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Jolene
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Date Aired
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April 22, 2024
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Running Time
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25:19
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Previous Review
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Todd plays "Jolene" on the piano.
BEYONCE - JOLENE
A pop song review
Todd: So. Here's a poll I put up on Twitter.
Screenshot of Todd's poll, captioned "Twitter (formerly Twitter)"
Todd (VO): Beyoncé's cover of "Jolene": does she get away with it, or is it cringe? And you can see there that it's a pretty even split. Uh, "cringe" did edge it out. I voted that she gets away with it, but you can see by the results that this is a very controversial thing.
Todd: And we're gonna delve into why, but... First, can we a appreciate that I got about 5000 people to call Beyoncé cringe!
Clip of Beyoncé ft. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie - "***Flawless"
Beyoncé: Wake up, flawless
Todd (VO): Beyoncé: [the poll appears again] cringe.
Todd: Last year, if you tried to call Beyoncé cringe, you'd have gotten shot!
Clip of promo video for Beyoncé's RENAISSANCE
Todd (VO): To explain how we got here, we need roll back a couple years, when Beyoncé announced that her next project would be a three part genre experiment, [clip of "BREAK MY SOUL (THE QUEEN'S REMIX)"] the first of which was called RENAISSANCE. RENAISSANCE was a full-on house/dance record, and it was great. Probably the most acclaimed and successful record of that year, and a shoe-in for the Grammy.
Clip from the 65th Grammy Awards
Trevor Noah: And the Grammy goes to... You can read it.
The Grammys just have this need to make their own lives harder, I swear. [clip of Beyoncé at the 2024 iHeartRadio Music Awards] Anyway, earlier this year, she announced the second part of this project, which was to be called COWBOY CARTER. And this one was gonna be a country album, sort of. [clip of Beyoncé - "TEXAS HOLD 'EM"] She said it's not a country album, it's a Beyoncé album. But according to her, it is a response to [clip of GMA story about...] an experience she had a few years ago where she did not feel welcomed.
Todd: Hmm. To understand this...
Clip from LEMONADE trailer
Todd (VO): ...we have to roll back even further to 2016, when Beyoncé released her masterpiece, LEMONADE.
Todd: And for our purposes, the important thing is that it had a full-on country song called "Daddy Lessons".
Clip of Beyoncé performing at the 2016 CMA Awards
Beyoncé: [spoken] Hope y'all feeling good! Give it up for the Dixie Chicks!
Beyoncé: With his gun and his head held high
He told me not to cry, oh, my daddy said shoot
Todd (VO): And it seems like she was really excited about adding the words "country star" to her resume. She submitted it for country Grammys, and she performed it at the Country Music Association Awards with the Dixie Chicks.
Todd: And it seems like it didn't go over great.
Todd (VO): The Grammys [screenshot of headline "The Grammys Still Don't Think Beyoncé's 'Daddy Lessons' Is a Country Song"] disqualified her from the country awards for... stupid Grammy reasons, who knows. And it seems like Nashville didn't really take to her either. [clip of performance from...] Reportedly, country superstar Alan Jackson walked out during her song. [screenshot of Taste of Country video "Proof Alan Jackson NEVER WALKED OUT On Beyoncé at the CMA Awards"] One of the blogs I follow has tried to make the case that that's just a rumor and never actually happened. I'm not sure I'm convinced. [clip of Alan Jackson live performance] And if it is just a rumor, they certainly picked the right guy to pin it on because Alan Jackson has always had a lot of crotchety thoughts about this kinda thing. I saw him say recently that one of the big names in country music was not...
Todd: ..."real" country a few months ago. Who, you might ask.
Montage clip of Lil Nas X performing "Old Town Road" at an NBA game; Jessie Murph, Jelly Roll - "Wild Ones"; Aaron Lewis - "Am I the Only One"; Luke Bryan - "One Margarita"
Todd (VO): Cross-genre interlopers like Lil Nas X or Jelly Roll? Or one of the many washed up rockstars who've turned to country to revive their careers? Or all the trend-riding sellouts in the country A-list?
Todd: He was talking about Chris Stapleton.
Clip of Chris Stapleton live performance
Chris Stapleton: You're as smooth
Todd (VO): The poster child for authenticity in modern country music, "He's not really country, he's a rock-n-roller" says Alan.
