Her new album, Cowboy Carter, opens with an extraordinary track called "Ameriican Requiem," on which she sings of burying "big ideas," ditching "fair-weather friends," and leaving "a pretty house that we never settled in." Is this a requiem for the nation itself? For her own Americanness? Or is she telling the most American story of all-about survival through reinvention?
Beyoncé channels Sly Stone, Prince, and Erykah Badu-futurists whose music voyages across the cosmos, seeking liberation that can't be found in their own country.
Beyoncé isn't trying to stake her claim to contested territory-she's showing us what's possible within the borders we all share.
The album briefly-perhaps too briefly-highlights a rural Black creative lineage by featuring snippets of pioneers such as Sister Rosetta Tharpe, and vocal contributions from up-and-comers such as Tanner Adell.
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