Like most people who fall in love, it happens when I least expect it.
I planned to spend most of Friday staring at the sea and drinking wine at my happy place until it was time to meet up with friends later that evening.
Sipping a caramel macchiato, I signed on to social media while looking at the stunning turquoise waters rolling before me. Many Black women in my social circle were buzzing about Beyoncé’s new country music album.
They were practically rhapsodic about Beyoncé’s cover of the Dolly Parton hit, “Jolene,” and included social media mentions or articles saying that “Dolly P” co-signed on the cover of her signature song.
I wouldn’t call myself a country music fan. I mostly stayed away from country music because of its racial history. However, I recently started hanging out with a guy who has “Save a Horse, Ride a Cowboy” in his regular musical rotation. Welcome to Akumal, where “the odds are good, but the goods are odd.”
However, Beyoncé hooked me when she broke out in an Italian aria in the middle of a country song in “Daughter.” I could only listen to the album in tiny bits because I had a “new” favorite song every hour. As of this writing, “II Most Wanted,” Beyoncé’s duet with Miley Cyrus and, “Spaghetii” are my favorites. “Spaghetii” is also my new workout song.
“Did Beyoncé invent a new musical genre while I was getting drunk on frozen Boo Berry vodka last night?” I asked on Meta.
At first, sharing my love of Cowboy Carter with other like-minded people was fun. And then…things got weird.
One Black woman said she didn’t like Cowboy Carter because Beyoncé references John Wayne in a song, and “everybody knows that John Wayne is racist.”
“So,” I thought, “we’re just going to ignore that Beyoncé spotlighted Black women in country music and the many, layered meanings of ‘Blackbird’ which Paul McCartney wrote because the Little Rock Nine inspired him?”
A white male friend insisted that Cowboy Carter wasn’t “real” country music and promoted Tanner Adell instead. I sent him a screenshot of the social media post where Adell said working with Beyoncé was thrilling and inspiring. Also, my friend completely missed the irony of a white man deciding what country music is and isn’t.
Also, also…Seriously? Is our cultural critique reduced to triggers and virtue signaling?
I did what anyone who wants to preserve their inner peace does – I deleted the Meta app on my phone and decided that now is a good time to go on a social media fast.
Besides, I don’t know how many times I can read a white woman posting, “I dunno what all the hype was about. Beyoncé could have done more.”
Done more what? Tom Cruise gets praised for doing his own stunts in movies. Beyoncé has reinvented every musical and creative space she’s in while educating the public about Black, female, and queer influences in nearly every musical genre, and she could have done more?
Sometimes, I really can’t stand people.
More importantly, I wanted to shut out the world to sit with the recent creative and spiritual downloads that God is raining down on me so fast that I don’t have time to process and implement.
For example, I’m tired of hustling. I’m tired of asking people to notice and support my work or buy my programs. I’m tired of people trying to sell me some framework guaranteed to increase my social media following.
Second, Beyoncé’s homage to and collaboration with country music singers past and present compelled me to think about the role of generosity in creative collaboration. Until recently, I’ve only experienced creative collaboration as extractive and exploitative. However, watching Beyoncé’s process from the periphery, I realized that collaborating becomes an act of generosity when you know who you are and what you’re meant to do. You share your gifts. Your creative partner shares their gifts. Together, you elevate while creating something new.
Finally, what pace do I want to create and share with the world? Marketing and entrepreneurial experts contend that consistency is key to success. Are creatives who produce work nearly daily more successful than those who do so sporadically? What pace is right for me?
I need to spend time with those questions instead of wasting it arguing with people determined to miss the point of Cowboy Carter.
The older I get, the more I crave silence. I guess I didn’t see that one coming either.
Two things -- 1) I LOVE my recent collabs on Substack. They have given me life. 2) I limited comments to paid subscribers only to shield myself from some of the backlash. Those who want to comment and know me well also know how to reach me.
Welcome to my world of tuning out the noise of opinionated contention and tuning into what will best serve MY gifts and those aligned. As I deeply desire to generously disseminate them in ways that literally cocreate ease and prosperity for all of us NOT choosing to be on the extracting, exploiting hampster wheel/treadmill of hustle and opine like we know better. It is not sustainable or fun or nourishing in any way.
This is a much appreciated share that helps me feel in good company and not alone in seeing the spinning on criticism and opinion that does none of us any good. Also - can't wait to check out Beyonce's latest innovation. Anyone without her level of innovation can't have a critical opinion. Period.