Todd: So if even that guy is getting gatekept, you can only imagine what a black woman who makes R&B music felt.
Clip of Beyoncé's CMA performance
Todd (VO): Even though her one country song was in fact a very credible piece of country music, more so than most of the country music that actually gets played. Like, it wasn't like Jordan switching to baseball or anything, Beyoncé knew what she was doing up there.
Todd: Whatever specifically happened, there's plenty of indication that...
Todd (VO): ...the response was weird and not what she expected.
Clip of interview with a country radio host
Radio Host: And then Beyoncé did a self-serving song, I didn't see what it added to the show. I thought it was just ridiculous.
Clip of Howard Stern interview with Natalie Maines
Natalie Maines: It's the highest-rated fifteen minutes in CMA history. And then they start getting, you know, racist assholes bombarding their website with comments and emails and whatever. And so they take her down, they took our performance down and caved to that bullshit.
I'm guessing this is, like, the only time in the past fifteen years that Beyoncé hasn't had the red carpet rolled out for her. [clip of promotional video for...] Accordingly, COWBOY CARTER is a lot more... pointed, I guess. [clip of RENAISSANCE promotional video] It's not like the house record, where she can just get up there and be Beyoncé and soak up the praise. [clip of "TEXAS HOLD 'EM"] She comes into this one with a chip on her shoulder about not only her, but also all black people in general and their place in this kinda music.
Clip of Beyoncé - "AMERICAN REQUIEM" lyric video
Beyoncé: Used to say I spoke too country
Then the rejection came, said I wasn't country enough
Todd (VO): But does she pull it off?
Todd: Obviously she was mistreated by the country music establishment.
Clip of CMA segment about black country musicians
Todd (VO): And since then, we've had to sit through a long, difficult conversation about why the black musician has never made a dollar in Nashville.
Todd: But there are always gonna be questions about anyone who switches genres like this.
Clip from GMA story about the CMA backlash
Todd (VO): Anyone accusing Beyoncé of mucking around where she doesn't belong risks looking very racist.
Todd: But, you can be part of an unfairly excluded underclass and still... you know, suck.
Clip of Nelly, Florida Georgia Line - "Lil Bit"
Todd (VO): We're not all sitting here acting like Nelly's country album was some beautiful piece of art that we all have to love.
Todd: And believe it or not, this came up a tiny bit with RENAISSANCE act 1 also.
Clip of "BREAK MY SOUL"
Beyoncé: Queens in the front and the doms in the back
Todd (VO): Beyoncé is, by all accounts, a very straight woman. And here she is all of a sudden, dropping references to queens, and doms, and delivering her lines in a drag queen cadence.
Clip of Beyoncé - "ALIEN SUPERSTAR"
Beyoncé: Category: bad bitch, I'm the bar
I wouldn't say it was, like, a big discourse, but I did see a couple questions about her appropriating queer culture. [clip of "Vogue" by...] The same questions Madonna got thirty years ago. But you know, they both got away with it cause the music was good.
Todd: And because straight pop divas are queer culture, who are we kidding?
Clip of Taylor Swift - "You Need to Calm Down"
Todd (VO): If Taylor got away with it, Beyoncé's gonna get away with it. [clip of Beyoncé at the 2024 iHeartRadio Music Awards] But COWBOY CARTER, that one's a little different. Beyoncé got a big welcome from the gay community and a chilly one from Nashville. So even though she doesn't have to, she's been talking up her country bona fides.
Clip of "TEXAS HOLD 'EM"
Beyoncé: This ain't Texas
Like, "I am a Texas girl, I am country, I've written country music before and I will do so again." [clip of Beyoncé - "16 CARRIAGES"] Like, it's not entirely a country record; there's also, like, folk, and rock, and of course R&B and hip hop in there, but country is the primary flavor. Especially because, midway through the album, we have the song that serves as the centerpiece of the record.
Todd: And certainly the one that's generated the most discussion, "JOLENE".
Clip of Beyoncé - "JOLENE"
Beyoncé: Jolene, Jolene, Jolene, Jolene
Todd (VO): [sighs] If anyone wants to know...
