Latest news with #AmeriicanRequiem
USA Today
09-07-2025
- Entertainment
- USA Today
Beyoncé's tour: Jimi Hendrix's national anthem, more powerful messages you may have missed
Beyoncé Knowles-Carter's "Cowboy Carter" tour isn't just a musical masterpiece. It's a powerful spectacle filled with messages about country music, America's history, and the plight and triumph of Black and brown people. The show is rich with symbolism and motifs — some of which fans may not even realize they're witnessing. The Grammy-winning singer wrapped her Washington, D.C. area stop of her Cowboy Carter and the Rodeo Chitlin' Circuit Tour on July 7. She first launched her DMV stint with a dazzling performance on the Fourth of July. The holiday made for an especially significant night. Many fans online took note of her head-turning, Americana looks filled with red, white, blue and American flag imagery. They've been present throughout the tour, but the July Fourth show in the nation's capital brought them to the forefront and underscored her message. So much so that some of its significance may have gone over the heads of those casually tuning in online or even attending in person. Tina Knowles, mother of Beyoncé and Solange Knowles, shared this sentiment in an Instagram post while highlighting some elements of the show. "It is truly a bold true statement. But still there are those who just don't get it," Knowles wrote. Here are some of the moments and symbols that may have gone unnoticed by casual viewers, but speak volumes about the deeper meaning behind Beyoncé's tour. A post shared by Tina Knowles (@mstinaknowles) Beyoncé opens the show with 'Ameriican Requiem' Each night, Beyoncé opens her show with her song "Ameriican Requiem," in which she sings "for things to change they have to stay the same." Later in the song she sings, "They used to say I spoke too country and the rejection came, said I wasn't country 'nough." Knowles notes, "If you listen to the lyrics it's a tribute to what this country was built on — the backs of Black and brown people." The truth is, country music's history is intertwined with America's history of segregation and exclusion. In concert, Beyoncé made a point to highlight this ongoing complexity through her interludes, outfit choices and more. There was lots of red, white and blue. There were a great deal of American flags, which plucked at the patriotism that is oftentimes associated with country music. Beyoncé seemed to highlight the irony of Black people and other minorities being historically and continuously ostracized in a genre they helped build, while also reclaiming the themes and colors as her own. Prior to releasing the album, Beyoncé got candid about creating the five-year project and alluded to her 2016 performance at the CMA Awards, which was met with an icy reception and harsh criticism. A post shared by Beyoncé (@beyonce) Beyoncé covers Beatles' 'Blackbiird' — a song about the Civil Rights Movement After opening with "Ameriican Requiem," she goes on to sing her her Beatles cover "Blackbiird," inspired by the Civil Rights Movement, "The Star-Spangled Banner and "Freedom" — the theme song of Kamala Harris' presidential campaign. Then she wraps up the night's first act with "Ya Ya" — "whole lotta red in that white and blue." In the post, Knowles offers deeper insight into the layered meanings within the highlights the thoughtful intention, extensive research and pride that went into the show — especially the rich Black history embedded throughout. She even points to the meaning behind the song "Blackbiird,' which written by Paul McCartney about "young black girls paving the way for us and facing intense abuse to integrate the schools" — known as the Little Rock Nine. Beyoncé sings Jimi Hendrix's rendition of 'The Star-Spangled Banner' In the same post, Knowles shared that Beyoncé actually sings a rendition of the national anthem by the late legend Jimi Hendrix. "The Star-Spangled Banner that she sings in the show is the rendition done by Jimi Hendrix so many years ago," she wrote. Knowles highlighted the significance of the performance, noting that it ends with the powerful lyric, ' I was only waiting for this moment to be free.' Following this moment, words appear on screen declaring, 'Never ask for something that is already yours.' Knowles wrote that Beyoncé's tour isn't just a performance — it's a statement. "Please take a listen," she wrote. "Thank you for really listening and recognizing all the thought and work the research and pride and unwavering courage it takes to do a record and a tour like this." These few elements only scratch the surface of the impact and significance of the tour and album. The nine-city tour has spanned the U.S. and Europe with the grand finale set for July 26 in Las Vegas. Follow Caché McClay, the USA TODAY Network's Beyoncé Knowles-Carter reporter, on Instagram, TikTok and X as @cachemcclay.
