Diva spring: Beyoncé & Shakira + TV recs

It’s spring, and all the pop divas are releasing new albums: first Shakira, with Las Mujeres Ya No Lloran, then Beyoncé with Cowboy Carter, and later this month, a new Taylor Swift album. I’m pretty much Taylor agnostic - I don’t dislike her, I’m just not her core demographic and unlike some other (relatively) newer artists (i.e., those who rose to fame in the 21st century), I’ve never taken the time to get to know her music. This is all to say, I will have nothing useful to say about her album. Shakira and Beyoncé, however, I have lots of thoughts on.

Shakira released her first album in 7 years last month, and while I’ve never been a Shakira super-fan, this is honestly an amazing, no-skips album for me. Now, a lot of the songs are under 3 minutes, which means there’s very little drag at all on this album. Tangentially, this seems to be a trend in recent years - songs under 3 minutes - which goes against the long-running rule of the “3-minute pop song,” which dates all the way back to the early era of music recording (there wasn’t space for a longer song on the first phonograph records).¹ Another thing is, Shakira went into this album release with 7 (!!) singles that had already been released—some (“Te Felicito” and “Monotonía”) go all the way back to late 2022! At least 4 of those singles were already bonafide hits, including “Shakira: Bzrp Music Sessions, Vol. 53,” which won Song of the Year at the 2023 Latin Grammys, and her duet with fellow Colombian singer Karol G, “TQG,” which also won a Latin Grammy. All of these singles are bangers, and my current favorite is the bachata, “Monotonía.”

The Bzrp song was successful in large part because it was a scorching diss track aimed at her ex, Spanish soccer star Gerard Piqué. The song, and much of the album, is about reclaiming her identity as a loba (she-wolf) who’s done taking shit from men who aren’t her equals. The album’s title translates to “Women Don’t Cry Anymore,” taken from one of the most memorable lines of Bzrp: “las mujeres ya no lloran, las mujeres facturan” (women don’t cry anymore, women make money). It’s much more in-your-face and (seemingly) feminist than we’re used to seeing from Shakira,² and I love it.

The other great thing about the album is that Shakira reminds us about what a shape-shifter she is, genre-wise. Early in her career she was more of a rockera, but since her English-language crossover in the early 2000s, she’s been a Latin pop icon, dipping in and out of different genres like many of her peers do. Las Mujeres Ya No Lloran gives us a little bit of everything - there’s rock latino, reggaeton, electro-pop, bachata, ballads, collaborations with Mexican regional groups (a style that’s blown up in recent years), and even Nigerian-style Afrobeat. One thing I notice is that her rock-oriented songs have more interesting vocals, and she uses different techniques, whereas the pop/dance tracks seem very heavily produced and more uniform. In any case, the generic variety echoes what Bad Bunny did with Un Verano Sin Tí, where he departed from his usual Latin trap and featured several other Latin genres.

Because of this, I’ll be extremely unhappy if Shakira isn’t nominated for Album of the Year at next year’s Grammys. Not the Latin Grammys, but the Grammys Grammys. Bad Bunny broke a huge barrier in 2023 when he became the first Spanish-language artist to be nominated for the biggest prize of all, Album of the Year. Las Mujeres Ya No Lloran deserves the same recognition. While Shakira would be competing with both Beyoncé and Taylor (meaning she’d have almost no chance to win), this album should be treated as one of the best of 2024 and get a nomination.

As a transition to speaking about Cowboy Carter, I couldn’t help but notice that my social media feeds were abuzz with discussion (mostly high praise) for the album, it felt like Shakira’s album was almost completely ignored. It’s frustrating to be reminded how English-language centric American music consumers are, even when it comes to a global pop star like Shakira. She has always been as genre-bending/fluid as Beyoncé is, and we need to be thinking about her in the same way we talk about Taylor and Beyoncé.

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I’ve been digesting Cowboy Carter for the past 10 days, and at least half a dozen songs have wormed their way into my psyche in significant ways - a different song every day. It blows my mind the quality of the music Beyoncé woman continues to put out, and how she succeeds in pretty much owning any genre she touches.

My first favorite song on the album was “Bodyguard,” because it was such a delightful surprise for me. It’s got strong Fleetwood Mac/yacht rock vibes, which I’ve never heard from Beyoncé. This was supposed to be her “country” album, but when I heard this song for the first time, it became clear that it’s actually much more expansive than that. There are some career-best songs on the album, and her vocal production - which spans an incredible range of styles - is impeccable, as usual.

