Thanks to Beyoncé, now the rest of the world knows what it really means to be Texan and country.
We know some outsiders looking into our state think that we’re all a bunch of racist, transphobic, ignorant people, but Beyoncé (intentionally or not) is using Cowboy Carter to show what most of us know to be true: Texans are legendary and iconic.
Monday night, to an audience of thousands of people in Los Angeles, and millions more who watched on Instagram and TikTok lives (shoutout Da’Nelle aka Dee IYKYK), Beyoncé once against raised the bar for the competition, which let’s be honest, is only herself, ahem she’s one of one and the only one.
Beyoncé’s journey to this moment has been a rough ride, to say the least. She’s been iced out of country music awards, criticized for not being country enough and been the subject of racist vitriol time after time. Still, the queen has shown that to be a Texas woman means to be that girl, to say things you know will offend those who were going to criticize you anyway and to wear your roots proudly because you know that Texas is the trend.
The tour for Cowboy Carter, above everything, is a coming home to showcase and share her Texas roots.
Unless you were lucky enough to be at the opening night of the Rodeo Chitlin’ Circuit, you have probably been living vicariously through all of the online sneak peeks from opening night. Everything that’s a part of the tour had a touch of Texas, from videos of her childhood in Houston, to her riding a gold mechanical bull, to the outfits and merch, so let’s dive into what we’ve seen that stood out.
The Cowboy Carter Pre-Game
The moment guests went through the venue gates, Texas and southern culture was front and center. According to fans on Tiktok, each person was invited to a free SirDavis Whisky tasting (the one she released last August named after her moonshiner great-grandfather). Fans had two taste choices, neat or Texas Buckin’, which the latter included the Sirdavis American Whisky, lemon juice, honey and ginger beer.
A Texas Hold’Em drink with bourbon could be purchased as a cocktail for $24, an additional $15 gets you a souvenir collectible cup which appeared to be a clear plastic base resembling a mason jar (like what many of us Texas girlies drink from) with a Texas white cowboy hat as the lid and a red straw through the middle.
Next up, was good ol’ Texas hair. It’s no secret Beyoncé has never been afraid to stay true to her big Texas hairstyle. She caused a social media uproar that prompted big Texas hair tutorials after she “wore the most Texas hair of all time” for the September issue of GQ, where she spoke on all things Cowboy Carter, her whiskey and her beauty brand Cécred. Tour attendees in Los Angeles enjoyed a Cécred pop-up with her products, hair styling, and a souvenir keychain with a Texas cowboy hat on top.
The merch shops took us back to what you may see at the Texas State Fair or the Houston Rodeo. Each item was intentional and authentically Texan, like cowboy hats in a print pattern with stars and stripes and a denim checkered fabric hat (no silly plain jane spaghetti straw hats — a big Texas pet peeve).
Because football is king in Texas, Bey had her own football jerseys made for the Cowboy Carter Tour. Hand fans (a staple for the Texas heat) were also available for purchase. Many of the queen’s apparel items featured Texas and rodeo imagery like horseshoes, Beyoncé holding a banjo, spurs, a bucking horse, rodeo ropes, a t-shirt that said, “This ain’t a country tour, it’s a Beyoncé tour,” ripped blue jean shorts with a Cowboy Carter label on the back and a tank that simply read “cowboy.” on the front. Some of the items read “Los Angeles” on them, which can lead one to guess that mother will have something very special for her Houston homecoming in June.
Cowboy Carter Rodeo
We don’t want to spoil your fan experience, so we won’t share the setlist, but if that’s your thing and you can’t wait, check it out here. (Although, real fans know that Beyoncé likes to change things up for her tours.) Instead, let’s focus on just a few of the iconic moments that scream Texas.
Bey and Blue traded their all-white fits from their first live Christmas performance of “Texas Hold Em’” for a more laid-back Texas country look. Blue herself wore jeans and a t-shirt while mom wore jean shorts and a trucker hat. Of note were some of the dancers who wore cowboy hats, resembling Eryka Badu’s signature towering hat look. Badu is a fellow Texas woman and music icon in her own right.
Don’t worry though, rhinestones, sequins and fringe were still front and center during much of the show. (yep, the quintessential uniform for anyone on a Texas drill team during Friday night football games.) Blue and Bey switched it up a bit for the performance of “YA YA” and wore chaps and jeans and yes cowboy hats.
Southern car culture has been a staple for much of Beyoncé’s career, from showcasing slabs in 2012 in her video for “No Angel” to the shiny candy-green painted lowrider in Lemonade’s ‘Hold Up,” and of course the slew of cars she featured during Beyoncé Bowl at the NFL halftime show in Houston. This time around, she flew around SoFi Stadium on a custom bright red lowrider with her iconic plate that reads “BNCNTRY,” singing to “16 Carriages.”
Beyoncé could not be any more clear about her Texas pride: for “Tyrant,” she rode on a gold mechanical bull; and she hopped on a horseshoe for “Jolene” seconds after a giant shape of Texas, a giant brown cowboy boot and a giant version of her Texas license plate reading “BNCNTRY” were presented across the stage like the numbers at a boxing match.
As journalist Taylor Crumpton put it, “The truth is that country music has never been white. Country music is Black. Country music is Mexican. Country music is Indigenous.” Beyoncé knows that and is making sure the world knows that Texas is Black. Texas is Mexican. Texas is Indigenous. Texas has never been white.
And, of course, Texas and its women have always been iconic.
