"Ameriican Requiem" is the opening track on "Cowboy Carter."

The lyrics allude to Beyoncé's duet with The Chicks at the 2016 CMA Awards, which sparked backlash among conservative country fans ("It's a lot of talkin' goin' on / While I sing my song / Can you hear me? / I said, 'Do you hear me?'").

Upon the album's release, Beyoncé told fans that "Cowboy Carter" was inspired by a time when she "did not feel welcomed" by the country music establishment.

Beyoncé's cover of The Beatles' "Blackbird" highlights the important role of Black women in Nashville, recruiting four of the genre's rising stars to provide harmonies and backing vocals: Tanner Adell, Brittney Spencer, Tiera Kennedy, and Reyna Roberts.

Beyoncé's performance of the United States national anthem underscores a key "Cowboy Carter" theme — that country music, much like the actual country where it was created, has always been indebted to the labor of Black people.

"Cowboy Carter" has often been cast as a "reclamation a genre that's been divorced from its original creators," in the words of Kofi Mframa for USA Today. At the tour's opening show, Beyoncé's merch stand sold T-shirts that read, "Never ask for permission for something that already belongs to you."

"Freedom" is the 10th track on Beyoncé's celebrated 2016 album, "Lemonade." The studio version features Kendrick Lamar.

Beyoncé performed a mashup of the standout "Cowboy Carter" track "Ya Ya" with a deep cut from her third solo album, "I Am... Sasha Fierce."

"America Has a Problem" is the 14th track on "Renaissance." It was later released as a single, alongside a remix featuring Lamar.

"Spaghettii" is the 12th track on "Cowboy Carter." The studio version features Linda Martell, a pioneering country singer from the early '70s, and Shaboozey, a genre-bending country star whose 2024 hit "A Bar Song (Tipsy)" broke the record among solo songs for most weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100.

"Formation" was released as the lead single from "Lemonade." Beyoncé gave her debut performance of the song during a surprise appearance at the 2016 Super Bowl halftime show.

"My House" was released as a standalone track in 2023, sandwiched between "Renaissance" and "Cowboy Carter."

In a scene from "Renaissance: A Film by Beyoncé," the superstar contemplates cutting "Diva" from the set list. Her eldest daughter, Blue Ivy Carter, protests. "You can't do that!" she tells her mother.

"I appreciate your opinion, but you've gotta calm down," Beyoncé replies.

Lo and behold, "Diva" remained in the "Renaissance" tour set list — and stuck around for "Cowboy Carter," too.

"Alliigator Tears" is the 13th track on "Cowboy Carter."

"Just for Fun," a duet with Willie Jones, is the 15th track on "Cowboy Carter."

For the live debut of "Protector," Beyoncé was joined onstage by her two daughters, Blue Ivy and Rumi Carter.

"Flamenco" is the 18th track on "Cowboy Carter."

"Desert Eagle" is the 22nd track on "Cowboy Carter."

"Riiverdance" is the 23rd track on "Cowboy Carter." It was cowritten by Beyoncé and Rachel Keen, aka Raye, who was recently nominated for best new artist at the Grammys.

"II Hands II Heaven" is the 24th track on "Cowboy Carter."

Beyoncé performed a mashup of a high-energy "Cowboy Carter" standout with two fan-favorite tracks from "Renaissance."

Beyoncé's "Jolene" is a reimagined version of Dolly Parton's classic country tune.

"Daddy Lessons," the sixth track on "Lemonade," marked Beyoncé first official foray into country music. The song is both a celebration and a critique of her family legacy, particularly her father, who hails from Gadsden, Alabama.

"Bodyguard" is the eighth track on "Cowboy Carter." Beyoncé released a visualizer for the song last November, inspired by Pamela Anderson's role in "Baywatch."

"II Most Wanted" is the 16th track on "Cowboy Carter." The studio version is a duet with Miley Cyrus, a lifelong Beyoncé fan.

The song was also coproduced by Ryan Tedder, who previously worked with Beyoncé on ballads like "Halo" and "XO."

