Park your Lexus, throw your keys up, and let’s get into Cowboy Carter, the new genre-bending, country-angled album by Beyonce. Here are the facts: it’s the second instalment in her Renaissance trilogy. It features Willie Nelson, Dolly Parton, Post Malone and Miley Cyrus, and spotlights Black country artists such as Linda Martell. But what was Beyonce’s goal with this album? And how does it fit into her career arc? Lilah’s joined by the FT’s music critic Ludovic Hunter-Tilney and US labour and equality correspondent Taylor Nicole Rogers to chat about the album.

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We love hearing from you. Lilah is on Instagram @lilahrap and we’re on X @lifeandartpod. You can email us at lifeandart@ft.com. We are grateful for reviews, on Apple, Spotify, etc.

Links (all FT links get you past the paywall):

– Cowboy Carter by Beyonce is available to stream now.

– Ludo’s review of Cowboy Carter is here: https://on.ft.com/3U3L0TW

– His review of Renaissance: A Film by Beyonce is here: https://on.ft.com/3J3k54q

– You can follow Ludo on X @ludohunter. Taylor is @TaylorNRogers.

More or Less:

– Taylor wants to see less wellness in culture. For more on the dark side of wellness, check out new FT podcast ‘Untold: The Retreat’ here, or by searching wherever you listen.

– Ludo wants more David Lynch content. Read about David Lynch’s installation at the Milan furniture fair here: https://on.ft.com/3vvcOr7

– Lilah wants to see more pubs in the US. While she was in London she had pints with our producer Lulu Smyth at The Hemingway near Victoria Park and at the The Eagle in Farringdon, and everyone had a swell time. Here’s a list of the FT’s best pubs in London’s West End: https://on.ft.com/4cJz94H

– Relatedly, here’s a great piece, ‘Three Cheers for the pub’, by friend of the podcast Rebecca Watson: https://on.ft.com/4cXv6lN

Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com

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Culture chat: Beyonce’s Cowboy Carter

Life and Art from FT Weekend