There was already so much Beyoncé to talk about even before she won all her Grammys last night. So we’ll start there and jump around the timeline. 

 

Beyoncé was supposed to make an announcement on January 14 which she ended up postponing due to the wildfire situation in LA. Seems obvious what the new date would be for what was obviously going to be a tour. On Saturday 1 February, the first day of Black History Month, her favourite month to make announcements, from albums to tours to pregnancies, the Queen made it official. 

The first thing I noted about her image to go along with first proper COWBOY CARTER tour visuals was her hair. Not only is she (still) platinum but it’s the microbraids. Usually, the way it works in the Beyhive, is that when Beyoncé’s hair is in braids, she’s working on new music. The braids theory doesn’t always pan out. But there’s another layer of symbolism here. Because, of course, COWBOY CARTER is Beyoncé’s manifesto on country music, its history, its foundation, its Black legacy. So the fact that she’s firmly identifying Blackness through her hair as she confirms she’ll be touring the album is an indication that she will likely be amplifying that statement in her performance. 

 

But also… that’s all she gave us, initially: a heads up, a photo hinting at what to expect, but that’s it – no cities, no dates, nothing else. It was only this morning when she finally told us where. 

That, alone, was enough to cause pandemonium. I know my phone was blowing up as Duana, Kathleen, and MC and I were all messaging each other furiously to plan. This is the mayhem and the panic – and we didn’t even know the when… until an hour or so later when the dates finally showed up on the website

 

So now we’ve all signed up for our preferred locations and have set a thousand alarms to go off on the presale date just for the privilege of hopefully entering the Hunger Games and fighting for spots with hundreds of thousands (probably more) of other people who’ve also been saving their money and selling their personal belongings to be able to see The Greatest once again set the standard for live performance, on tour in support of COWBOY CARTER, which is now… finally… the ALBUM OF THE YEAR.

Much has already been said since its release eleven months ago about the musicality, another showcase of Beyoncé’s genius, developed through decades of study, in putting together an album that is at once country and so many other musical territories – a breathtaking testament to how music informs and expands itself, weaving together a tapestry of sound that calls back and pitches forward, resulting in a surgically precise, academic, and virtually bulletproof thesis that art is an organic thing; that music on the most basic cellular level cannot be categorised; notes exist across genre, and through combination and imagination, new melodies and harmonies can be an extension of their predecessors – a metaphor for humanity, which is art’s purpose. COWBOY CARTER, then, is a monumental achievement in the career of an artist who, frankly, only produces monumental achievements. 

 

That this album is Beyoncé’s first to win the Grammy for Album of the Year is, well, I mean obviously it’s amazing. But it was interesting to me how it felt, not only for Beyoncé but also for so many of us watching. Because there were a lot of us, I think, who weren’t quite convinced it would actually happen. Call it muscle memory, call it scar tissue, call it whatever you want – we’ve been here before, many times, with a certain result. 

When the firefighters gathered and called out her name, then, was it relief first, and then joy? It was for me. This is what I’ve been sitting with and reflecting on, whether that in itself is a consequence of inequality: when a moment of celebration is preceded by relief, is this too a form of theft? 

Beyoncé was escorted to the stage to receive her long overdue honour by her firstborn, the Blue Ivy Carter. After thanking the firefighters, she said, “It’s been many, many years”, followed by what sounded, to me, like a rueful chuckle. This is as vulnerable as it gets where Beyoncé is concerned. This is as revealing as it gets because it’s usually other people on stage who talk about how absurd it is that she’s never held an AOTY trophy. Beyoncé usually keeps her Mona Lisa smile in place and keeps it contained. That’s not to say she was all that verbose during her acceptance but it was the most insight we’ve gotten in a long time from her in a moment like this. 

 

And what might have been even crazier is that she actually stopped for an interview afterwards. When is the last time you’ve seen Beyoncé speak with a reporter’s microphone in her face?! 

@entertainmenttonight

It was a moment that has been 25 years in the making! 👏 Beyoncé reacts to her Album of the Year win at the GRAMMYs. 🥹

♬ original sound - Entertainment Tonight - Entertainment Tonight

On top of that… these were real answered, not canned responses. The part where she talks about Blue’s height, when she drops Rumi into the conversation, but there was still intention in what she said – about the banjo, about the country community, and the deeper currents in that conversation. 

But the point is, she made an exception to a rule she’s steadfastly adhered to for almost 15 years. An actual proper interview that only came after the Album of the Year. This is an artist who has spent over a decade becoming unknowable except through her art. As one of the most famous people on the planet, this takes so much discipline, so when she breaks from it, there is a reason. She’s too smart and too experienced to not know that people will take notice. What, then, were we supposed to notice? 

 

Well, in allowing us a glimpse of her vulnerability, Beyoncé is reminding us of the pain of exclusion – even from the position she occupies as the Queen of All Culture. But also that pain can be channeled into story. And that her story can be a door through which others can step through and tell theirs. Even in the Best New Artist category, Beyoncé’s influence could be felt: Shaboozey and Raye’s work are both featured on COWBOY CARTER. And Rhiannon Giddens was also there last night with much more attention and profile than ever before. 

It takes stamina to be able to do the work that Beyoncé does – not just in the making of the music but in the stewardship of it, the education of it, the sharing of it. So the relief was hers too. She doesn’t often show us her fatigue. We talk about her sometimes like she’s indefatigable, almost robotic. But even for her there must be fatigue! Especially for her! That she let us see it is a unicorn event. A comet event with no predictable return. 

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