album Beyoncé - 'COWBOY CARTER'

[Cbreezy]

2 minutes ago, Kingdom said:

have you wondered if the tracking for the sales are actually wrong and we don't actually know sh*t?  saying she could do 150k first week is....just something. 

Of course, the tracking might be off. But, at the moment, there's nothing to suggest that's the case. 

 

Again, working with the data available, 150k-200k or thereabout isn't that far-fetched. 

 

She's sold an estimated 47k vinyls so far. The CD boxes are said to be selling slowly too. But, for convo sake, let's say that's another 20k

 

She did 120k streaming units first week with Rennie. Let's say her heightened streaming profile gives her 140k this time as a conservative estimate. 

 

That totals just over 200k. Not the worst, but an underperformance and an unnecessary one at. 

 

I'd gladly take it on the chin if it were a surprise release or if the market is bad or if she did all she could. But doing anything in the ballpark above will be annoying because it literally did not need to happen. She's had weeks and weeks to benefit from hype buys.

[benyonce]

19 minutes ago, Cbreezy said:

Thank you!

 

Seriously, why are y'all downvoting @Machete's posts? None of what they are saying is negative. It's the literal, see-it-for-yourself facts. The numbers are right there on @Lose My Breath's posts That's not to say things won't pick up with more reveals. But, as of now, the sales aren't terrible...but they are slow relative to the amounts available. 

 

I sometimes think we don't realize the power of our collective voice by telling it as it is. Make enough noise and her team are more likely to do the things to shift the vinyls quicker. 

 

Having blind belief in her selling just "because she's Beyonce" is setting y'all selves up for the rudest awakening when those Hits Daily Double predictions come in weekend of release, if things don't change. 

 

I refuse to believe those downvoting will be kumbaya'ing if she comes in at 150k first week. It, of course, won't be the end of the world, but 150k with all the variants and pre-order frame IS objectively bad and there is no way of spinning that as anything otherwise.

 

All of this puts insane amounts of pressure on the album to deliver post-release; worry that would have been alleviated had sizeable sums been sold in the many weeks she had since announcing Act II.

 

There is arguable logic to the 10-day countdown thing working as more a concentrated window for promo. But yeah, things need to...move.

Her team can see the numbers, they don't need us as a collective to swarm them. If they want to move, they will.

I still don't understand the hostility towards those suggesting the stock is moving slowly. They are literally limping off the shelves at this point.

[benyonce]

1 minute ago, UncleRandy said:

Do you guys think she will release a collectors edition vinyl? like how she did with Renaissance with the standard cover, poster and a booklet? 

What we currently have is the collectors edition. We have no word on the standard edition as of yet.

Grab em while you can, stocks are selling fast

[Kingdom]

2 minutes ago, benyonce said:

Her team can see the numbers, they don't need us as a collective to swarm them. If they want to move, they will.

I still don't understand the hostility towards those suggesting the stock is moving slowly. They are literally limping off the shelves at this point.

That's what irrirtates me about hive...PARKWOOD have eyes they can see actual numbers. They don't need you to tell, they will move the way they want to. That is up to them..

[Lovett]

I love how many layers there always are with her work!

[Cbreezy]

2 minutes ago, benyonce said:

I still don't understand the hostility towards those suggesting the stock is moving slowly. They are literally limping off the shelves at this point.

Right. 

 

I always thought I was this huge Bey fan (and I am forever and always), but I actively never want to be in that tier of stan that bow at her feet to the point that any kind of critique OF SOMEONE WE ALL COLLECTIVELY WANT TO WIN is pegged as "hating" or is automatically dismissed because it doesn't fit the narrative they want to subscribe to.

 

Have seen it over and over. The same people will magically wake up IF the official numbers are meh and will flood the thread with post-mortems of what she should have done in the run-up to the release. 

 

Ultimately, I just hope she sells well so none of this matters in the grand scheme of things.

[UncleRandy]

3 minutes ago, benyonce said:

What we currently have is the collectors edition. We have no word on the standard edition as of yet.