I don’t really listen to country, so it’s unsurprising that a lot of my favorite tracks of the album don’t sound like standard country. However, it’s clear that one of Beyoncé’s goals was to expand the definition of what country could be (and always has been). Another immediate favorite of mine is “Tyrant,” which has backup vocals from the country legend herself Dolly Parton on the intro. However, it’s the main song, featuring an incredible violin riff paired with a bass-heavy trap beat, that really captures me. The lyrics allude to western themes - Beyoncé’s playing the role of an outlaw - but the musical track is thoroughly contemporary. Riiverdance also mashes up country sounds with dance music, and in fact sounds like it could’ve been at home on Renaissance, but it’s the vocals and lyrics that really pull me in. The chorus of the song is very house-adjecent "Bounce on that shit, dance!" - has this catchy guitar lick behind it, but the verse feels almost haunting to me, both lyrically and musically. She’s singing this one note, repeated over and over again and backed by minor chords: “Staring down the barrel of his gun, yes he shot me down. I died and someone brought me back to life, but never to my senses.”

There’s gorgeous vocal harmonizing on this song, and all over the album, which we hear immediately in the opening, “American Requiem.” “Alligator Tears” is a song that’s really grown on me because of the languid vocals and incredible harmonies. And then there’s the *very* country-sounding duet with Miley Cyrus, “II Most Wanted,” which is probably my favorite collaboration on the album. Their vocal tones are so incredibly different - Miley’s raspiness versus Bey’s syrupy tones - but the harmonizing really works. And I would say it’s the only song where she isn’t outshining her invited guest. I also really love “Daughter,” a thematic callback to “Daddy Lessons” from Lemonade, which remains a favorite of mine. Many people are discussing “Daughter” as a murder ballad, a centuries-old genre associated with Appalachia, and the orchestration (in addition to the fact that Beyoncé interpolates an Italian aria!) make it feel epic. One of the most memorable lines of the album is on this song: “If you cross me, I am just like my father, I am colder than Titanic water.”

Notwithstanding all the greatness of Cowboy Carter, I do think it drags at several points and that some tracks should've been cut. Lemonade (probably still my fave Bey album, tho Renaissance is close) is 49 min. Renaissance is 62 min. Beyoncé is 66 min. This one is 79 min and it's simply too long. There are a lot of interludes - two by Willie Nelson and one by Dolly Parton - but I’m already skipping them. Beyoncé clearly felt the need to show us she had the blessing of country music legends.

In fact, quite a few of the features and covers seem designed to appeal to the mainstream music industry - whether the Grammys voters or the country music gatekeepers.³ That makes Cowboy Carter feel like a less audacious project than we’ve seen from Beyoncé in the past decade. There’s also some contradictory messaging going on. She and Jay-Z have repeatedly said in their music that they don’t care about winning Album of the Year (remember “Tell the Grammys fuck that 0-for-8 shit” on “Apeshit”?). On “Sweet Honey Buckiin” Beyoncé references it again: “AOTY, I ain’t win. I ain’t stuntin’ ‘bout them. Take that shit on the chin. Come back and fuck up the pen.” And yet, her and Jay-Z’s actions seem to be saying they still want this accolade. Jay-Z called out the Grammys on their own stage in February for not giving his wife AOTY, saying it made no sense.

We now know that many of these songs were recorded 5 years ago or so (Cowboy Carter was originally supposed to be Act I of her current trilogy instead of Renaissance). But it feels like some of the “safer” decisions she made on this album may have been a reaction to being denied AOTY yet again in 2023 (for Renaissance). By her own words, she was inspired to make this album because of the racist reception she received when she performed an incredible version of “Daddy Lessons” with The Chicks at the Country Music Awards in 2016. However, I think it’s likely songs were added to Cowboy Carter in the wake of her loss at the 2023 Grammys. This is all complete speculation, but some of these decisions may have been Beyoncé deciding to do things to increase her chances of winning AOTY for this record, like recording covers of legendary songs—Dolly Parton’s “Jolene” and Paul McCartney’s “Blackbird”—with not only their blessing, but also their musical participation. Recording a duet with Miley Cyrus, considered country music royalty (despite her own dipping in and out of genres), is also a way of saying “I belong here.” Beyoncé’s versions of the covers are impeccably produced and sung, and she introduces lyrical changes to “Jolene” that change the tone of the song, but I find them less interesting musically than the original music on the album.

