Why Beyoncé’s “American Requiem” Is the New Black Nationwide Anthem

What does it imply to like a rustic that doesn’t all the time love you again? Beyoncé’s Cowboy Carter album opens with “American Requiem” — a soul-soaking tune that may simply be described as a brand new Black Nationwide Anthem… and with good cause. Let’s break down precisely why this cultural observe hits so arduous. 

The observe opens slowly, nearly echoing with grief or mourning. “Nothing actually ends. For issues to remain the identical, they’ve to alter once more,” Beyoncé sings. “Hey, my outdated buddy. You alter your title however not the methods you play fake.” What an eloquent approach to confront the cycle of historical past, and the way these struggles resurface underneath new leaders throughout generations, but the core ache stays unchanged for America — Black People specifically. 

So many individuals could be lacking what’s taking place right here. Greater than only a tune, this observe is extra like a reckoning that stands alongside a number of the most thought-provoking items in our musical historical past, together with Billie Vacation’s haunting “Unusual Fruit” (1939), Nina Simone’s highly effective “4 Ladies” (1966), and Max Roach’s evocative jazz composition “Requiem” (1961), all of which confront America’s historical past of racial violence and resilience head on.

For sure, followers have had time to marinate on the Grammy Award-winning singer’s lyrics, and so far as they’re involved, the opening observe is a “masterpiece,” reflecting on what it seems to be and looks like to be American proper now. Folks gave Bey some main flack about her album not being “nation sufficient,” nevertheless it’s clear she’s gone far past that, revamping conventional Americana with a revolutionary message that may’t be ignored. 

“It’s the new American soundtrack,” TikTok person Genx Reference Desk stated in a wonderful evaluate of the trending tune. “She has mixed, in so many layers of this tune, what it means to be America proper now…that is about America’s loss of life,” she provides. “If issues don’t change, we’re going to die.”

“This album deserves a Pulitzer prize,” one fan wrote within the remark part. “Sure! This isn’t a rustic album. It’s an American album. It’s a mixture of all genres. An American masterpiece,” a second agreed. “‘AMERICAN REQUIEM’ is the protest tune that everybody thought ‘America Has A Drawback’ was gonna be! Beyhive will know what I’m speaking about,” a 3rd added. 

A requiem is a musical mourning for the lifeless — a approach to honor loss and bear in mind what’s been. So when Beyoncé calls this observe “American Requiem,” she’s mourning the nation itself, its damaged guarantees, and the continued ache Black People face until this very day. Combining the aches and pains of the blues, people, rock, nation, and the message of Bob Dylan — “It’s time to face the wind” — she’s created a ballad much like a funeral and a battle cry unexpectedly. And he or she’s daring America to lastly hear us.

“Goodbye to what has been. Fairly home that we by no means settled in. A funeral for fair-weather buddies. I’m the one to cleanse me of my father’s sins. American Requiem. Them massive concepts are buried right here, Amen,” the heartfelt observe concludes.

“American Requiem” poses a problem to listeners — to face the reality, reckon with the previous, and redefine what freedom actually means for us as a nation. It’s no surprise some are calling it the brand new Black nationwide anthem and the “new American soundtrack.” As a result of if we don’t transfer ahead collectively, what future is left for the nation that when referred to as itself the “Land of the free and the house of the courageous?”