Grab em while you can, stocks are selling fast

What we have now is being called the limited edition just like Renaissance was with the alternate cover. The one with the poster and the booklet was the collectors.

[Cbreezy]

13 minutes ago, Lovett said:

I love how many layers there always are with her work!

Can I be honest? I think a lot of The Hive on Twitter and TikTok are reaching with these cover and title theories. 

 

Some definitely may be true, but the absolute certainty that some are running with is...interesting. 

 

Like, it very well may actually be called Cowboy Carter because of her married name. And the main cover may just be her stylized take on "Beyonce going Country".

 

That said, I do find the theories fun and interested to see if any of it holds true.

Edited March 22 by Cbreezy

[Kalmanta]

Throwing around numbers like 200k as if we don't have 2 whole weeks to accumulate some more sales, the most important weeks at that. Beyoncé herself said there're gonna be a few surprises. She's 100% surpassing Rennie's debut, I have no doubt.

[mar]

I feel the tracklist coming real soon 

[Burn]

6 minutes ago, Cbreezy said:

Can I be honest? I think a lot of The Hive on Twitter and TikTok are reaching with these cover and title theories. 

 

Some definitely may be true, but the absolute certainty that some are running with is...interesting. 

 

Like, it very well may actually be called Cowboy Carter because of her married name. And the main cover may just be her stylized take on "Beyonce going Country".

 

That said, I do find the theories fun and interested to see if any of it holds true.

!!
 

Like we are NOT the Swifties, we don't need to do this 'Easter egg' bs.

[swissman]

13 minutes ago, Cbreezy said:

Can I be honest? I think a lot of The Hive on Twitter and TikTok are reaching with these cover and title theories. 

 

Some definitely may be true, but the absolute certainty that some are running with is...interesting. 

 

Like, it very well may actually be called Cowboy Carter because of her married name. And the main cover may just be her stylized take on "Beyonce going Country".

 

That said, I do find the theories fun and interested to see if any of it holds true.

I don't know specifically what kind of theories you've seen, but can't it be called COWBOY CARTER because it's her last name AND because it's the last name of the First Family of Country Music? Is Beyoncé not the intentional kind of person who would do something like that? For someone who has declared that she's done a lot of research for this album, it doesn't seem like a reach in the slightest for her to have aligned her own famous musical family name to that of the most famous family in country music.

 

 

Edited March 22 by swissman

[Lose My Breath]

I also totally agree that this will out debut Rennie

 

And I post the numbers because I find it interesting to correlate any kind of promotion with how it sells, not to tear anything down.  It does seem to be moving slowly, but IDK truly as I don't have anything to compare it to, and I have no clue the starting numbers for any of the inventory, just speculation. 

 

It seems like the cover helped it push around 10k in sales, it'll be interesting if the tracklist, features, and credits do the same

[swissman]

10 minutes ago, Burn said:

!!
 

Like we are NOT the Swifties, we don't need to do this 'Easter egg' bs.

these aren't easter eggs though, it's people's interpretation of the artistic symbolism she's making in her work. this is basically the foundation of art criticism and discussion. you look at a work, you find out more about what that artist decided to include in their work, and then you speculate on what they could mean by doing so.

 

or, we can think that Beyoncé just randomly draws album title names out of a hat, picks a horse at random with no meaning behind what kind of horse it is, holds reins a certain way without thinking about it, etc. etc.

 

isn't an easter egg when there's some hidden trivia or hint? like if we zoomed in and there was a reflection of a Freakum Dress in her eyes...not like...using an image of an apple in your work to symbolize knowledge.

 

 

Edited March 22 by swissman

[Cbreezy]

10 minutes ago, swissman said:

I don't know specifically what kind of theories you've seen, but can't it be called COWBOY CARTER because it's her last name AND because it's the last name of the First Family of Country Music? Is Beyoncé not the intentional kind of person who would do something like that? For someone who has declared that she's done a lot of research for this album, it doesn't seem like a reach in the slightest for her to have aligned her own famous musical family name to that of the most famous family in country music.