Todd: ...why I seem to talk about only country music these days. Um, I'm not a very good critic and I don't have very good taste. I just have more of a country background than most pop reviewers, that's my one thing. I have more knowledge than many on this one subject. So, speaking from my expertise as a lifelong country fan, here is some background you need to know if you want to understand any of this conversation before we start. Pay attention. There is a song called "Jolene".
Clip of Dolly Parton performing "Jolene"
Dolly Parton: Jolene, Jolene, Jolene
Todd (VO): It is by a country singer from the '70s called Dolly Parton. And "Jolene" is one of her most notable songs about a woman who has to g- [stutters]
Todd: What the fuck am I talking about!? I don't have to explain "Jolene" to you!
Todd (VO): You already know "Jolene", everybody knows "Jolene". Jolene stole your man and she stole mine. I'm not gonna sit here and pretend you need a primer on this. So...
Todd: ...we'll get into the deeper controversies later. But for me...
Clip of "JOLENE"
Todd (VO): The first, biggest, and most serious problem with Beyoncé's cover of "Jolene"...
Todd: ...is that it is a cover of "Jolene".
Beyoncé: You're beautiful beyond compare
Todd (VO): I think maybe she thought that, like... You know how they tell you to survive prison, that you need to go [image of a gruff-looking inmate] beat up the biggest guy you see?
Todd: I think that's the idea, she's gonna prove herself in this hostile environment by tackling...
Clip of Dolly performing "Jolene"
Todd (VO): ...the biggest country song in the world. After all, she is [clip of Beyoncé's CMA performance] Beyoncé, she's gotta go big, she can't not go big.
Todd: I think that's the idea at least, but... You know, that's not how this works.
Clip of Dolly performing "Jolene" with several other country artists at the CMAs
Todd (VO): "Jolene" isn't the biggest country song, it's the most basic country song. I can't think of a worse way to say you're country than singing the one country song that everyone knows. [clip of "Jolene" covers by Miley Cyrus...] There are already billions of covers of it, [...The White Stripes...] I can think of several right off the top of my head, [...and Olivia Newton John] there were pop covers as early as 1976!
Olivia Newton John: Jolene, Jolene, Jolene, Jolene
Woof. Whatever else you can say about Beyoncé's version, she did not turn it into a disco song. [clip of "JOLENE"] So having this song so prominent in the album, it makes her look like a dilettante. [clip of a woman playing a traditional Japanese instrument] It's like saying you know all about traditional Japanese music, and to prove it, [clip of...] you sing the Pokémon theme. You could at least pick the second most obvious anime theme!
Todd: That's the first reaction at least. However.
Clip of COWBOY CARTER promotional video
Todd (VO): Beyoncé makes the case that she should be the one to cover it, and that she does have something to add.
Todd: First, she gets a co-sign from Dolly herself.
Clip of Beyoncé, Dolly Parton - "DOLLY P"
Dolly: Hey, Miss Honey B, it's Dolly P
Todd: Fun fact, Dolly was throwing up a gang sign when she said that line.
Todd (VO): That's probably not true.
Todd: I just wish I could feel more certain that it wasn't true, you know?
Dolly: You know that hussy with the good hair you sing about? Reminded me of someone I knew back when. Except she has flaming locks of auburn hair, bless her heart.
Todd: Right. Ok, I probably don't have to explain all of this either. But just in case you are not up on your Beyoncé lore, here's the backstory.
Clip of the Jay-Z and Solange elevator fight
Todd (VO): In 2014, there was some kind of public argument between Beyoncé and her husband Jay-Z, and it ended with Beyoncé's sister smacking him in the face. We don't know what that was about exactly, but it led to a lot of rumors about the state of their marriage. [clip of Beyoncé - "Hold Up"] Rumors that went into overdrive a couple years later when Beyoncé dropped LEMONADE. The details were vague there also, but the lyrics seemed to be accusing Jay-Z of stepping out on her with another woman.
Todd: A woman known only as...
Clip of Beyoncé - "Sorry"
Beyoncé: Becky with the good hair
Todd (VO): We never found out who that was in real life, although [clip of Idina Menzel performing "Let It Go"] I have my theories.
Todd: So this is Beyoncé saying...
Clip of "DOLLY P"
Todd (VO): ...that she relates to the song "Jolene".
Dolly: Just a hair of a different color, but it hurts just the same
Todd: Country music is about people's lives and stories.
