“This ain’t a Country album. This is a ‘Beyoncé’ album,” wrote the singer in an Instagram caption announcing her eighth studio album “Cowboy Carter,” a continuation of a project containing multiple acts, Act I being 2022’s critically acclaimed “Renaissance.”

She may have been a bit tongue in cheek here but the sentiments remain undeniably true. “Cowboy Carter” is a resounding testament to Beyoncé’s long history of refusal to adhere to the traditional confines of genre and reclamation of a space of which she was forced out.

I remember the first time I heard her 2016 album “Lemonade.” I had to wait a long three years for it to be released on Spotify since it was released exclusively on Tidal, the streaming service founded by her husband Jay-Z bought in 2015, and, as a high school student, I was too broke to afford another subscription. When I finally got my hands on it, I was amazed at how effortlessly she traversed genres like reggae, rock and country (see “Daddy Lessons”) while maintaining her innate R&B sensibilities.

When I first heard “Break My Soul,” I expected the associated album, 2022’s “Renaissance,” to be a house album, a subsect of electronic dance music, and homage to Black, queer........

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