Beyoncé’s cover of Jolene

No. This album is horrendous, especially the alleged cover of Jolene.

She'll fuck it up.

Why?

There are many ways to sit on a horse. This is not one of them. Why?

Kill it. Her Jolene is an abortion.

Beyoncé’s version of Jolene is an abomination

Black aggression ruins one the greatest songwriting accomplishments of the 20th century

I don’t get it at all- a major article on the album in the NYTimes as well… mediocrity rules!

Although the black aggression post above is racist.

Eh, it's fine. IDK how I feel about "Cowboy Carter." I think the Pentatonix cover of Jolene, which apparently won a Grammy, is worse, but do you.

She should leave the standards to people with talent .

I'm not feeling it, dawg.

No!!

I resent this being a cultural event I'm supposed to care about.

[quote] Azealia Banks on Beyoncé's version of "JOLENE":

[quote] "Who is this imaginary adversary that she thinks still wants to be involved with Jay-Z in 2024? She needs to change the subject. Nobody, and I mean NOBODY, finds him attractive..."

Why are Beyonce's vocals so loud? She already oversings. If anything the vocal track needs to be reduced by 50%

that is so bad. jeez, I thought it would be like Miley, different but still interesting or good. oof.

“Black aggression” troll — repeating yourself endlessly doesn’t make you any more convincing.

Why the need to butcher the original lyrics? Not good enough for her?

Her cover of Blackbird is actually quite nice and straightforward, and hews closely to the original.

[quote] "Who is this imaginary adversary that she thinks still wants to be involved with Jay-Z in 2024? She needs to change the subject. Nobody, and I mean NOBODY, finds him attractive..."

She misses the point. Young women - beautiful young black women, who can maybe sing a little - don’t want to get involved with Jay Z because he’s physically desirable.

Likewise, Beyoncé being threatened by losing Jay Z isn’t about what a great catch he is but because he was the one who built her career.

Beyonce FLOP

And somebody made this about Jay Z and Rihanna

Ouch

[quote] greatest songwriting accomplishments of the 20th century

MARY!

Dolly thinks this will be another cash cow for her, like Whitney was.

This is pure feces

The song is about a woman begging another woman to not take her man. Not very empowering.

Her cover sounds like she’s emulating a Billy goat.

If I were her, I'd be begging for someone to take my man.

Never fuck with Dolly.

I don't listen to Beyonce or country music so this is a double non-event for me. I appreciate that many people enjoy her and see this album as tearing down barriers. She seems to be taking bows for her courage and audacity, which is a bit self-serving. Call me when she does an opera album.

Eh. I like Miley's stripped down version better.

Wow, that's awful.

Please R30, do NOT give her any ideas. You know that she is perfectly capable of doing that, and I rue to imagine how awful the results would be.

America’s Civil War II is averted, y’all! Queen Bey has saved us. Praise the Lord!

Give the album room to breathe! I hope there’s at least 3 great songs on there.

She should have tried to ruin Fancy too.

That song is so tired

It's not a country hit - country folks aren't buying it - it's the same dim bulb Beyonce stans who forking over their money.......t may be on the country charts - but it ain't COUNTRY......unless you leave out the "o".

Beyonce doesn't have the voice for country music. She sounds too breathy and weird.

Wanted to like this album, but it’s painful.

Loved Renaissance.

The fuck is "black aggression"? This is the 3rd time this month I'm seeing this phrase. Always from absolute garbage. Coincidence?

I love it! Download it today!

[quote] The song is about a woman begging another woman to not take her man. Not very empowering.

Not unless Dolly is the one singing it. That woman is power personified, while "queen bey" is an empty shell of an artist controlled by her pimp/husband. She does what she's told to do.

I just don't get why Beyonce is hyped like the Second Coming. They're just entertainers FFS, not deities.

She's a moderate talent whose career and image have always been shaped by men (her father and then Jay Z) and she's dumb as a post.

I don't dislike her, I like some of her music, but she's not Jesus.

To BIPOC female identifying folx r44….Beyonce’s life is the ultimate aspirational life plan for they / them.

Get some man to tell you what to do, wear pretty dresses, and avoid all responsibilities.

