Beyoncé Speaks on the Groundbreaking Success of COWBOY CARTER

Back in February Beyoncé's COWBOY CARTER album won the Grammy for Album of the Year, Best Country Album and Best Country Duo/Group Performance, making her the first Black woman to win BEST Country Album [click here if you missed that].

In a rare interview Beyoncé talks about her creative process...

From Pollstar

“This was born from my love and respect for the rich country genre,” Beyoncé told Pollstar in her only interview about Cowboy Carter. “The overall intention for this tour was to celebrate American resiliency.”

Pollstar: How on earth was this extraordinary tour conceived, strategized, executed and brought to life in such mind-blowing ways?

Beyoncé: I can’t explain the reward I feel in conceiving these ideas to watching them come true. This was born from my love and respect for the rich country genre. For many years I’ve focused on preserving and celebrating the lost history of the Black cowboy. It was important to me to touch on propaganda and the World Wide Web feeling more like the Wild Wild West these days.

We showcased many aspects of my upbringing in Texas, like the salon in honor of my mother’s hair salon, I grew up in, and the saloon, honoring my great-grandfather who sold moonshine in Alabama. I was inspired by the Texas Lone Star, and the beautiful art town of Marfa. A fusion of futurism from RENAISSANCE with the golden maximalism from COWBOY CARTER. I tried to give the audience a contemporary Houston Rodeo experience. I also brought classic theater and opera into the space.

The overall intention for this tour was to celebrate American resiliency.

Cowboy Carter the album, is a masterpiece with historic implications that’s done nothing less than change the popular discourse on the history of music. Trying to create that in narrative in live space with production, choreography, costuming, back catalog is no easy feat. When and how did you and your team formulate and produce your vision in such an effective way?

I believe the stage is a piece of art; it is its own icon. We are building a living breathing, evolving organism.

I’m extremely hands on. I care deeply about every sound. We arrange and rearrange each song, visual edit, prop and choreo piece until we get it to the best place we can. I push until I feel the soul in every element. For this tour, one of the missions was for us to bend light. So, I geek out on exciting new light fixtures and new ways to rig cameras. I care about every formation and camera angle. I push our vendors and engineers to support the designs with new ways to get closer to every human in the stadium. I want everyone to have a front row seat. I always experiment with how live shows can be shot differently. I want the audience to have a cinematic experience live.

The first tour Destiny’s Child did with Wyclef Jean, we toured in a minivan and a DAT player. On a later tour in the late ’90s, we did our quick changes in a muddy tent in the rain because we didn’t have proper dressing rooms; with a hit single and no complaints, designing our own clothes because designers would not. A decade of visiting every radio station on earth advocating for ourselves. Singing for anyone who would listen. Slowly building into being able to tour with a small band. More building until we could tour with dancers. Finally selling out my first arena as a solo artist. Investing my earnings back into the show expenses. The decades of fighting with the promoters convincing them that an R&B artist could sell out a stadium. I continued to invest in myself and stay focused on the vision.

I’m beyond grateful for my fans that have been a part of my journey. It’s important to me that they leave the show reinvigorated and inspired, feeling more in love with themselves, and closer to the people they love.

The impact of the COWBOY CARTER era on the country genre will only continue to grow. It has reinvigorated a space that now has a new audience. And in ten years, the young girls and boys who saw the show will become adults who believe they can be respected as country stars and sing whatever music they love. That makes me proud.

Read the full piece here