\n\tWhen Beyonc\u00e9 <\/a>released her Cowboy Carter<\/em>\u00a0album on Friday (March 29), the second in a trilogy of albums following 2022\u2019s\u00a0Renaissance<\/em>, one of the immediate standouts from the country music-influenced project was a lush, harmony-stacked version of The Beatles<\/a>\u2019 classic \u201cBlackbird\u201d (stylized as \u201cBlackbiird\u201d on the album).<\/p>\n \n\tBeyonc\u00e9\u2019s lilting, gentle singing on the spare arrangement is accompanied by gorgeous, soaring backing vocals from a collective of rising Black female country artists \u2014 Tanner Adell, Tiera Kennedy<\/a>, Reyna Roberts<\/a> and Brittney Spencer<\/a> \u2014 whose profiles are already rising less than 24 hours since the album came out.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cIt is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,\u201d says Kennedy, who also provides background harmonies on the\u00a0Cowboy Carter<\/em>\u00a0track \u201cTyrant,\u201d as do Spencer and Roberts. Of \u201cBlackbiird,\u201d she says, \u201cIt was so beautiful. It feels like we were having a little Destiny\u2019s Child moment. To get to share that moment with them on such an important song, with Beyonc\u00e9, is cool.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tPaul McCartney<\/a>, with contributions from John Lennon, wrote the original song as a tribute to the Little Rock Nine, a group of Black students who in 1957 endured racial discrimination after enrolling at Little Rock Central High School in Arkansas. McCartney told GQ<\/a><\/em> in\u00a02018\u00a0that according to slang used in England in the 1960s, \u201cA bird is a girl, so I was thinking of a Black girl going through this \u2013 you know, now is your time to arise, set yourself free, and take these broken wings.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tThe women did not know that their song had made the final cut until Beyonc\u00e9 released the track list on Wednesday and did not hear the recording until the album was released first thing Friday.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cI posted some pictures of me [on social media] seeing the track list for the first time,\u201d says Adell \u2014 who, like the other women,\u00a0added that her phone has been ringing off the hook all day. \u201cI was waiting along with the rest of the world. You never know, right? Things change all the time. So to see my name on that track list was just as much of a gasp moment [for me] as it was for everybody else, I promise.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tThe women, who recorded their four parts together without Beyonc\u00e9 in the studio, are prohibited from sharing specifics about how they became involved with the record or the actual recording process. There is so much privacy around the project that\u00a0Adell could not answer if she had already recorded the song by the time she posted this message to Instagram on Feb. 11: \u201cAs one of the only Black girls in the country music scene, I hope Bey decides to sprinkle me with a dash of her magic for a collab.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tKennedy says she heard the final version of \u201cBlackbiird\u201d the same time as the rest of the world, when the album came out at midnight. \u201cIt was crazy emotional hearing it for the first time,\u201d she says. \u201cI was bawling. Hearing my voice for the first time on that song and seeing my name, I\u2019m still trying to process it. I dreamed that this would happen, but I never imagined.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tWhile Beyonc\u00e9 sings lead on the majority of the track, Kennedy\u2019s lead vocal can be heard as the song draws to a close, on lines including \u201cTake these wings and learn to fly.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cI get choked up every time thinking about it,\u201d Kennedy says. \u201cI\u2019ve been in Nashville almost eight years, and there have been a lot of highs but a lot of lows, and sometimes you do feel broken. Being on the Beyonc\u00e9 album, I feel like I\u2019m soaring.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cWhen I heard it, I thought it was so beautiful,\u201d adds Spencer. \u201cWe hear it when we\u2019re recording,\u00a0but to hear the finished mix and the master, it\u2019s really overwhelming. I listened to it with the ears of a fan.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tThough the four women were aware of each other and some of them are close friends, the quartet had never sung together and did not know how stunning their vocals would sound together. \u201cIt\u2019s amazing just to hear the blend of all of our voices together and just how impactful it is \u2014 the fact that Beyonc\u00e9 is lifting all of our voices simultaneously and taking it to the next level,\u201d Roberts says. \u201cI\u2019ve been listening to it kind of nonstop, but it was definitely crazy to hear all of us together. It just sounded so beautiful, angelic and powerful.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tAdell, who also sings on the album\u2019s\u00a0\u00a0\u201cAmeriican Requiem,\u201d says her father\u2019s favorite song is The Beatles\u2019 \u201cBlackbird,\u201d so even though it came out long before she was born, she was very familiar with the song and its message. \u201cIt\u2019s a powerful statement to have four Black country females on this track accompanying Beyonc\u00e9. \u2026 I\u2019m grateful for Beyonc\u00e9 to shed some light on other country artists like myself.