R19 is right, any fabulously wealthy man will have pretty girls throwing themselves at him.

And Banks is smart enough to know that, btw.

It’s great. Suckers, fuck off.

True r45 they all do seem to want to be catered to and cosseted by some alpha male.

Average DL-er reacting to anything Beyonce does:

I skimmed through a couple of the songs on Spotify. Is it me or does this album have NOTHING to do with country? Just because you throw in a little steel-string guitar every now and then doesn't make it country.

It sounds weird, neither fish nor fowl. It's not a concept album, there's no "red thread" connecting the songs... I have no idea what she was going for here.

Wow. That sounds TERRIBLE. Not just her "new" interpretation. The voice is... well, something. When she sings "planted seeds" around 2:20, I literally cringed. Holy shit. It's so bad Its someone trying to sound country who definitely isn't.

I listened to the song once & don't need to hear it ever again.

It did nothing for me.

This remake wasn't necessary or even catchy.

The Blackbird song posted above is slightly better but also necessary.

She should try to redo some of Brittney Spear's horrible Alvin & the Chipmunks "vocals " on her albums.

I'd look forward to that if & when it ever happens.

[quote] She should have tried to ruin Fancy too.

"Fancy" had an R&B rendering long before Reba did it.

I love that Dolly allowed Beyonce to change the lyrics. I can withhold commentary on the quality of the song and just acknowledge Dolly's generosity and good nature as a songwriter.

Dolly knows she's going to make a ton of $$$ on this song, that's why she let Beyonce do whatever she wanted. Whitney made Dolly millions with I Will Always Love You.

I wonder if Dolly let Beyonce have songwriting credit because there is an entirely new bridge on the song.

Beyonce is such a boring, uninspired singer.

[quote] just acknowledge Dolly's generosity and good nature as a songwriter.

Generosity? She got paid.

Stop for God's sake with this bitch.

Enough already.

Yes, she got paid, but she may have also conceded half her royalties to the five bullshit lyrics Bouncy added to the song.

I'm very disappointed in her. She wouldn't do it for Elvis (nor should she have) yet she bends to this cunt's will.

Not the same. Elvis wanted 100% of the publishing rights. You don't know whether Beyonce got any %age for changing the lyrics.

[quote] You don't know whether Beyonce got any %age for changing the lyrics.

Yes, hence the use of "may have."

And no, Elvis didn't want 100% of the publishing. What a fucking idiotic thing to say.

Colonel Parker you mean

Tell it to R62, he/she's the one who referenced Elvis.

Dolly Parton is a shrewd business woman, no generosity involved when it comes to her music. She made an excellent deal for herself, you can be sure of that.

What she might think privately about the cover.. well, that could be a whole different story.

[quote] I wonder if Dolly let Beyonce have songwriting credit because there is an entirely new bridge on the song.

The song has new lyrics so unless Dolly wrote those new lyrics someone other than Dolly will have a songwriting credit.

[quote] What she might think privately about the cover.. well, that could be a whole different story.

Dolly recorded an interlude for "Cowboy Carter" that completely cosigns Beyonce's menacing reimagination of her song, so she's onboard.

[quote] . I have no idea what she was going for here

Album of the year. This is all Jay-Z. Everything about the country concept, her look and styling, marketing, using a classic beloved song by a classic beloved singer is calculated to win that award. This is all it is. And stupid people will give her this award next year.

And when she wins, I do not want to here Jay Z or DJ Khaled complain/rap about being rejected or misunderstood by “the man” to the poor and misguided masses who believe their schtick, and buy their music while they sit on their yachts sipping Dom with the Obamas.

THIS is "Jolene"

Miley singing " Jolene" in a subway station.

Y'all are just a bunch of bitchy racist sexist contrarians, I swear.

The album is amazing. And after giving Jolene a few listens, it's pretty damn brilliant actually. It's not a straight-up cover, it's a modern reimagining.

Lots of great stuff on this album. I was surprised by how much I liked it actually.

lol this is not getting album of the year. Please.

R73 the album is meh at best.

Beyonce has a good voice and she is capable of putting out worldwide bangers, but this album is an L.