Clip from LEMONADE
Todd (VO): And Beyoncé's saying she's a woman, she's got stories, she knows what it's like to have third-party interference in her marriage.
Todd: Her life's a country song too.
Clip of interview with Dolly
Todd (VO): She could be the one having the conversation with Jolene just like Dolly Parton. [beat] Right? Or is she?
Todd: See, Beyoncé takes her version somewhere different.
Clip of "JOLENE"
Beyoncé: Jolene, Jolene, Jolene, Jolene
I'm warning you, don't come for my man
Todd: [beat, then Todd sighs]
Beyoncé: Jolene, I'm a woman too
The games you play are nothing new
So you don't want no heat with me, Jolene
Todd (VO): So umm, as you can hear, she is not begging Jolene to not take her man, she is telling Jolene to step the fuck off.
Todd: Yeah, you'll get smacked if you're looking, ho.
Beyoncé: I'm warning you, woman, find your own man
Todd (VO): When I voted that she got away with this, mostly it was a relief that it wasn't a straight cover.
Todd: We did not need any more of those.
Clip of "16 CARRIAGES"
Todd (VO): Beyoncé put her own spin on it and I support that if for no other reason than it's interesting and it gives me something to talk about.
Todd: That said, why was this the direction she took it?
Clip of "JOLENE"
Todd (VO): As in, literally the opposite of what the song is about. [clip of Johnny Cash performance] Would you cover Johnny Cash and make it so it turns out he didn't actually kill anyone so they just set him free? [singing] "I hear the warden coming, he's saying I can leave".
Todd: Here's the thing.
Clip of Dolly performing "Jolene"
Todd (VO): "Jolene" is a song of extreme weakness. Like, you've probably seen that Tumblr gag where "Jolene" is [image of Tumblr post showing...] re-written to be about some kind of, like, Lovecraftian monstrosity.
Clip Michael Kelly - "Jolene (H.P. Lovecraft Version)"
Michael Kelly: Blackening the summer skies
With flaming wings and countless eyes
Please take pity on us all, Jolene
As far as I'm concerned, that is brilliant music criticism, that's absolutely correct.
Todd: "Jolene" is in fact a horror song.
Clip of Dolly performing "Jolene"
Todd (VO): The tone is overwhelming dread from the opening notes. Jolene is described as, like, a goddess to whom we must all pray for mercy.
Dolly: He talks about you in his sleep
There's nothing I can do to keep
From crying when he calls your name, Jolene
Like, think about it, why is Dolly talking to Jolene at all? Shouldn't this conversation be with her husband? Isn't he the person she would have emotional leverage over?
Todd: No, of course she doesn't. And it doesn't seem like the guy has any choice in this either.
Todd (VO): Jolene is just that powerful. So Dolly has to beg Jolene not to destroy her life.
Todd: And keep in mind, there is zero indication that Jolene knows [image of a woman shrugging] what the fuck Dolly is even talking about!
Todd (VO): She could just be standing in the grocery store, listening to this weeping wife like...
Todd: "He talks about me in his sleep?"
Dolly: But you don't know what he means to me, Jolene
Todd: "I'm sorry, who is this again? Have I met him? Who are you?"
Clip of Dolly performing "Jolene" at an NFL game
Todd (VO): I think Beyoncé is attracted to this song because she's attracted to the image of Dolly Parton as we all are. Presumably Beyoncé wants to be, and probably will be, a beloved icon for the next fifty years like Dolly's been.
Todd: But Dolly Parton didn't start out as "Dolly".
Clip of interview with Dolly
Todd (VO): No, before she was a movie star, she was just an actual woman writing about he actual insecurities.
Dolly: It's something I hope that people like.
Host: I'm sure that they will.
Like, listen to that. She hopes you like it. [clip of recent performance from Dolly] I saw Dolly a few years ago, and she did not hope we liked "Jolene". [back to the TV appearance] But that's who she was in 1973. [clip of Destiny's Child - "Bug-A-Boo"] Versus Beyoncé who, the very first time you saw her, was already confidently stomping people into the ground.
Beyoncé: It's not hot that when I'm blockin' your phone number
You call me over your best friend's house
Todd (VO): Beyoncé does not do insecurity. [clip of "JOLENE"] Is Beyoncé gonna beg at the feet of some bitch with... admittedly good hair? No! [clip of "Hold Up"] No, she's not gonna bend for Jolene. Jolene's gonna bend for Beyoncé.
