Beyoncé's 'Cowboy Carter' gets love from Vice President Kamala Harris
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Vice President Kamala Harris is known as a fan of hip-hop and R&B and now she's talking up some country music too: On Friday she gave Beyoncé's new genre-defying album, "Cowboy Carter," an enthusiastic thumbs-up.
Two songs from the album, “Texas Hold 'Em” and ‘16 Carriages,’ which were released last month, received glowing reviews and quickly zoomed up music charts.
“I feel honored to be the first Black woman with the number one single on the Hot Country Songs chart,” she wrote in an Instagram post on March 19. “My hope is that years from now, the mention of an artist’s race, as it relates to releasing genres of music, will be irrelevant.”
Five years in the making, the Queen B told her Beyhive that she took her “time to bend and blend genres together to create this body of work.”
Harris, the country’s first female vice president, who is of Indian and Black heritage, was clearly impressed.“Thank you for reminding us to never feel confined to other people's perspective of what our lane is,” she wrote on X. “You have redefined a genre and reclaimed country music’s Black roots. Your music continues to inspire us all.”
Beyoncé explained the origin of the album on her Instagram post: “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.
Fans believe it was a reference to her 2016 appearance at the Country Music Association (CMA) Awards and the country music industry’s reaction to it.
“The criticisms I faced when I first entered this genre forced me to propel past the limitations that were put on me,” she wrote. “This ain’t a Country album. This is a ‘Beyoncé’ album.”
My mother would say: don’t let people tell you who you are — instead, tell them who you are.
It is my hope that every young AA&NHPI leader holds a sense of pride in knowing that you are representing so many people who came before you. pic.twitter.com/dCIESYHPMh— Vice President Kamala Harris (@VP) May 16, 2023
Harris has often quoted her mother echoing a similar sentiment: "My mother would say: don’t let people tell you who you are — instead, tell them who you are."
Swapna Venugopal Ramaswamy is a White House Correspondent for USA TODAY. You can follow her on X @SwapnaVenugopal
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: VP Harris: Beyonce 'reclaimed country music’s Black roots'