And her cover of Jolene is blasphemous

I won’t listen to it. You can’t make me.

Miss Appropriation

[quote]And her cover of Jolene is blasphemous

Oh please. That song is not a religion. And Dolly likes the new version. So get over yourself.

DOLLY IS THE MESSIAH

No.

[quote]it's a modern reimagining.

Kind of like Broadway shows which change the main character from white to black and declare it a " reimagining"?

WTF is Dolly supposed to say? "It sucks"? Of course, she's going to say she likes it, even though she might not.

R81 = racist idiot who cannot stand his culture not being completely centered in everything, Jesus Wept.

Truth hurts sometimes, R83.

It's delusional on your part to think you even know what the truth is.

She's an overhyped mediocrity.

She may be overhyped, but she's definitely not mediocre.

It's a bad remake. If Beyoncé wanted to remake "Jolene," she should have remade it. Respect the source material and put your spin on it.

Beyoncé didn't remake "Jolene," she rewrote it. 80% new lyrics, vastly inferior. All about threatening the woman coming for her man. Serving what the audience demands.

"Jolene" didn't need to be rewritten. Dolly's lyrics are emotionally honest. Both men and women feel vulnerable when someone threatens to take away their partner. That's what makes country country — the tear-in-my-beer quality.

But there's no room for vulnerability in this juggernaut. Beyoncé just seems to be interested in producing what will get peak "Yasss queen" on social media. There's no emotional truth. It's all show, all cart and no horse, as they say.

I heard it referred to as a Westworld version of country music. It does give Westworld.

[quote] She may be overhyped, but she's definitely not mediocre.

You're right. She fucking sucks.

Good analysis r88.

Must everything be “iconic” now?

No, R90, she absolutely does not. It's weird that it's so important to you to put down an obviously very talented artist like that. If it's not your thing, it's not your thing, but that doesn't change the fact that she's a brilliant artist.

[quote] No, [R90], she absolutely does not. It's weird that it's so important to you to put down an obviously very talented artist like that. If it's not your thing, it's not your thing, but that doesn't change the fact that she's a brilliant artist.

Shut up.

No. YOU shut up. Your whining is tired.

There is a full year to go before the Grammys, and there is no way this is winning album of the year. Maybe it’ll win country album of the year as a sympathy, sort of we’re not racist type move but it’s not winning overall album of the year.

Tracy Chapman is more of BIPOC country musician, and 100 X more talented, than Beyonce Knowles

[quote] No. YOU shut up. Your whining is tired.

Oh, you got me!

Slow news days, apparently.

It shows what kind of mind (or lack thereof) that she and her followers have when the goal is winning another fucking Grammy. Apparently she even mentions not receiving Album of the Year in a song. Real artists don't care much about that shit. She's just another attention seeking, mediocre talent that got lucky. And she has a team who does 99% of the work for her anyway.

She sings through her nose. After listening to her version of Jolene, it only made me want to hear the Miley version.

Brilliant? Beyonce is good, but brilliant? Bitch, please.

[quote] Tracy Chapman is more of BIPOC country musician, and 100 X more talented, than Beyonce Knowles.

Your impression of Tracy Chapman completely misses the point. Tracy was not accepted by country radio or the country music firmament. She was regarded as "folk-pop" even though her debut album had clear and obvious appeal to country music fans. She enjoyed acclaim and spectacular success when she released her debut album, which makes it even more striking that her "country" album was rejected by country radio. Now, 35 years later, her song is heralded by country radio because it was recorded by a white man.

Beyonce is making a frontal attack on the genre with music that is more Beyonce than country. Should be interesting.

Beyonce has won 32 Grammys.

Aretha Franklin won 18 Grammys.

Gladys Knight has won 7 Grammys.

Dionne Warwick has won 6 Grammys.

Elvis Presley won 3 Grammys.

Diana Ross has won NO Grammys. Diana Fucking Ross. NO Grammys.

Again, Beyonce has won 32 Grammys.

The Grammys are a fucking joke.