I also wonder about a few other featured artists on the album, namely rapper/singer Shaboozey (basically an unknown musician before this album) and white rapper Post Malone. The duet with Malone is a very silly love song that could easily be sponcon for Levi’s Jeans. But Shaboozey is featured on two different tracks (something Beyoncé hardly ever does), and judging by his verses on these songs, he’s not a particularly great rapper. One question some have been asking is, if she wanted to go with a Black country-oriented rapper, why didn’t she invite Lil Nas X? His breakout song in 2019, “Old Town Road,” caused a similar controversy/racist backlash to what happened at the Beyoncé CMA performance. He has had multiple hits since then, as well as coming out as queer; he has challenged not only the racism of the country music industry but homophobia within the Black community. I feel like his inclusion would’ve been a bold choice, similar to what Beyoncé did at the CMA’s when she asked The Chicks, who had been completely shut out of country music after critiquing George W. Bush, to perform with her. Instead, she invited an arguably less talented, and certainly less controversial musician (Shaboozey) to record with her.

All of this is to say that this album feels less intrepid than Beyoncé’s past three albums (Beyoncé, Lemonade, Renaissance). It seems to be a bid to finally win AOTY. Because this is the way institutions work in this country (see the many actors who have won Oscars for performances that weren’t their greatest), she probably has a better chance to finally win it next year. I mean, unless they want to bestow a 5th AOTY onto Taylor—which frankly would be an embarrassment since she already holds the record for most wins in that category. Again, no shade to Taylor, but come on - Stevie Wonder has fewer AOTY wins (3) than her.

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I’ve gone long so here are just a few TV recommendations:

Shogun, currently airing weekly on FX/Hulu, is at the top of my list for best shows of 2024 thus far - Fargo is its only competition for me. It’s adapted from a book about an English pirate who gets shipwrecked in 17th century Japan - a place Portuguese traders had been “keeping to themselves” (from other European powers) until then. There was a miniseries made 40 years ago which I never saw, but this one supposedly goes far deeper into the lives and customs of the Japanese characters. It’s a gorgeous show, wonderfully acted and written, and although it’s very clearly a drama, one underrated aspect of it is how funny it is. The language (a mix of Japanese and English) is exquisitely crafted, and the act of translation itself is a crucial aspect of the story.

We’ve also started watching 3 Body Problem on Netflix, which is a sci-fi/fantasy show from the creators of Game of Thrones. It also involves a mix of languages, as it takes place in two timelines, one of which is 1960s/70s communist China and the other in modern-day London. There are some real doomsday aspects to the story, elements that challenge all the laws of physics. I’ll always prefer a character-driven story like Shogun to genre shows, but so far it’s compelling.

Another great character-driven period show that I recently caught up on and loved was The Knick, streaming on Max (HBO). It’s not new and it only lasted two seasons, but it was directed by Steven Soderbergh and stars Clive Owen and Andre Holland, both of whom are incredible. Some great supporting performances as well, especially by Juliet Rylance. It’s set in turn of the 20th century New York and Owen plays a brilliant surgeon working at a time when the field was still using relatively crude methods - he’s experimenting with new methods. But he’s a coke addict. Holland is a Black surgeon who of courses faces racist obstacles at every turn. It’s gory cuz of the subject matter, but it’s really superbly done, especially in the way it comments on the social issues of the period - racism, anti-immigrant nativism, reproductive rights. And there’s a chance we may eventually get a third season that picks up with Holland’s character and may be directed by Barry Jenkins! I really hope this comes to fruition.

Finally, I’ve been filling some film knowledge gaps recently. I watched Mean Girls - and yeah, I totally get why it’s so iconic now! Also Magnolia, which is a strange and very long film, but which I had to mention as proof that Tom Cruise, in addition to being one of our longest reigning movie stars, is also an incredible actor. I just adore his performance in this film.

1. Oooh, my first Substack footnote! I can’t precisely say why shorter songs have become a thing, though it seems related to the much-discussed shorter attention span people have these days (whether this is actually true or whether executives just think we all want shorter content). But I think it’s also perhaps a way for artists to earn more in the streaming era. Their earnings aren’t mostly from album sales anymore, but from how many streams they have on Spotify or Apple Music (and each stream pays very little). This incentivizes artists to record singles instead of albums and maybe to record shorter songs that can be streamed more times.

2. I was very disappointed when Shakira came out recently with a terrible comment about her sons feeling “emasculated” by Barbie. It just felt so out of place with the bad-assery of this album. I mean, she lyrically cuts Piqué down to size numerous times, including calling him out for being an exploitative boss on the rousing corrido “El Jefe.” So it’s curious for her to say that the (hardly radical) feminist message in Barbie was emasculating for her sons.

3. I didn’t come up with this idea. I’ve read and listened to several reviews that say as much.