Consequence Song of the Week highlights the latest and greatest new tracks every week. Find these new favorites and more in our Spotify best songs playlist and to see other great songs from emerging artists, check out our Spotify new sounds play list. This week, Beyoncé and Miley Cyrus join forces for an unforgettable collaboration.
Beyoncé and Miley Cyrus have two of the most different voices in music today. Cyrus has embraced her voice more with each passing release, and there is simply no other vocalist like Beyoncé. The two are also Southern girls, with Queen Bey hailing from Texas and Cyrus from Tennessee. They both spent their entire adult lives in the spotlight. And while a collaboration with Miley might not have been what most people expected from ACT II: COWBOY CARTER – solidarity with anyone who was fooled into thinking that the second part of “Telefono” was imminent, but the truth is that this duo really works. And perhaps on an initial listen, there's something almost jarring about hearing them trade lines, but on the final chorus, it's almost impossible not to be carried away by the balance between raw gifts and technical grace.
Now that we've all heard COWBOY PURSE In its entirety, it is clear that Beyoncé was right when she said ACT II It's not a country album, but a Beyoncé album. She's always had a preference for taking genres as she pleases and blurring the lines, and this project is no different. There are certainly elements of country music past and present, but Beyoncé will never be confined. However, “II MOST WANTED” is one of the more straightforward tracks on the album, and the song's themes seem especially rooted in a more traditional view of the genre.
“II MOST WANTED” is a bit sad and nostalgic, acknowledging the constant passage of time and our inability to stop it. It's a song centered around the desire to get out of the city and just drive. There are also a number of promises woven into the track; messages to a loved one and a refusal to let go. In other places COWBOY PURSE, notes Beyoncé, “I used to say I talked too country/And then the rejection came, I said I wasn't country enough.” I challenge anyone to listen to this one and find a way to characterize it as not being country enough.
— Maria Siroky
Associate Editor
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