages.”

The album, which was “over five years in the making,” spans one hour and 18 minutes over 27 tracks (including interstitials). The full track list is below (via Consequence):