Beyoncé’s Cowboy Carter rides onto Guggenheim – but museum denies involvement
Beyoncé’s Cowboy Carter has been promoted on the exterior of several NYC museums, but the institutions have now confirmed they weren’t involved in the stunt.
New York, New York – Projections promoting Beyoncé‘s upcoming album, Cowboy Carter, have popped up on several New York City museums, but the teams behind the museums have since denied authorization of the advertisements, sparking new questions about the venture.
On Wednesday, the 42-year-old singer shared the coordinates of the Big Apple’s iconic Guggenheim Museum, which had been lit up with a projection that read, “This ain’t a country album. This is a ‘Beyoncé’ album” along with Cowboy Carter’s release date and link to Bey’s website.
Similar promotions, some of which featured projections of the album cover, were seen on the exteriors of the Whitney Museum, New Museum, and Museum of Arts and Design.
However, the plot thickened when the Guggenheim told ARTnews that the museum “did not authorize this activation” and wasn’t told about it ahead of time.
Despite the confusion, the Guggenheim took advantage of the press and shared Franz Marc’s Three Horses Drinking painting via Instagram with the caption, “This ain’t Texas” – a lyric from Cowboy Carter’s lead single, Texas Hold ‘Em.
The Museum of Art and Design similarly confirmed to the New York Post that they were “not involved” with the projection either but were “thrilled” by the spotlight on museums, and the Whitney Museum echoed the sentiment and shared their well-wishes for the album’s success.
Amid the chatter over the museum stunt, Cowboy Carter has sparked an important dialogue about the feelings of exclusion that led Beyoncé to the country genre.
Beyoncé spotlights Black contributions to country music with Cowboy Carter
When she unveiled the album’s title and cover art earlier this month, Bey revealed that Cowboy Carter was “over five years in the making” and was inspired by the
“It was born out of an experience that I had years ago where I did not feel welcomed…and it was very clear that I wasn’t,” the Halo artist wrote.
Fans believe this was a nod to her performance at the 2016 Country Music Awards, where she sang her song Daddy Lessons alongside The Chicks.
Beyoncé’s appearance had been met with backlash before it had even taken place, and the performance was later wiped from the ceremony’s website.
Nearly a decade later, Bey has been inspired to push into the country genre at full force, drawing attention to the overlooked contributions of Black artists in the genre at the same time.
Cowboy Carter is also known as “Act II” in a follow-up to her 2022 album Renaissance, which took a similar approach by intentionally honoring the impact of Black and queer creators within disco and house music.
The Grammy winner intends to make it an album trilogy, with rampant speculation from the BeyHive suggesting Act III will tap into the rock genre.
Cowboy Carter drops on March 29.