[quote] Beyonce is making a frontal attack on the genre with music that is more Beyonce than country

BWAHAHAHA…..MARY

[quote]Beyonce is making a frontal attack on the genre

And everybody into country music is like "whatever."

Fun Fact: Beyonce isn't the first black woman to score a country hit. Way back in 1974 The Pointer Sisters had a big country hit with "Fairytale." It won the Grammy for Best Country Vocal Performance By A Duo Or Group. They performed onstage at the Grand Ole Opry.

Don’t tell Beyonce but Charley Pride won CMA Entertainer of the Year, Male Vocalist twice, Grammys and he had 52 top-10 hits on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart, 30 of which made it to number one. The wokes ignore Charley because his life story doesn’t go along with their concocted narrative.

Is Beyonce even BIPOC anymore?

Beyonce is blonde 24/7 now

R109 that’s a rich white woman from Connecticut

Op is cringe

I think Beyonce is starting to crack up. She seems mentally unstable. An aging sex bomb is always a sad thing to behold.

These Yassss Kweens have zero taste or backbone. It’s hilarious how fast they’ll fall in line with whatever trend they see on some influencer’s instagram story.

It like she shit on Dolly

Jay-Z's version was better.

Exhibit R that Queen Bey doesn't have a single original thought in her overrated head.

My cat would cover this in his litter box

From what I understand of songwriting credits, if you change any of the lyrics more than vocal flourishes the original songwriter has the right to reject the new version or accept it and give a portion of the publishing to the person who added the lyrics.

Who knows what Dolly and Beyoncé’s contract was but I doubt Dolly would give away any large portion of her share from one of her most iconic songs. IWALY was not a well-known song until Whitney picked it up, but Jolene is widely considered to be her best song, at least by non-country music listeners.

While I doubt Dolly gave much away, I also don’t think Beyoncé would add to the song without getting paid. It would be simpler to just sing the original if you weren’t looking to make some money.

I wanted to like it, but it just falls flat. Changing the lyrics was just unnecessary and added nothing.

Honestly, I've never liked any of the cover versions of Jolene. Jack Black's cover and Miley Cyrus's cover were both awful imho.

Dolly's original is sublime, and you can really believe the emotion. She was coming from a real place when she sang it and you can just feel it. All of the others who've covered it sound like they're just singing the lyrics with no meaning behind them.

I just looked it up on YouTube and listen to the song. I’m sure Dolly was fine giving up some points on the songwriting because she will be getting performance royalties for her spoken part at the beginning.

After hearing Beyoncé’s lyrical changes I agree with those here who say she ruined the song. The reason the song is beloved is because it flipped the normal script for these types of heartbreak songs. She’s not calling the Jolene a home wrecker, she’s not angry. She’s praising Jolene throughout the song, and Dolly is implying that she doesn’t measure up. Dolly is being vulnerable, begging a better woman not to play around with the man that Dolly really loves, more than Jolene probably does. The naked vulnerability this song describes is what makes it art.

Beyoncé’s version, on the other hand, changes the song back to the confrontational norm. By changing the viewpoint to a confrontational one, she totally removes what makes the song special. This isn’t a woman who is begging, this is a woman who is challenging. I understand why Beyonce did this. Much of her brand for the last decade or more has been built around portraying a fearless, strong woman, and while that serves her image and popularity it absolutely misses the point of the song.

It’s easy to see why she decided to cover it. Jolene is an almost revered song, by a definitely revered artist. It also has a good tempo and the guitar riff is well-known. Given what she wanted to do with the point of view and the defiance she wanted to add, it would have been more appropriate to cover Loretta Lynn’s “You Ain’t Woman Enough” from the same era.

r120 gave far more nuanced thought to "Jolene" than Beyoncé did.

Here's my favourite cover of Jolene. The fact that he didn't change the gender or the lyrics, gives it a whole new depth!

Beyoncé shits again and people lap it up

Dolly traded the voice performance to not give up any publishing. The Colonel wasn’t getting it and neither is Bey

Country Music has its roots in Black Music (just like Rock & Roll).

There are a lot of tributes to this fact throughout the album.

Why does EVERYTHING have to be about race???

R126, spoken like a racist white dude.

