Beyoncé is breaking out.
Midway through Cowboy Carter, her eighth and most recent studio album, released this past spring, a voice makes the project's mission statement plain over blaring alarms and a thunderous beat-declaring the concept of genre to be a sense of confinement for those artists whose creativity is too wide-ranging to fit in a neat box. All before Beyoncé herself saunters in comparing herself to Thanos, the Marvel villain known for seeking precious stones of mystical power to claim as his own and assemble into one unified superpower.
There may not be an accompanying music video, but the lyrics conjure a potent visual: Beyoncé, armed with a bedazzled gauntlet, breaking down every stultifying wall, label, or box the industry ever tried to put her in across her 30-year career.
It's a theme that applies to much of what Beyoncé has been up to for the past decade or so, especially in the last couple of years: a mission of reclamation, recentering Blackness in spaces where our influence has since been de-emphasized, whether in rodeo, on the great American plains, or on sweaty ballroom dance floors.
The project has been powered by legacy. Each step forward is illuminated with a look back, a tour through time tracing her own roots, while also yielding the knowledge that her family tree is just one in a larger forest where everything is connected. Whatever she does feels that much grander because of it. A new country-influenced album isn't just an exercise in undoing the strictures of genre; it's a history lesson, where forgotten pioneers can get their props and true lineages can be explored. (That voice denouncing genres belongs to Linda Martell, the Black country pioneer whose efforts endured some of the same resistance Beyoncé faced.)
This story is from the {{IssueName}} edition of {{MagazineName}}.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the {{IssueName}} edition of {{MagazineName}}.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
Why Does Everyone Have Big, Fake White Teeth Now? - Veneers were once a dirty secret. Now they're the new luxury status symbol, and the famous and wealthy are flocking to Hollywood's favorite dentist in search of ever more perfect teeth.
Early one afternoon in August, at his office on the ninth floor of the Camden Medical Arts building in Beverly Hills, Dr. Kevin Sands slipped on a black surgical mask and latex gloves before peering into the mouth of a sleeping princess. Instead of standard medical scrubs, he wore black Amiri slacks, a matching James Perse T-shirt, and Nike sneakers designed by Travis Scott. On his left wrist was a Patek Philippe Aquanaut with a khaki green dial and matching strap. The watch cost just over $50,000, which is about a third of what her royal highness was paying to have 28 perfect-looking cosmetically enhanced teeth restored with a new set of handmade porcelain crowns and veneers.
'90s-Inspired Sneakers Have Never Looked This Fresh - The 1990s, a golden era for fashion and sport, left an indelible mark on global culture. It was a decade of high-flying slam dunks and superstar athletes with runway-worthy personal style.
The 1990s, a golden era for fashion and sport, left an indelible mark on global culture. It was a decade of high-flying slam dunks and superstar athletes with runway-worthy personal style. The sport-style sneaker, once confined to the court, made its way to the streets, becoming a style staple of everyday life. With its enduring influence, this historic moment continues to shape fashion choices of the supremely stylish, even today. It's this beloved nostalgia for the past that inspired the latest sneaker from Golden Goose: the cutting-edge yet perfectly retro Forty2.
Paul Mescal Enters the Arena - The shorts get shorter. The roles get bolder. The fans grow ever more ravenous. Now Paul Mescal is trading his indie tears for blockbuster blood as the centerpiece of Ridley Scott's Gladiator II.
The shorts get shorter. The roles get bolder. The fans grow ever more ravenous. Now Paul Mescal is trading his indie tears for blockbuster blood as the centerpiece of Ridley Scott's Gladiator II.
From Budapest to Guadalajara With Mexico's F1 MEGASTAR
FORMULA 1 drivers like to say that there is very little race car driving involved in driving race cars these days.
GRIN
Artist Chase Hall paints his canvases with coffee, making large-scale works that examine mixed-race identity in America. Now, on the eve of the biggest show of his career, Hall is reconciling his fractured past with his blindingly bright future.
can THESE GUYS MAKE ROCK Bands COOL AGAIN ???
When FONTAINES D.C. were living in Dublin and making their first album, Dogrel, the five band members would pile into drummer Tom Coll's car and blast their freshly recorded songs through the speakers.
VAGES RISING
No place in America is more prone to reinvention-and Las Vegas is new all over again. New food, new art, new sports, new heat, and, yes, new Sphere. We sent BRETT MARTIN to take stock of the great American city of the future-and find out whether this Vegas is the best version yet.
THE SEASIN OF THE NOVA KNICKS
LIKE SO MANY College friends, Jalen Brunson, Josh Hart, Donte DiVincenzo, and Mikal Bridges were resigned to going their separate ways after school.
The Original! Reversible! Luxury Sport Watch!
Three new versions of Jaeger-LeCoultre’s legendary Reverso arrive just in time for the resurgence of this unsung icon of sport-watch history.
Can Anyone Catch Lamar Jackson? - There is an awestruck, almost mythical way that folks discuss Lamar Jackson. Teammates, coaches, and fans talk about the Baltimore Ravens' incandescent 27-year-old quarterback
There is an awestruck, almost mythical way that folks discuss Lamar Jackson. Teammates, coaches, and fans talk about the Baltimore Ravens' incandescent 27-year-old quarterback like he's the football version of Paul Bunyan, if Bunyan ran the 40-yard dash in 4.3 seconds.