 

 

I hear you, but the bolded (like much of the theories online) is not confirmed. 

 

It wasn't in her IG write-up nor is there a press release suggesting as such. 

 

I'm personally leaving room for some of the theories to be true, but my point was that people are taking it, running with it as fact, without any confirmed reason.

Edited March 22 by Cbreezy

[swissman]

13 minutes ago, Cbreezy said:

I hear you, but the bolded (like much of the theories online) are not confirmed. 

 

It wasn't in her IG write-up nor is there a press release suggesting as such. 

 

I'm personally leaving room for some of the theories to be true, but my point was that people are taking it, running with it as fact, without any confirmed reason.

I think meaning in art is to be understood as much by the audience as it is by the author. So long as the audience is interpreting it within the framework that we know the artist was creating it (here: reclaiming a genre), it really doesn't matter if Beyoncé didn't notice her family name shares the same name as the First Country of Music until after it was decided, or even until after fans pointed it out. The reality is that that connotation can never be removed from it now, and thus it begins to be a real interpretation of the title. And that's the magic of great art when an artist clearly puts a lot of intention into their work. They don't even need to be around to explain it, and people find ways to understand it. And I think Beyoncé knows this too or she would have spent the last ten years over-explaining every detail of her projects instead of letting them speak for themselves.

 

 

 

But generally, I just find it more likely that she made this connection very easily, and less likely that this was an utter coincidence she never noticed and that when researching country she didn't make any connection to the Carter family's name and that of her own last name...one that she shares with her husband and children. Like, anytime you come across ANYONE with the same last name as you, don't you for a moment think "that's my last name!"?


like... we don't know for sure that Beyoncé meant "in formation" and "information" but don't we all love the brilliance of that line? do we need to say that it's just a theory that it means both things? Or can we just enjoy the fact that it does?

 

 

Edited March 22 by swissman

[Rotunda]

21 minutes ago, swissman said:

I think meaning in art is to be understood as much by the audience as it is by the author. So long as the audience is interpreting it within the framework that we know the artist was creating it (here: reclaiming a genre), it really doesn't matter if Beyoncé didn't notice her family name shares the same name as the First Country of Music until after it was decided, or even until after fans pointed it out. The reality is that that connotation can never be removed from it now, and thus it begins to be a real interpretation of the title. And that's the magic of great art when an artist clearly puts a lot of intention into their work. They don't even need to be around to explain it, and people find ways to understand it. And I think Beyoncé knows this too or she would have spent the last ten years over-explaining every detail of her projects instead of letting them speak for themselves.

 

 

 

But generally, I just find it more likely that she made this connection very easily, and less likely that this was an utter coincidence she never noticed and that when researching country she didn't make any connection to the Carter family's name and that of her own last name...one that she shares with her husband and children. Like, anytime you come across ANYONE with the same last name as you, don't you for a moment think "that's my last name!"?


like... we don't know for sure that Beyoncé meant "in formation" and "information" but don't we all love the brilliance of that line? do we need to say that it's just a theory that it means both things? Or can we just enjoy the fact that it does?

 

 

You have a very interesting ability to see the beauty in anything that has even a potential slight relevance to Beyoncé. 

[Draper.]

33 minutes ago, Cbreezy said:

I hear you, but the bolded (like much of the theories online) is not confirmed. 

 

It wasn't in her IG write-up nor is there a press release suggesting as such. 

 

I'm personally leaving room for some of the theories to be true, but my point was that people are taking it, running with it as fact, without any confirmed reason.

There was never a confirmation for ANY of what happened during the Lemonade film or performances, or Black Is King. She won't explain her art, and these are valid interpretations of it. Nothing really crazy has been said about these covers tbh.

[swissman]

2 hours ago, Rotunda said:

You have a very interesting ability to see the beauty in anything that has even a potential slight relevance to Beyoncé. 

I'm not sure what you mean but I don't disagree.

