“I feel like she’s always been genre-less, but I think the leaning into country elements and sort of reclaiming country music back to Black people because they created the genre is such a statement,” ‘The Middle’ singer said of Bey’s latest foray into country music.
Maren Morris is here for Beyoncé‘s return to country music.
While speaking to E! News last week, Morris weighed in on Bey’s upcoming album, Act II, following the release of her two new country singles, “Texas Hold ‘Em” and “16 Carriages.”
“I feel like she’s always been genre-less, but I think the leaning into country elements and sort of reclaiming country music back to Black people because they created the genre is such a statement,” Morris, who hasn’t shied away from criticizing the problematic atmosphere surrounding country music, said.
“Rhiannon Giddens playing banjo on ‘Texas Hold ‘Em,’ which is such an amazing statement in itself,” she added.
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The “Bones” singer also shared her enthusiasm of the coming project as a whole, which drops on March 29.
“Obviously, like most people, I’m so utterly excited to hear the whole album,” Morris gushed. “I was listening to ’16 Carriages’ this morning, and just marveling at the production and the lyrics and the vulnerability.”
Morris also praised fellow country star, Lainey Wilson, during her conversation with E!, telling the outlet, “it’s just nice to meet women that are in that genre and killing it. It’s so refreshing when they’re also just, like, such a good individual.”
The 33-year-old musician’s comments about Bey’s return to the genre come after she seemingly took a step away from it, citing its surrounding racism, misogyny and homophobia.
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“The stories going on within country music right now, I’ve tried to avoid a lot of it at all costs,” she told Los Angeles Times in September, following a public back-and-forth with country star, Jason Aldean, and his wife, Brittany, over their comments about gender identity. “I feel very, very distanced from it. I had to take a step back.”
However, the Grammy winner later clarified that she wouldn’t be stepping back from her country roots entirely.
“I don’t think it’s something you can leave,” she explained on The Tonight Show in November. “It’s a music that’s in me and that’s what I grew up doing. It’s the music I write. Even if I’ve been genre-fluid my whole career, you can’t scrub the country music out.”