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tTo the women, Beyonc\u00e9 \u2014 whose Cowboy Carter<\/em> lead single \u201cTexas Hold \u2018Em\u201d stands at No. 35 on Billboard<\/em>\u2019s Country Airplay<\/a> chart and has spent six weeks atop Hot Country Songs<\/a> \u2014 has long served as a paragon of possibilities and hope, even in a genre where they feel they are often swimming upstream, both as women and women of color.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cBeyonc\u00e9 has always been my biggest inspiration and I\u2019m just so thankful, because I feel like to hear all of us on her song, it just shows that she believes in us and that is so empowering,\u201d Roberts says. \u201cI\u2019m still in awe of the fact that my favorite artist in the world that has shaped my music, my art and my vision is now uplifting me.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cI\u2019ve adored Beyonc\u00e9 for so long. I can\u2019t count how many times I\u2019ve been in Nashville and would say to myself, \u2018What would Beyonc\u00e9 do?\u2019 At times when things felt really hard or when I wanted to elevate my thinking or feel better, there\u2019s so many times where she\u2019s just been a beacon of light in my life personally,\u201d Spencer says. \u201cJust being on a record with her, I just never thought that would happen and so it\u2019s\u00a0really beautiful.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tEach of the women is already making inroads on their own.<\/p>\n \n\tAlabama native Kennedy, who hosts Apple Music\u2019s\u00a0The Tiera Show<\/em>, has released songs including \u201cJesus, My Mama, and Therapy.\u201d The former Valory\/Big Machine artist also performed in a tribute to Shania Twain at the 2022 ACM Honors and appeared in Dolly Parton\u2019s music video for \u201cPeace Like a River.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tAdell broke through with her debut single \u201cHonky Tonk Heartbreak.\u201d She followed with \u201cFU-150,\u201d \u201cI Hate Texas\u201d and \u201cBuckle Bunny,\u201d all included on her 2023 Columbia Records EP\u00a0Buckle Bunny<\/em>, a mesh of country, rock, hip-hop and R&B sounds. She has since parted with Columbia.\u00a0Both her and Roberts\u2019 songs saw an immediate increase in streaming <\/a>after \u201cTexas Hold \u2018Em\u201d was released.<\/p>\n \n\tElektra artist Spencer first garnered attention in 2021 after she covered \u201cCrowded Table\u201d from The Highwomen, who have invited her on tour with them.\u00a0Spencer released\u00a0her debut full-length album,\u00a0My Stupid Life<\/em>, earlier this year.\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tRoberts released her debut album\u00a0Bad Girl Bible, Vol. 1<\/em>\u00a0last year and has opened concerts for Reba McEntire. ESPN has used her\u00a0tracks \u201cStomping Grounds\u201d and \u201cCountdown to Victory\u201d on Monday Night Football.<\/p>\n \n\tSpencer hopes their participation \u2014 and Beyonc\u00e9\u2019s support of\u00a0new Black country artists (Willie Jones and Shaboozey are featured on other songs on the album) \u2014 sends a message to the country community and its lack of diversity.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cI don\u2019t know what exactly her intention is, but I think we can all assume that it\u2019s a good one,\u201d Spencer says. \u201cShe\u2019s definitely made a statement, and I think she\u2019s paying attention and she cares about what\u2019s happening and she cares about Black country music. It\u2019s powerful to watch. She\u2019s the biggest artist in the world and she\u2019s seeing what\u2019s happening. To me, that says a few things: It says that the state of what\u2019s going on is actually way more dire than I think people give it credit for. When I talk about that, I\u00a0talk about,\u00a0just honestly, the bigotry of this town. I think the world is watching. I think she\u2019s making a statement. If anybody can get people\u2019s attention in Nashville, I think it might be Beyonc\u00e9, and she\u2019s done it in her own way. And it\u2019s brilliant.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tKennedy praises Beyonc\u00e9\u2019s inclusion of country legends as well. \u201cI think it is so beautiful what she has done with this album \u2014 the collabs with Willie [Nelson], Dolly [Parton] and Linda Martell and for her to give a spotlight to up-and-coming artists like me, I have no words,\u201d she says. \u201cI\u2019m so thankful to her for giving us this spotlight, and I intend to keep shining that spotlight on other artists. There are so many amazing artists in country music who have been working so hard. There are so many different sounds in country music \u2014 hip-hop country, R&B country like I sing, Latin country \u2014 and she\u2019s brought this entire audience to country music.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tFor Roberts, her participation is a sweet victory of another sort. \u201cI actually sang [\u2018Blackbird\u2019] in middle school, and I remember auditioning for a solo and I did not get it,\u201d she says, with a laugh. \u201cIt\u2019s full-circle, because I definitely got it now.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n![\"Tiera](\"https:\/\/www.billboard.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/tiera-kennedy-acm-awards-2023-billboard-1548.jpg?w=1024\")
![\"Tanner](\"https:\/\/www.billboard.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/Tanner-Adell-2024-billboard-1548.jpg?w=1024\")
![\"Brittney](\"https:\/\/www.billboard.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/Brittney-Spencer-cr-Jimmy-Fontaine-press-2024-billboard-1548.jpg?w=1024\")
![\"Reyna](\"https:\/\/www.billboard.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/reyna-roberts-press-2024-billboard-1548.jpg?w=1024\")