Clip of "JOLENE"
Beyoncé: I had to have the talk with you
Cause I hate to have to act a fool
Your peace depends on how you move, Jolene
Clip of "TEXAS HOLD 'EM" visualizer
I mean, I'm just not sure that's all that interesting a take. Like, I've always kinda struggled with Beyoncé's emotional imperviousness.
Todd: Like, I'm incredibly pervious, so I can't relate.
Clip from LEMONADE
Todd (VO): In fact, Beyoncé's LEMONADE was such a powerful album because it showed the cracks in the armor for the first time. Like, that album's about a lot of things, but as a concept, the hook was: What happens when you're the baddest bitch in the universe and you just get betrayed just like any other woman? What happens when you're literally Beyoncé and this still happens to you? What happens when there's a trifling man that simply cannot be crushed like a bug? What happens when Queen Bey is not offended, but genuinely hurt?
Todd: It was a fascinating position because she'd never been there before.
Clip of "Family Feud" by...
Todd (VO): And Jay-Z's follow-up album 4:44 worked on that same level. What happens when a guy who literally calls himself Jehovah has to admit guilt and shame? What happens when the king has to sleep on the goddamn couch?
Todd: Now, both those albums were...
Todd (VO): ...fascinating looks at the inner lives of two of the most carefully composed people in music.
Todd: But...
Clip of People interview with Beyoncé and Jay-Z
Todd (VO): Then they both worked through it, they stayed together. [clip of The Carters - "APESHIT"] And a year after that, they released a collaboration album called EVERYTHING IS LOVE about how they still love each other and they were a united front, and the most powerful power couple alive once again.
Todd: And on some level, I can see the justification.
Todd (VO): You wanna show that love survives and the work is worth it.
Todd: But, on another level...
Clip of interview with Beyoncé and Jay-Z
Todd (VO): ...it felt like it was about putting their images back into place. [clip of "APESHIT"] They allowed you to see them get messy for a single moment. And now that is over, and it will be business as usual. I don't know if it's fair to be disappointed by that, but I do know that most people agree it wasn't as good as LEMONADE or 4:44. [clip of COWBOY CARTER promotional video] So when I say "JOLENE" hits weird, it's not just cause Beyoncé flipped the meaning. [clip of "Sorry"] It's that it harkens back to all of that drama and then wraps it up neatly once again.
Todd: Beyoncé's saying: No, there is no threat. She and Jay-Z are wonderfully happy, thank you.
Clip of "JOLENE"
Beyoncé: Takes more than beauty and seductive stares
To come between a family and a happy man
Todd (VO): Everything is picture fucking perfect! That's boring to me
Todd: At least it is on the surface. But if you look a little deeper...
Beyoncé: I know that man better than he knows himself
Todd (VO): Assuming that Beyoncé is telling the truth and that everything between her and Jay-Z is fine then... [clip of the elevator fight] Well, Becky with the good hair happened, what, ten years ago? Back when Obama was still in office! [clip of Jay-Z and Beyoncé accepting an award] This has been resolved since forever, hasn't it? I'm not saying she's supposed to forget that it happened, but...
Todd: It is surprising someone as composed as Beyoncé is out reminding everyone of this...
Clip from LEMONADE
Todd (VO): ...painful, embarrassing moment in her life. I'd never bring up this shit again.
Todd: But here she is, ten years later...
Clip of "DOLLY P"
Todd (VO): Dragging Becky with the good hair out in public so she can knock that dusty bitch's teeth out yet again. It's pretty revealing, right?
Todd: Like, the specter of...
Clip of Idina Menzel - "Queen of Swords"
Todd (VO): ...good haired Rebekah is still out here haunting Beyoncé's psyche.
Todd: Which actually doesn't surprise me.
Clip of "APESHIT"
Todd (VO): I guess Jay-Z proved he was worth taking back. So on a personal level, Beyoncé seems very happy with her decision and she's moved past whatever happened.
Todd: But on a professional level, this is super damaging to her image. This is the Beyoncé we knew.
Clip of Beyoncé - "Irreplaceable"
Beyoncé: Call up that chick and see if he's home
Oops, I bet you thought that I didn't know
What did you think I was putting you out for?
