Beyoncé May Be Transitioning to Country Music

Beyoncé is no stranger to dropping subtle hints about her new music and now fans online think she's transitioning to country.

If her 2024 Grammy outfit on Sunday, which was a white cowboy hat and rodeo-themed suit from Louis Vuitton's Fall-Winter 2024 menswear collection, is anything to go by, a country album may be imminent.

Fans online have delved into the theory. X user (formerly Twitter) @beyzhive posted an in-depth thread to their account offering a variety of reasons as to why they think this could be the singer's next step. At the time of writing, it had received 2.7 million views.

Newsweek contacted Beyoncé's publicist via email Wednesday for comment.

2016

For starters, in September 2016 country singer Thomas Rhett met Beyoncé and Jay-Z backstage at the Made in America festival. In an interview with CMT, Rhett said he was starstruck when he met the couple. They all met again at the Country Music Awards and people online believe that there is a chance that he and Beyoncé will work together.

In November of that same year, Beyoncé made her CMA debut performing Daddy Lessons with The Chicks. The song was recorded for her album, Lemonade (2016), and it was her first Americana-country music record. On the track, she asserted her Black Southern heritage over an acoustic guitar-driven track.

This was the first time The Chicks had performed at the CMAs since they were banished by the country music community for criticizing George W. Bush and the Iraq war in 2003. The performance was met with mixed reactions from some of the conservative audience members and, eventually, all traces of Beyoncé's performance were erased from the CMA's website and social media platforms due to racist comments.

While the song featured all the elements of a modern country track, when Beyoncé submitted it for consideration for a Grammy, the Recording Academy's country music committee rejected it for undisclosed reasons.

2021

Fast forward to 2021, Beyoncé graced the cover of Harper's Bazaar The Icon Issue wearing a cowboy hat. In the interview, she teased the title of her upcoming project, which people didn't know at the time was her Renaissance album, and she talked about the inspiration behind her Ivy Park rodeo collection.

"The inspirations came from the overlooked history of the American black cowboy. Many of them were originally called cowhands, who experienced great discrimination and were often forced to work with the worst, most temperamental horses," she said, elaborating on reclaiming the Black roots of Western history and culture.

"They took their talents and formed the Soul Circuit. Through time, these Black rodeos showcased incredible performers and helped us reclaim our place in Western history and culture."

In one promotional picture, Beyoncé is seen doing the iconic Renaissance pose, inspired by Donna Summer and Madonna, in front of bales of hay while wearing cow print. She also teased the Renaissance album cover art in the Ivy Park rodeo campaign. It featured her decked out in blue while wearing a cowboy hat and sitting on a horse.

Beyoncé also included Emmy-winning actor and real-life cowboy Glynn Turman in the Ivy Park rodeo campaign. The country inclusion didn't end there, as she also featured country star Orville Peck in the Ivy Park rodeo campaign and sent out clothing to country singers Mickey Guyton and Kacey Musgraves.

In December, country music artist Jimmie Allen spoke to Billboard about his desire to collaborate with Beyoncé and the rumors that she was working on a country music project. He said: "Beyoncé and Jay-Z are definitely two people on my dream list. There were rumors about her wanting to do a country song or a country record. Listen, Beyoncé: I'm here. Let's get cracking."

2022

Rumors about Beyoncé's foray into country music grew stronger just a few hours after she announced her seventh studio album, Renaissance, on June 16, 2022.

Variety reported that "a source familiar with the project"—which Beyoncé referred to as "Act I" in her initial announcement—might feature "both dance and country-leaning tracks." The article reads: "It was unclear whether the country songs will appear as a separate album, or as part of the first edition of Renaissance."

In July, Beyoncé confirmed via her website that Renaissance would be a three-act project.

2023

In November, Es Devlin, the stage designer for the Renaissance tour, spoke to British Vogue about why the singer wanted to make references to rodeo culture.

"Beyoncé was interested in country; I think she had had a really bad experience at a country music award show, and she wanted to research its African-American roots," she said.

"She discovered that 50 percent of cowboys were black, in the 19th and early 20th century, and country music, of course, has been largely appropriated. She wanted to reappropriate American and country music from a Black perspective, hence the cowboys and why they are wearing red. They are her eliding those two ideas of redlining in those towns and the cowboys."