"Cuff It" is the fourth track on "Renaissance."

"Tyrant" is the 25th track on "Cowboy Carter."

"Thique" is the 12th track on "Renaissance."

"Levii's Jeans," a duet with Post Malone, is the 17th track on "Cowboy Carter."

"Daughter" is the 11th track on "Cowboy Carter."

"I'm That Girl" is the opening track on "Renaissance."

"Cozy" is the second track on "Renaissance."

"Alien Superstar" is the third track on "Renaissance."

"Texas Hold 'Em" was surprise-released as the lead single from "Cowboy Carter" during the 2024 Super Bowl. It debuted at No. 1 on Billboard's Hot Country Songs chart, making Beyoncé the first Black woman in history to hold the top position.

"Texas Hold 'Em" also reached No. 1 on the Hot 100, where it remained for two weeks.

Beyoncé released "Crazy in Love" featuring her future husband, Jay-Z, as her debut solo single in 2003 — three years before Destiny's Child officially disbanded.

"Heated" is the 11th track on "Renaissance."

Beyoncé previously covered "Before I Let Go," the 1981 single by R&B band Maze, during her headlining performance at Coachella in 2018.

"16 Carriages" was released alongside "Texas Hold 'Em" as the lead single's B-side.

"Amen" is the closing track on "Cowboy Carter."

Metacritic score: 62/100

What critics said: "The album's songs are divided into two parts, ballads of a purported personal nature on the first disc and more aggressive club tracks attributed to the singer's newly christened doppelganger on the second.

"It's a momentum-murdering formula that makes for not only a disjointed listening experience but, with the slow songs presented first, an incoherent narrative. This problem would be negligible, particularly in the age of iTunes, if it weren't clear that Beyoncé intended to make an Album and wants it to be consumed as such." — Sal Cinquemani, Slant Magazine

Metacritic score: 63/100

What critics said: "Whether or not she got the credit, the slick-tongue style she perfected on 'Say My Name' was a mini-revolution in R&B. And 'Dangerously in Love,' her solo debut, confirms her taste for innovation. 'Dangerously,' which the singer coproduced and almost entirely cowrote, is more about moving on from Destiny's Child's frothy aesthetic than competing with the current crop of singing sensations." — Neil Drumming, Entertainment Weekly

Metacritic score: 70/100

What critics said: "Beyoncé sounds more relaxed as a singer, expanding on the Tina Turner resemblances she's been toying with recently, her performances growing ever-more instinctive and unpredictable in their appropriations of soul hollering." — Tim Finney, Pitchfork

Metacritic score: 73/100

What critics said: "As modern as Beyoncé has allowed herself to be over the years, from tech-savvy club R&B with Destiny's Child to the insistent pancultural stomp of 'Run the World (Girls),' on this new album, she has always been a torch singer in waiting, anticipating the day when she could just get down to business." — Jon Caramanica, The New York Times

Metacritic score: 85/100

What critics said: "'Beyoncé,' her fifth solo album, repositions the singer as the Houston-bred Yoncé, a woman lustier and surlier than B, more playful than Bey, fiercer than Sasha but softer and more natural than the lot. The album is brassy but elegant, its post-coital breath smelling faintly of cheap liquor sipped from a crystal flute. It finds Beyoncé shifting gears to pull off her most explicit and sonically experimental music to date, exploring sounds and ideas at the grittier margins of popular music." — Carrie Battan, Pitchfork

Metacritic score: 91/100

What critics said: "What a good time this thing is. All 16 songs hail from someplace with a dance floor — night clubs, strip clubs, ballrooms, basements, Tatooine. Most of them are steeped in or conducted entirely with Black queer bravado. And on nearly every one, Beyoncé sounds like she's experiencing something personally new and privately glorious: unmitigated ecstasy. It takes different forms: bliss, obviously; but a sexy sternness, too. The exercise of control is as entertaining on this album as the exorcism of stress." — Wesley Morris, The New York Times