The Irish Sun
29-06-2025
- Entertainment
- The Irish Sun
Beyonce horrifies fans as she suffers mid-air drama in flying car prop during Cowboy Carter show
BEYONCE sparked sheer terror among fans in her native Texas after a "scary" mid-air mishap on a show prop. The Halo hitmaker, 43, was left tilting in space as her red Cadillac - which was suspended in space - skewed to one side. 7 Beyonce left fans terrified after a mid-air mishap in her Cowboy Carter show prop Credit: X 7 The flying car she was riding on seemingly began to tilt mid-air at her show in her native Houston, Texas Credit: X 7 Beyonce halted the performance before the vehicle was brought safely down to ground Credit: X/boyoncegarden 7 Beyonce made light of the mishap when she was back on solid ground Credit: X Beyonce, whose Cowboy Carter tour arrived at the NRG Stadium in Houston last night, delighted fans as she kicked off with Ameriican Requiem followed by a cover of The Beatles classic Blackbird. Yet in the final segment of proceedings, and after an appearance from her daughter Blue Ivy and the track Legacy playing out on tape, things turned sour. During her performance of 16 Carriages, Bey hopped into a red car which was then suspended into the air. She pulled on a silver cowboy hat and waved an American flag for her in-air adventures, yet was forced to halt the song as the vehicle leaned dangerously to one side. READ MORE BEYONCE The If I Were A Boy vocalist then paused her lyrics to shout: "Stop. Stop, stop, stop." The crowd paused in anticipation before bursting into cheers as the vehicle - attached to a series of cables - was brought down to solid ground. Like a pro, Beyonce continued the song then told her adoring fans: "I wanna thank y'all, for loving me. "If ever I fall, I know y'all will catch me." Most read in Celebrity The Sun has gone to Beyonce's reps for comment. As the incident unfolded, fans expressed their fears on X. Blue Ivy looks IDENTICAL to mom Beyonce as she arrives in Paris with dad Jay-Z One wrote: "The fact that Beyoncé almost fell out that car suspended in the air…. Yo I would've lost my s**t!" A second put: "I KNEWWWWW that car was gonna do some s**t one concert omg so happy she's okay tho." A third mused: "Whoever messed up #beyonce car set up is getting fired from a CANNON." Another remarked: "We could have lost @Beyonce tonight if that car that she was in would have fell on stage, thank god that she is safe." One then pleaded: "BEYONCÉ! No More Car I Mean It." Overall, Beyonce's Cowboy Carter tour has been a visual extravaganza for her fans, showcasing the star in an array of outfits, performing with her daughters and even grinding on a bull. She has also floated over the crowds while perched in a moving horse shoe. She is then expected to follow up the project - which kicked off in Los Angeles in April - with another album next year, after announcing that Renaissance and Cowboy Carter were part of a trilogy. On her website in 2022, she confirmed: 'This three-act project was recorded over three years during the pandemic. 'A time to be still, but also a time I found to be the most creative.' TOUR TEASE During Beyonce's Cowboy Carter UK tour dates, the star appeared to drop a huge clue she was considering re-locating. It came as she was allegedly seen viewing land in the Cotswolds countryside with rapper husband Jay-Z, 55. Beyonce reportedly took a helicopter ride with her spouse, with whom she shares three kids, to get a better look at the Oxfordshire pile. The land supposedly spanned 58 acres and a source told "Located close to friends Ellen DeGeneres and Portia de Rossi, and with Simon Cowell and the Beckhams as neighbours, she felt it would be an ideal UK home for her family, away from the city when they're in the country." 7 The car was a prominent fixture of the tour - yet fans have now called for it to be scrapped Credit: Splash 7 The Halo hitmaker also travels on a floating horseshoe during her set Credit: Splash 7 The songstress was allegedly spotted house hunting in the UK when her tour hit London recently Credit: Rex
Scottish Sun
29-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Scottish Sun
Beyonce horrifies fans as she suffers mid-air drama in flying car prop during Cowboy Carter show
Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) BEYONCE sparked sheer terror among fans in her native Texas after a "scary" mid-air mishap on a show prop. The Halo hitmaker, 43, was left tilting in space as her red Cadillac - which was suspended in space - skewed to one side. Sign up for the Entertainment newsletter Sign up 7 Beyonce left fans terrified after a mid-air mishap in her Cowboy Carter show prop Credit: X 7 The flying car she was riding on seemingly began to tilt mid-air at her show in her native Houston, Texas Credit: X 7 Beyonce halted the performance before the vehicle was brought safely down to ground Credit: X/boyoncegarden 7 Beyonce made light of the mishap when she was back on solid ground Credit: X Beyonce, whose Cowboy Carter tour arrived at the NRG Stadium in Houston last night, delighted fans as she kicked off with Ameriican Requiem followed by a cover of The Beatles classic Blackbird. Yet in the final segment of proceedings, and after an appearance from her daughter Blue Ivy and the track Legacy playing out on tape, things turned sour. During her performance of 16 Carriages, Bey hopped into a red car which was then suspended into the air. She pulled on a silver cowboy hat and waved an American flag for her in-air adventures, yet was forced to halt the song as the vehicle leaned dangerously to one side. READ MORE BEYONCE momma's girl Blue Ivy looks IDENTICAL