Today (March 29), Beyoncé unveiled her eighth studio LP, COWBOY CARTER, a country-inspired effort that also contains elements of gospel and R&B throughout. The 27-song project boasts appearances from Willie Nelson, Miley Cyrus, Post Malone, Shaboozey, Tanner Adell and more.

"This album has been over five years in the making. It was born out of an experience that I had years ago where I did not feel welcomed... and it was very clear that I wasn’t," Beyoncé explained in an Instagram post earlier this month. "But, because of that experience, I did a deeper dive into the history of country music and studied our rich musical archive. It feels good to see how music can unite so many people around the world while also amplifying the voices of some of the people who have dedicated so much of their lives [to] educating [us] on our musical history."

COWBOY CARTER serves as a second act in a planned trilogy, with the first being 2022's RENAISSANCE. Dedicated to Black dance music and its queer pioneers, RENAISSANCE boasted collaborations alongside the likes of BEAM, Grace Jones, Tems, Honey Dijon, The-Dream, Skrillex, P2J, Hit-Boy and more. That project also became Beyoncé's seventh consecutive studio album to debut at No. 1 on the Billboard 200.

As REVOLT previously reported, Beyoncé's mother, Tina Knowles, hopped on social media to defend Beyoncé's experimentation with country music. “We have always celebrated cowboy culture growing up in Texas. We also always understood that it was not just about it belonging to white culture only,” expressed the matriarch. "In Texas, there is a huge Black cowboy culture. Why do you think that my kids have integrated it into their fashion and art since the beginning? When people ask, ‘Why is Beyoncé wearing cowboy hats?’ it’s really funny. I actually laugh because it’s been there since she was a kid."

Press play on COWBOY CARTER below.