Metacritic score: 91/100

What critics said: "Like everything Beyoncé has done, specifically in the last decade of her career, 'Cowboy Carter' is a college dissertation of an album: richly researched and meticulously constructed. And while she has something to prove to a whole musical community, it's more of a love letter to her Southern roots than strictly a honky-tonkin' romp." — Brittany Spanos, Rolling Stone

"Following the footsteps of 'Renaissance,' the best album of 2022, 'Cowboy Carter' is part of an ongoing trilogy that probes the limits of genre — and, crucially, the roles that race and gender play in imposing those limits. Beyoncé is the perfect and perhaps only musician alive who could stage such an experiment with this level of mastery, foresight, and cultural impact." — Callie Ahlgrim, Business Insider

Metacritic score: 92/100

What critics said: "It is the perfect combination of the sharp songwriting of '4' with the visual storytelling acumen of her self-titled record. Here, we see Beyoncé fully coming into her own: wise, accomplished, and in defense of herself. Many artists struggle with finding the right balance, but then Beyoncé is not like many artists. Rather than mold to the conformity of contemporary music, she leans firmly into her own instincts and vision." — Britt Julious, Consequence

"16 Carriages" was released alongside "Texas Hold 'Em" as the single's B-side. It has been nominated for Best Country Solo Performance at the 2025 Grammys.

Beyoncé performed "Blackbiird" with Tanner Adell, Brittney Spencer, Tiera Kennedy, and Reyna Roberts — a cover of the 1968 classic by The Beatles, which was inspired by the Civil Rights Movement.

The 20th track on "Cowboy Carter" is a country-rock banger that interpolates two hits from 1966: Nancy Sinatra's "These Boots Are Made for Walkin'" and The Beach Boys' "Good Vibrations."

"Ya Ya" was hailed by critics as a standout upon the album's release and will compete for best Americana performance at the Grammys in February.

The song was previously used in a promotional video for the 2024 Paris Olympics on NBC, which featured clips of Beyoncé introducing Team USA athletes like Noah Lyles, Sha'Carri Richardson, Caeleb Dressel, Katie Ledecky, and Simone Biles.

"My House'" was released at the end of 2023 as a single ahead of Beyoncé's 2023 film, "Renaissance: A Film by Beyoncé."

Beyoncé brought out Shaboozey to perform a medley of their collaborations on "Cowboy Carter," including "Spaghettii," a Grammy nominee for best melodic rap performance.

Following his featured role on "Cowboy Carter," Shaboozey had a breakout year with his own hit, "A Bar Song (Tipsy)." The country-pop anthem topped the Hot 100 for 19 weeks, tying Lil Nas X's "Old Town Road" for the longest streak in history.

Beyoncé welcomed Post Malone to the stage for a duet of "Levii's Jeans," the 17th track on "Cowboy Carter," and Grammy nominee for best pop duo/group performance.

Like Beyoncé and Shaboozey, Malone had a big year. He released his own country album, "F-1 Trillion," in August." The tracklist included collaborations with Nashville legends like Tim McGraw, Dolly Parton, and Chris Stapleton.

The album's biggest hit, however, was a duet with Morgan Wallen titled "I Had Some Help," which debuted at No. 1 on the Hot 100 and remained atop the chart for six weeks.

Malone also topped the Hot 100 in April by teaming up with Taylor Swift for "Fortnight," the lead single from her record-breaking album "The Tortured Poets Department."

Beyoncé's version of "Jolene" put a twist on country singer Dolly Parton's popular song about infidelity.

Parton recorded the introduction to Beyoncé's rendition, telling E! News in a May interview that she was "very proud" of the song's success.

"As a songwriter, you love the fact that people do your songs no matter how they do them," Parton said.

"Texas Hold 'Em" was surprise-released as the lead single for "Cowboy Carter" during the 2024 Super Bowl.

The song shot to No. 1 on Billboard's Hot Country Songs, making Beyoncé the first Black woman in history to top the chart.

"Texas Hold 'Em" also held No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 for two weeks and earned three more nods — song of the year, record of the year, and best country song — for the most-nominated and most-awarded performer in Grammys history.