to mom Beyonce as she arrives in Paris with dad Jay-Z The If I Were A Boy vocalist then paused her lyrics to shout: "Stop. Stop, stop, stop." The crowd paused in anticipation before bursting into cheers as the vehicle - attached to a series of cables - was brought down to solid ground. Like a pro, Beyonce continued the song then told her adoring fans: "I wanna thank y'all, for loving me. "If ever I fall, I know y'all will catch me." The Sun has gone to Beyonce's reps for comment. As the incident unfolded, fans expressed their fears on X. Blue Ivy looks IDENTICAL to mom Beyonce as she arrives in Paris with dad Jay-Z One wrote: "The fact that Beyoncé almost fell out that car suspended in the air…. Yo I would've lost my s**t!" A second put: "I KNEWWWWW that car was gonna do some s**t one concert omg so happy she's okay tho." A third mused: "Whoever messed up #beyonce car set up is getting fired from a CANNON." Another remarked: "We could have lost @Beyonce tonight if that car that she was in would have fell on stage, thank god that she is safe." One then pleaded: "BEYONCÉ! No More Car I Mean It." Overall, Beyonce's Cowboy Carter tour has been a visual extravaganza for her fans, showcasing the star in an array of outfits, performing with her daughters and even grinding on a bull. She has also floated over the crowds while perched in a moving horse shoe. She is then expected to follow up the project - which kicked off in Los Angeles in April - with another album next year, after announcing that Renaissance and Cowboy Carter were part of a trilogy. On her website in 2022, she confirmed: 'This three-act project was recorded over three years during the pandemic. 'A time to be still, but also a time I found to be the most creative.' TOUR TEASE During Beyonce's Cowboy Carter UK tour dates, the star appeared to drop a huge clue she was considering re-locating. It came as she was allegedly seen viewing land in the Cotswolds countryside with rapper husband Jay-Z, 55. Beyonce reportedly took a helicopter ride with her spouse, with whom she shares three kids, to get a better look at the Oxfordshire pile. The land supposedly spanned 58 acres and a source told The Oxford Mail: "In the past week, Beyonce and Jay-Z flew via helicopter between her London gigs to view a 58-acre plot of land. "Located close to friends Ellen DeGeneres and Portia de Rossi, and with Simon Cowell and the Beckhams as neighbours, she felt it would be an ideal UK home for her family, away from the city when they're in the country." 7 The car was a prominent fixture of the tour - yet fans have now called for it to be scrapped Credit: Splash 7 The Halo hitmaker also travels on a floating horseshoe during her set Credit: Splash
USA Today
13-06-2025
- Entertainment
- USA Today
Beyoncé's 'Cowboy Carter' tour celebrates country music while also holding it accountable
Beyoncé's 'Cowboy Carter' tour celebrates country music while also holding it accountable Beyoncé's "Cowboy Carter" tour has been a unifying celebration of joy, movement and intentional fashion, as an ode to to country music's true roots. Simultaneously, she seamlessly holds the genre accountable for its historical and ongoing exclusionary bounds. The Grammy-winning singer first debuted her "Cowboy Carter" tour at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles on April 28 with 39 songs on the set list. The concerts have been revolutionary shows filled with family, fashion, different music genres, and most notably country music and cultural commentary. Beyoncé opens up her show with her song "Ameriican Requiem," in which she sings "for things to change they have to stay the same." Later in the song she sings, "They used to say I spoke too country and the rejection came, said I wasn't country 'nough." She goes on to sing her her Beatles cover "Blackbiird," inspired by the Civil Rights Movement, "The Star-Spangled Banner and "Freedom" — the theme song of Kamala Harris' presidential campaign. Then she wraps up the night's first act with "Ya Ya" — "whole lotta red in that white and blue." At another point of the show a message appears on the backdrop: "Never ask permission for something that already belongs to you." A.D. Carson, associate professor of hip hop at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville spoke to that message of belonging. "Country music is as much a place for an artist like Beyoncé as any of the artists who have dominated country for the past 25 years," Carson says. "So I wouldn't call it a reclamation but a reminder that all of American pop music — no matter the genre — owes a debt of gratitude and much more to the unsung Black artists who were pioneers in those genres so that they could become what they are today." Messages and motifs throughout 'Cowboy Carter' and its tour As fans know, Beyoncé first released the 27-track project in March 2024. It has since made history and broken multiple records. As Beyoncé's first country album, she deliberately featured country legends and emerging Black country artists alike. Beyoncé's Cowboy Carter and the Rodeo Chitlin' Circuit Tour doubles down on this notion down to the name. Historically, the "Chitlin' Circuit" was a network of venues that embraced and employed Black musicians who were otherwise shunned from white theaters during the Jim Crow era. The performance theaters and clubs would host some of the best talent in American history. Since the album's release, Beyoncé has made it clear why she felt inspired to highlight the country's roots — often misperceived or erased entirely — while also celebrating her own country roots and Southern heritage. And this powerful intersection