 

Overall, I just trust and believe in her artistry. And so it's not hard to believe that someone as detail-oriented and admittedly well-researched would have...added details relative to her research.

 

 

Edited March 22 by swissman

[swissman]

12 minutes ago, Draper. said:

There was never a confirmation for ANY of what happened during the Lemonade film or performances, or Black Is King. She won't explain her art, and these are valid interpretations of it. Nothing really crazy has been said about these covers tbh.

this.

 

If a fan discovered the exact pose and arrangement of the cover was on a promotional material from the first black recording artist in history do we really need a press release to think that's what Beyoncé is referencing? this is a very obvious [fake] example but I think it still paints the picture. Beyoncé HAS said she did research. So the Hive taking very basic information about country music and applying it to her cover is not some far-flung theory. Like Beyoncé started looking into the history of country music's appropriation by white artists and she completely skipped the most famous family in country music...the Carter family?

 

 

Edited March 22 by swissman

[Cbreezy]

8 minutes ago, Draper. said:

There was never a confirmation for ANY of what happened during the Lemonade film or performances, or Black Is King. She won't explain her art, and these are valid interpretations of it. Nothing really crazy has been said about these covers tbh.

Art is open to interpretation, that much I get. But I'd sooner say the theories are interesting interpretations "suggestive of xyz" than outright deeming them "valid" or "determinative" in any concrete way. 

 

That's like me literally making up why her hair is platinum on the cover as being "some subversive xyz". I may see it like that, it may indeed be the case, but until there's concrete confirmation, it really is just a theory.

[Lovett]

51 minutes ago, swissman said:

these aren't easter eggs though, it's people's interpretation of the artistic symbolism she's making in her work. this is basically the foundation of art criticism and discussion. you look at a work, you find out more about what that artist decided to include in their work, and then you speculate on what they could mean by doing so.

 

or, we can think that Beyoncé just randomly draws album title names out of a hat, picks a horse at random with no meaning behind what kind of horse it is, holds reins a certain way without thinking about it, etc. etc.

 

isn't an easter egg when there's some hidden trivia or hint? like if we zoomed in and there was a reflection of a Freakum Dress in her eyes...not like...using an image of an apple in your work to symbolize knowledge.

You're so good at articulating your thoughts. These are exactly my feelings too, but I could never convey it as effectively as you do.

[Rotunda]

1 minute ago, swissman said:

I'm not sure what you mean but I don't disagree.

 

Overall, I just trust and believe in her artistry.

 

I can't speak for what makes all of you fans, but for me it grew out of an infatuation with her live performances and was sustained by realizing that I actually love everything she puts out (more or less). Combined with her ever increasing artistry and excellence makes it so that I do see the beauty in her work and that which is relevant to her quite easily.

I guess I say this to mean that I'm a bit less charitable when it comes to looking at how people associate Bey with things, even if I try to be charitable with Beyoncé herself.

 

I don't think anything going on with the Beyoncé theories rises to the questionable level of say Gaylors (who spend their time trying to concoct theories about Taylor's sexuality) or to the One Direction fans who become obsessed with shipping bandmates together, but one thing does gives me pause: 

 

It seems like whenever Beyoncé makes any noise, there's people that run to interpret whatever action she's doing as a form of bad politics (the critiques of the American Flag on the album cover being an obvious one). At the same time, I think there's a push from some members of the Hive to instantly try to control the narrative by positing some counter theories as to why she'd be acting a certain way and then presenting those theories as fact.

 

Do I think the Bey fans are usually right and the Bey haters are just looking for thinkpiece fodder? Yes. But I also think it's stupid script things onto Bey that haven't been borne out yet, just so people can feel superior. 

[luxurious]

I really hope the track list comes out today

[PrettyHurts]

I think what's annoying about the interpretations is a lot of people spread them as if they are fact. It's less about theorizing and interpreting and more about "cracking the code" which is unnecessary and it kinda spreads misinformation and puts words in Beyoncé's mouth. I wish people could be more patient and just wait and see. Stop overthinking so much