Current:Home > StocksLily Allen says Beyoncé covering Dolly Parton's 'Jolene' is 'very weird': 'You do you' -WorldMoney
Lily Allen says Beyoncé covering Dolly Parton's 'Jolene' is 'very weird': 'You do you'
View
Date:2025-04-25 20:52:51
Beyoncé's newest album, the genre-spanning, country-inspired "Cowboy Carter," has many famous fans – but Lily Allen isn't one of them.
The British Grammy-nominated singer shared her hot take on Thursday's episode of her new podcast, "Miss Me?" which she hosts with British TV and radio personality Miquita Oliver.
Allen, who acknowledged she's only listened to "some of" the album, disagreed with how Beyoncé dipped her toe into the country music genre, which involved taking on Dolly Parton's 1973 classic, "Jolene."
"It's very weird that you'd cover the most successful songs in that genre," Allen said.
Co-host Oliver concurred: "I don't think the 'Jolene' one is good. ... I feel like Beyoncé could've done a bit more with it or maybe picked something that was a little less big to cover."
"I just feel like it's quite an interesting thing to do when you're trying to tackle a new genre and you just choose the biggest song in that genre to cover," Allen replied. "I mean, you do you, Beyoncé, and she literally is doing her. Or is she doing Dolly?"
Lily Allen believes Beyoncé's country venture is 'calculated'
Allen and Oliver moved on from "Jolene" to discuss the rest of the album.
Oliver posited, "My friend Seb was here last night and he was like, 'Do you think (Beyoncé is) trying to take over Taylor Swift's market and be the most powerful record-selling artist in the world?'"
"To be honest, that hadn't crossed my mind, and I love me a conspiracy but I think it's been quite calculated," Allen said.
Our review:Beyoncé's 'Cowboy Carter' is a little bit country and a whole lot more
She believes Jay-Z's Grammys speech in February, in which he called out the Recording Academy for not honoring his wife with an album of the year trophy, "was part of this campaign."
Allen said, "That was before the album had come out or even been announced and she was wearing the blond wing and a cowboy hat and Jay-Z did that speech. So it's a bit about challenging these institutions that have thus far rejected Beyoncé as the icon and institution that she is of herself."
She added, "Now (Beyoncé is) the most-played woman on country radio, number one, and I guess she's coming for that market. I don't really know why, but who am I to question it? I mean, whatever floats your boat."
As Oliver pointed out, Allen herself is currently working on a new album in Nashville, her first she's recording while sober.
"I'm not trying to conquer the country market. I'm here because I love country music and always have loved country music; (but I'm) not saying that Beyoncé doesn't," Allen said. "I tell stories in my songs, and country music does the same thing."
Beyoncé asked listeners to enjoy 'art with no preconceived notions'
In February, Beyoncé – who's originally from Houston – became the first Black woman to top Billboard's Hot Country Songs chart after her single "Texas Hold 'Em" debuted at No. 1. "Cowboy Carter" features several genre-bending Black artists as well as country music legends Dolly Parton, Willie Nelson and Linda Martell.
Parton, who appears twice on the record, sang Beyoncé's praises after the album was released on Friday. "Wow, I just heard Jolene," she posted on Instagram. "Beyoncé is giving that girl some trouble and she deserves it!"
"This ain't a country album. This is a Beyoncé album," the singer posted on Instagram ahead of the release of her eighth studio album.
"Being an innovator often means being criticized, which often will test your mental strength," she said in her acceptance speech for the Innovator Award at Monday's iHeartRadio Awards.
"My hope is that we're more open to the joy and liberation that comes from enjoying art with no preconceived notions."
Contributing: Caché McClay
veryGood! (87)
Related
- Questlove charts 50 years of SNL musical hits (and misses)
- Florida school district pulls dictionaries and encyclopedias as part of inappropriate content review
- Pat McAfee. Aaron Rodgers. Culture wars. ESPN. Hypocrisy. Jemele Hill talks it all.
- North Carolina Gov. Cooper gets temporary legal win in fight with legislature over board’s makeup
- Angelina Jolie nearly fainted making Maria Callas movie: 'My body wasn’t strong enough'
- The Supreme Court will decide whether local anti-homeless laws are ‘cruel and unusual’
- Elmore Nickleberry, a Memphis sanitation worker who marched with Martin Luther King, has died at 92
- Watch this little girl with progressive hearing loss get a furry new best friend
- House passes bill to add 66 new federal judgeships, but prospects murky after Biden veto threat
- Kaley Cuoco hid pregnancy with help of stunt double on ‘Role Play’ set: 'So shocked'
Ranking
- 2025 'Doomsday Clock': This is how close we are to self
- How much do surrogates make and cost? People describe the real-life dollars and cents of surrogacy.
- Crash between school bus, coal truck sends 20 children to hospital
- During 100 days of war, a Gaza doctor pushes through horror and loss in his struggle to save lives
- Senate begins final push to expand Social Security benefits for millions of people
- A healing Psalm: After car wreck took 3 kids, surrogacy allowed her to become a mom again.
- Florida school district pulls dictionaries and encyclopedias as part of inappropriate content review
- Wait, did Florida ban the dictionary? Why one county is pulling Merriam-Webster from shelves
Recommendation
Bill Belichick's salary at North Carolina: School releases football coach's contract details
Quaker Oats recall expands: Various Cap'n Crunch cereals, Gatorade bars on list for salmonella risk
Google layoffs 2024: Hundreds of employees on hardware, engineering teams lose jobs
FAA ramps up oversight of Boeing's manufacturing procedures
McKinsey to pay $650 million after advising opioid maker on how to 'turbocharge' sales
Advocates Welcome EPA’s Proposed Pollution Restrictions On Trash Incineration. But Environmental Justice Concerns Remain.
Nevada 'life coach' sentenced in Ponzi scheme, gambled away cash from clients: Prosecutors
A Proud Boys member who wielded an axe handle during the Capitol riot gets over 4 years in prison