comes to life on her tour. A celebration at the core and a continuous teaching moment "Sometimes we want things to be one thing or the other, like we make it into the false choice between celebration and protest," Carson says. "But very often as a Black person in this country, your celebration is protesting even if you don't mean it as such. People receive it that way and so they interpret it as being protesting." Carson emphasizes the power of duality. "We can do multiple things at once," he says. "And so while we're being entertained, we can be critical and we can be learning and we can be teaching." With this project, Beyoncé became the first Black woman to win best country album at the 2025 Grammys and also took home album of the year. Her tour is a celebration of country music, while spotlighting the complex truth: Black people helped build the genre and are still ostracized today. It's a place where fans from all different races and backgrounds come together and enjoy country music in its fullness and its true roots of diversity without forgetting the history and the current backdrop it's up against. "It's probably always wise for us to look at — especially at moments of political or social turmoil — the kinds of things that people turn to for entertainment," Carson says. "This happening right now should tell us something about who we are and maybe something about who we aspire to be as much as it tells us about who we were and who we thought we were." Through her genre-bending performance, Beyoncé reinforced the statement printed on her merchandise: "This Ain't A Country Tour, It's A Beyoncé Tour." However, it's clear the tour wasn't just a country music tour. "It's fundamental to our understanding of the world right now to listen to Black cultural producers. And the reason that it's important is not just because they entertain us, but because of the ways that they say the things that end up being unsayable in other forms or undoable in other forms," Carson says. "So a Black woman's country album right now tells us something. It tells us many things about right now." Fashion that makes a real statement In addition to the music, Beyoncé's tour has been a huge showcase of fashion. Each night, Beyoncé continues to blend high fashion with custom Western glam. There's been lots of sparkly chaps, cowboy hats, boots and fringe. Most notably, there's been a significant amount of American flags and red, white and blue. She has also made a point to put a spotlight on Black-owned brands such as Telfar. During her New Jersey tour stop, Beyoncé donned a Black Yankees varsity jacket. The New York Black Yankees were a professional Negro league baseball team. They were founded in 1931 to provide an avenue for Black players amid racial segregation in Major League Baseball. Again, another deliberate but fashion-forward choice that nods to Black history while highlighting a version of Americana that has long existed. This tour has also inspired fans of all demographics to embrace cowboy and Southern culture with their wardrobe. Beyond the inevitable teaching moments it sparks, joy has remained at the heart of it all — whether it's the thrill of new merchandise or curating the perfect outfit. "Allow yourself to be entertained," Carson says. "But also allow yourself to be challenged. And allow yourself to be critical because you don't have to be uncritical in order to be entertained." Follow Caché McClay, the USA TODAY Network's Beyoncé Knowles-Carter reporter, on Instagram, TikTok and X as @cachemcclay.
New Statesman
11-06-2025
- Entertainment
- New Statesman
Beyoncé brings rodeo to London
On 7 June, Beyoncé returned to London's Tottenham Hotspur Stadium for a three-hour-long showcase for her most recent album, Cowboy Carter. She set the tone with her opening song, 'Ameriican Requiem' – distancing herself from her best-known R&B hits of the 2010s and confirming her transition to a hybrid, country-inflected genre of her own creation. 'Genres are a funny little concept, aren't they,' the opening line of 'Spaghettii' playfully states, in the middle of an album that weaves together plucky banjos and a more predictable R&B soundscape. The show gained momentum with every song. There was a flurry of costume changes: from white-fringed cowboy trousers to LED colour-changing dresses to bejewelled leotards. The singer's lauded vocals were so strong they overpowered the microphone as she sang 'The Star-Spangled Banner', the US national anthem, leading into the R&B-gospel mix 'Freedom'. But the crowd were inevitably most animated during her old hits: 'If I Were a Boy' and 'Crazy in Love', released in 2003. Not even intermittent rain could dampen the spirits of performer or audience. The staging was elaborate: at one point, Beyoncé sang from atop a gold mechanical bull. Later, she was suspended over the crowd in a huge horseshoe, followed by a red cabriolet as she performed the country ballad '16 Carriages'. Both of Beyoncé's daughters were present. Eight-year-old Rumi sat with her mother during 'Protector' – an ode to motherhood – and Blue Ivy, 13, performed as a back-up dancer. The night finished with a bang: during the expansive prayer for America, 'Amen', columns of fire spread a welcome wave of heat over the audience – many of whom were wearing fringed shorts or cropped denim shirts covered with plastic raincoats. 'I'm not like other singers,' Beyoncé sang, with a wink. Beyoncé: Cowboy Carter Tour Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, London N17 [See also: Bruce Springsteen faces the end of America] Subscribe to The New Statesman today from only £8.99 per month Subscribe Related