Todd (VO): She has, like, six to ten songs about how she doesn't put up with this shit, and now here she is in real life being the woman who does. [screenshot of Yahoo News article "Beyoncé Has 'Rules' for Jay-Z After Past Infidelities: Doesn't Like 'One-on-Ones' With Female Talent"] Although for the record, she apparently keeps Hova on a very short leash now. Buy yeah, if I were Beyoncé, this would drive me insane. This would be a screaming wound in my life forever.
Todd: The existence of this song makes me imagine Beyoncé almost, like...
Clip from...
Todd (VO): ...Cersei from Game of Thrones; bitter, paranoid, probably drunk.
Todd: And I'm sorry, I can't not enjoy that.
Clip of "TEXAS HOLD 'EM" visualizer
Todd (VO): Like, I kind of admire how not positive this is. Beyoncé making "JOLENE" any kind of empowering is a giant mistake, but if you look at the subtext, at least it remains horribly insecure.
Todd: And actually now that I think about it, she never actually did anything to Becky with the good hair, did she? Not in her songs.
Clip of "Sorry"
Todd (VO): Most of her songs were aimed at Jay-Z. [clip of Beyoncé - "Single Ladies"] And you know what else? For someone who has, like, a dozen singles where she puts trifling men in their place, she hasn't really done that either since LEMONADE, has she? [clip of "JOLENE"] This hits weird not just as a version of "Jolene", but also as a song where Beyoncé tries to re-establish her Beyonce-itude. For one, she seems...
Todd: I don't know what the word is, subservient? Like, traditional?
Beyoncé: We've been deep in love for twenty years
I raised that man, I raised his kids
I know my man better than he knows himself
Todd (VO): I mean, that might just be her playing the part, this is a classic country song after all. But... it doesn't really mesh well with Beyoncé's persona.
Todd: And it doesn't help that she's singing way too hard.
Beyoncé: I'm a queen, Jolene
Todd (VO): Like, for the first time, Beyoncé seems like she doth protest too much. And that's a weird place for Beyoncé to be.
Todd: For what it's worth, I think the album is very good.
Clip of COWBOY CARTER promotional video
Todd (VO): But I think it's notable how Beyoncé makes no concessions at all to the country music industry. [clip of Pitbull ft. Blake Shelton - "Get Ready"] Like, any other pop singer who has a song they want on country radio will team up with a current star who can get them in the door.
Todd: And Beyoncé does not do that.
Clip of "DOLLY P"
Todd (VO): She does have a couple country legends on there, [clip of interview with Shaboozey] some black country singers who could use the exposure. [clip of Luke Bryan - "Country On"] But no one current and famous, no Luke Bryan or anyone like that. Or even The Chicks. [clip of COWBOY CARTER promotional video] She does not need approval from any gatekeepers, she will walk through that gate regardless. And that's awesome, that rocks. But it does kinda make Beyoncé seem too... big for country music.
Todd: Like, not that she doesn't get it, she's too big for it.
Clip of RENAISSANCE promotional video
Todd (VO): Like sure, she can do house music, that's about being big. You know, fierce, slay... Mother... I- I don't know. [clip of Dolly performing "Jolene"] But the best country music, including "Jolene", is deliberately small. And Beyoncé can't or won't do small.
Clip of "JOLENE"
Beyoncé: Jolene, I know I'm a queen, Jolene
Back to Dolly's performance
Like, so what if "Jolene" is one of the most beloved country songs of all time because of that smallness? [clip of "TEXAS HOLD 'EM" visualizer] Like, Beyoncé's not gonna bend to the song "Jolene". "Jolene" the song is gonna bend for Beyoncé.
Todd: If I had to identify one way in which this cover really does not work for me, it's right at the end.
Clip of "JOLENE"
Beyoncé: I know my man's gon' stand by me
Breathing in my gentle breeze
Todd (VO): Ok, that's...
Todd: ...another country song she's invoking there and that she's flipped backwards.
Choir: I'ma stand by her, she gon' stand by me
Todd (VO): She's gonna stand by her man, like the country song. But also he's gonna stand by her.
Todd: That is not part of Tammy Wynette's "Stand By Your Man".
