Beyonc, Spare My Pockets, Please

This article includes material from HuffPosts weekly culture and entertainment newsletter, The Culture Catchall. Click here to subscribe .

When Beyonc sang Changed the game with that digital drop , it was not a one-time event. 

Since the release of Act II: Cowboy Carter on March 29, Spotify streams for the Black country artists featured on Beys latest album have skyrocketed, per The Hollywood Reporter . The 27-track album has already broken streaming records, according to CBS News , becoming Spotifys most-streamed album in a single day in 2024 so far.

On Monday, Beyonc was honored with the Innovator Award at the iHeartRadio Music Awards . In her acceptance speech, she thanked musical figures such as Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Tina Turner, Prince and Tracy Chapman, leading fans to believe that Act III of her in-progress musical trilogy could be a rock or alternative album. 

Shes been a busier Bey than usual, out and about far more than were accustomed to seeing her  and the internet has been ablaze with theories, especially after a new website shared by her label Parkwood has sprung up: Beencountry.com . Will she be announcing an Act II tour soon? Will Beyonc finally give us the long-awaited visuals weve been asking for?

The verdict is still out on why, exactly, this new website exists. However, the URL is likely a dig at those whove told Beyonc that she wasnt country enough, as she sings in Ameriican Requiem. As Michael Arceneaux wrote for HuffPost, her foray into country is not forced or fake. This isnt cosplay for Queen Bey; it is undeniably her culture, and shes been country since birth.

White artists, such as Canadian Shania Twain, Australian Keith Urban and Pennsylvanian Taylor Swift, arent questioned about their authenticity, but the goal posts are moved, or rather narrowed, for Black musicians. Despite hailing from Houston, wearing cowboy hats since the 2000s and being ridiculed by TV personalities for her Southern accent , Beyonc remains the subject of nebulous country enough litmus tests.

Thus far, the websites main page only shows a few images, scattered across a black background: a banjo; present-day Beyonc sporting fur chaps; a photo of her mother, Tina Knowles, born Celestine Beyinc, in grade school; and a young Bey participating in the Texas Sweetheart Pageant. On Thursday, she released a Pony Up remix of Texas Hold Em. (She did the same with numerous remixes of Break My Soul and Cuff It from her 2022 album, Act I: Renaissance.)

We have nary a clue whats next, but what I do know is this: Beyonc, maam, we are broke. As you sang in Pure/Honey, the worlds at war and we are certainly low on cash. Very, very low. Please, do not succumb to the trend of artists releasing tour announcements, then giving fans only two days to scrounge up money. 

Now, very credible sources (i.e. my friends) recalled that although Beyonc released Renaissance on July 29, 2022, she announced the subsequent tour on Feb. 1, 2023. Fans then siphoned themselves off into respective groups Groups A, B, and C  and a peer of mine secured her tickets just six days later. (Thank you, Zoe, for the timeline.)

Maybe, just maybe, there is hope for us. So, please, spare our pockets momentarily, Bey. I hope to see you in Club Rodeo soon  but that can only happen if you give the Beyhive time to get our money up.

Subscribe to The Culture Catchall to stay up to date on all things Cowboy Carter.