I love love love the slowed down version of Dolly's "Jolene" (I think it's posted at r115 above although I didn't click on the link) - I actually think I like it more than the original. Once I heard it I couldn't go back to the original without thinking she's singing too fast. The somberness of the slowed down version just really works for me with what the song is saying

"Jolene" was written at a time where it would have been unpopular, in the country genre, to threaten your man's mistress. Dolly wrote the song for her time and her recording is the definitive take. I don't think a straight cover of "Jolene" by a woman whose brand is about self-esteem, confidence and strength would be well-received in 2024. Still, I think she traded on something familiar and gave it her own spin. She got her man together on "Lemonade" and has now turned her attention to Becky.

If you click on link above you’ll hear a great song about a woman threatening a rival from that same era or even earlier. But country music does have a lot of songs from both sexes about putting up with shit from unfaithful partners. I blame Hank Williams.

R57 The scuttlebutt is if the song is on the album, Beyonce always gets a writing credit no matter what.

Not this time, R131

Beyonce is making a frontal attack against good music.

My fave version of Jolene, Mindy Smith with Dolly

Op you’re supposed to cover shit

[quote]The scuttlebutt is if the song is on the album, Beyonce always gets a writing credit no matter what.

Dolly refused writing credit to Elvis when he wanted to record “I Will Always Love You.” She sure ain’t giving it to flash in the pan Beyoncé.

Dolly has the writing crecit. Even with the new lyrics. More evidence she's fine with the new lyrics.

I always thought the original song meant, Don't take my man -- take me!!!

To clear this up once and for all... here are the writing credits.

Beyonce sucks.

She doesn't. Just stop.

She may not be your cup of tea but, that doesn't mean she sucks.

I love Azealia Banks

The white Stripes version was better

R142 Regardless of whether or not you agree with her takes, she's such a relentless cunt that it's often exhilarating...like peak Ann Coulter.

Dolly reacts to Bey’s cover:

[quote] "Bestie turned my country song into a ghetto disstrack for that HORRENDOUS man... embarrassing."

I know Dolly didn't really say that but "ghetto diss track" is perfect for this turd of a remake.

Haha if only that were true, R145, I would love Dolly for it.

Of course, she gushed on Instagram.. Parton is too savvy a business woman.

Whatever you think of Beyoncé’s horrendous cover of Jolene, directly below her blond lace front wiglet, she’s got fabulous tits

Nope.

R37 oh please, this from the crew that beat every song into the ground

Next up: Beyonce and Jay Z do a remake of Islands In the Stream

🎵🎵Islands in da stream dat is wut we are

Sail away wit me to anotha fuckin' world

And we'll be fuckin one anotha uh huh 🎵🎵

[quote]Whatever you think of Beyoncé’s horrendous cover of Jolene, directly below her blond lace front wiglet, she’s got fabulous tits

I'm sorry, honey, but I'm gonna need my eye glasses...

R152 It’s already been done… back in 1998.

She looks like Rita Ora at r148's link.

[quote]This was the spirit in which, after a dozen or so listens, I embraced Beyoncé’s reimagining of Dolly Parton’s 1970s classic “Jolene.” It’s the 10th song on her expansive, 27-track country-flavored album “Cowboy Carter,” and it upends Parton’s plaintive classic, recasting the narrator as a powerhouse who’s not only not intimidated by Jolene — she’s mocking her. Where Parton pleaded, “I’m begging of you please don’t take my man,” Beyoncé purrs, “I’m warnin’ you, don’t come for my man.” Where Parton yielded, “I cannot compete with you, Jolene,” Beyoncé menaces, “You don’t want no hеat with me, Jolene.”

[quote] This was the spirit in which, after a dozen or so listens, I embraced Beyoncé’s reimagining of Dolly Parton’s 1970s classic “Jolene.”

If you have to browbeat yourself to like a song, then how good could it possibly be? Why is everyone tying themselves into knots to lick this cunt's cooch?

People are scared to publicly say what they think at this new Jolene because it will inevitably be seen as racist. Even if that doesn’t happen, her fans will come after the person regardless.

I like some of this new album but her new Jolene sucks and nobody wants Jay z