Clip of Tammy Wynette - "Stand By Your Man"
Tammy Wynette: Sometimes it's hard to be a woman
Todd (VO): That song is so powerful partially because Tammy doesn't say a single thing about her man standing by her.
Tammy: Stand by your man
There is no reward and she sounds miserable. She simply can't conceive of not doing her wifely duties.
Todd: But Beyoncé, Beyoncé's man will stand by her.
Clip of COWBOY CARTER promotional video
Todd (VO): And she brings it over the top with this big giant country western production number with, like, a whole male choir and strings.
The song plays over a dance sequence from a Western movie
Beyoncé: I'ma stand by him, he gon' stand by me
Choir: I'ma stand by her, she gon' stand by me
Beyoncé: I'ma stand by him, he gon' stand by me
It sounds ridiculous, what are we doing? [clip of "JOLENE"] Like, all this stuff makes it sound like it's not even about Beyoncé and her emotions and her marriage, it's about Beyoncé the icon and her lore and her brand. [sighs] I just don't know about that.
Todd: Like, I don't hate it, but I wouldn't say it works. It's a weird curiosity at best.
Clip of "16 CARRIAGES"
Todd (VO): I feel bad for picking on, like, the one questionable creative decision on what is otherwise a very good album. [clip of "JOLENE"] I do think this will be good for country music too. I kinda wonder if Beyoncé picked the most obvious country song as, like, a gateway for her own audience. [clip of Kane Brown - "I Can Feel It"] Country music has upwards of five black people now because [clip of "Wagon Wheel" by...] Darrius Rucker was able to use his established name recognition with white America to get the door open.
Todd: And that's just Hootie.
Clip from RENAISSANCE: A Film by Beyoncé
Todd (VO): Imagine what a star like Beyoncé could do.
Todd: And since she's been lobbying for that best album Grammy since before this album even came out.
Clip of Jay-Z at the 2024 Grammys
Jay-Z: I don't wanna embarrass this young lady, but she has more Grammys than anyone and never won album of the year.
Todd (VO): Yeah, I do think she's gonna get it [text appears: "Her main competition when I started writing this video was Taylor Swift and then she released it just as I was finishing it up, and yeah I think we can officially label Beyonce the frontrunner because jfc"] And even there, the optics are gonna be weird.
Todd: Like, "Ok, we'll finally give you the big award once you pick up a banjo".
Clip of "16 CARRIAGES"
Todd (VO): But the album's good, it works. It's just [clip of "JOLENE"] this one moment in the middle that makes it sound weird. [clip of Beyoncé at the iHeartRadio Music Awards] I think a lot of critics are tired of having to kiss ass of the big, untouchable pop stars and that's why, mixed in with all the acclaim, I've noticed more backlash creeping in than Beyoncé typically gets. Like, you know, I like it, I like it, I'm looking forward to the third part of this project, whatever it turns out to be. [clip of...] But "JOLENE" does make me look a little sideways at the whole enterprise.
Todd: Uh, I don't know what genre it's gonna be. But if she [image of Beyoncé in front of a the Pan-African colors] starts putting on, like, a fake Jamaican accent or something. I'm not gonna be super surprised.
Beyoncé: I'ma stand by him, he gon' stand by me, Jolene
Todd: And, one last thing; The Beatles.
Clip from The Ballad of John and Yoko
Todd (VO): You know, The Beatles. Well, Lindsay Ellis is back, and she's made a great video about The Beatles. And why they broke up, and why it wasn't Yoko's fault, and why everyone blamed Yoko anyway. Starring me as the voice of Mark David Chapman, the role of a lifetime. Anyway, if you wanna know why Yoko is innocent, you can watch the first ten minutes on YouTube, and then you can watch the full complete version on...
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Todd: For as long as both you and Nebula exist on this Earth, you're in.
Todd (VO): Or, if you wanna do just the regular monthly subscription, you can sign up with my link. Not only will you get access to the entire Nebula library, but you will get it for only 2 dollars and 50 cents a month.
Todd: And you'll also be helping me out specifically, which I would appreciate.
Todd (VO): So click the link in the description and check it out below.
Todd: Thank you, and good night.
Closing Tag Song: Community - "Gay Dean"
THE END
"Jolene" is owned by Parkwood and Columbia
This video is owned by me
THANK YOU TO THE LOYAL PATRONS!!