Albums

Murky love stories, nostalgic pop and an in-your-face masterpiece captured our critics' ears in 2024

- Annie Zaleski, Katie Hawthorne, Laura Snapes, Ben Beaumont-Thomas, Alexis Petridis

5 Beyoncé

Cowboy Carters

Cowboy Carter's origin story into the album's opening track, Ameriican Requiem. Against a psychedelic country-gospel backdrop, she establishes her southern roots Alabama, Texas, Louisiana - but notes this background hasn't always been respected: "Used to say I spoke too country / And the rejection came, said I wasn't country 'nough." It was a literal story. In November 2016, she drew criticism (and overt racism) from country purists after an exuberant performance of her Lemonade track Daddy Lessons with the Chicks at the Country Music awards. A month later, she received a stinging rebuke from the music industry when the Grammys refused to nominate the song in country categories. The subtext was clear: many people refused to accept a Black woman playing country music.

Ameriican Requiem touches directly on this exclusion, pointing out the failed promise of the American experiment and the superficial good manners that uphold the racist status quo. But this gatekeeping only galvanised Beyoncé, and she created Cowboy Carter - the second album in her three-act Renaissance trilogy -to carve out a space in country music on her own terms.

Cowboy Carter wrapped its arms around the entire American music vernacular: the 1960s soul/R&B homage Ya Ya makes pointed comments about American prosperity (or lack thereof) while interpolating both Nancy Sinatra's These Boots Are Made for Walkin' and the Beach Boys' Good Vibrations. The Shaboozey collaboration Sweet Honey Buckiin', meanwhile, is a dizzying combination of R&B twang and hip-hop. In contrast, the torchy standout II Most Wanted is more traditional, emerging as a Fleetwood Mac-referencing duet with a smoky-voiced Miley Cyrus.