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Homework: How Daft Punk Schooled Us In The Future Of Dance Music

With their debut album, ‘Homework’, Daft Punk cemented their place in history, even while shaping what that history would become.

There are those who ride the waves of a scene, and there are those who create a new scene in the first place. Daft Punk have always been the latter, particularly in the formative years surrounding their debut album, Homework .

Listen to Homework here

Scrappy, raw and experimental.

Few musical acts have changed so much between albums as Daft Punk did in the four years between the release of Homework , on 20 January 1997, and its follow-up, Discovery . Reinvention is often the key to longevity in music, but it usually comes after years of exhausting the same tried and tested formula. For Daft Punk, however, their first two albums feel like the works of entirely different artists: meticulously detailed and polished, Discovery was stuffed with instant classics that aimed for the big leagues. Homework , however, represents everything that’s exciting about the best debut albums: scrappy, raw and experimental, it perfectly captured the spirit of Daft Punk’s live sets in their early years, with tracks mixing into each other perfectly, building and maintaining energy as if tooled for a club appearance.

Video footage from a live show in Wisconsin, in 1996, demonstrates this perfectly. Claiming to be the earliest evidence of Daft Punk on stage, there isn’t a mirror ball or robot mask in sight. Aesthetically, it could be any boiler-room gig – a small audience going wild as Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel De Homem-Christo rip through their set with absolute conviction. Sonically, it’s a wild ride: the beat is the only constant; everything else can be thrown in and pulled away again in an instant. Tracks like Homework ’s Rock’n Roll, with its pulsating scratch loop, brought the excitement of these shows to listeners’ stereos.

Hints of the Daft Punk to come

However, Homework isn’t just a recorded version of an early gig. Across its 75 minutes, there are plenty of hints of the Daft Punk to come, particularly with the standout hits Alive, Da Funk and Around The World. The ambition alone of these early singles was enough to change the dance music scene at the time, pushing house back into the mainstream.

Recorded on the cheap at home (a process that gave the album its title), Homework wasn’t truly intended to be an album: the singles are placed between the more experimental tracks in an attempt to form something that felt more traditionally cohesive. Even so, it’s clear there were two very difference sides to Daft Punk, even in these early stages.

Few artists could produce their debut album at home while ensuring it sounded perfect wherever it was played, but, channelling huge amounts of energy and live experience for the recording, Bangalter and De Homem-Christo already knew what would work and what wouldn’t on their limited set-up. It’s this adaptability that made Daft Punk’s journey from club act to festival headliners a smooth one. But while it’s one thing to make an album at home, it’s an entirely other thing to have it cement your place in musical history.

Here are some of the standout tracks that make Homework a lesson in the evolution of dance music…

Homework : the tracks you need to hear

Revolution 909.

There’s a drum sound so industrial it could have been recorded in a factory, landing with such a satisfying clang that it’s hard to focus on anything else. Revolution 909 sits perfectly as one of Homework ’s opening tracks, setting the energy for the rest of the album and leading flawlessly into Da Funk…

… Which is not only a highlight on Homework , it’s a highlight of Daft Punk’s entire career. When a band discovers a truly great riff, they strip down everything else and squeeze every last drop out of it. Da Funk is one of those: instant, direct, and memorable – everything you want from a house track. Also, shout-out to the music video by the masterful Spike Jonze, in which a dog with its leg in a cast gets treated with complete indifference by a load of strangers.

Nothing sums up the early Daft Punk sound quite like Phoenix. Though subtler than some of the Homework ’s later tracks, it’s fully earned its place amongst the group’s bigger hitters.

Around The World

What more is there to say that hasn’t already been said? Around The World remains a juggernaut in dance music. Every part has been tightened to perfection, making it the perfect instrumental for the duo to introduce their trademark robot voice on.

With a twitching bassline that props up an ever-growing beat, Burnin’ is surrounded by all kinds of pops, scratches, slides and squeaks. If Homework builds in intensity as a live set would, this is the peak of that experience.

One of the original singles dropped ahead of Homework’s release, Alive still sounds as huge as ever. There’s a reason they name their tours after this song…

Check out the best Daft Punk song of all time to discover how they got harder, better, faster, stronger.

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Daft Punk Reissuing Homework on Vinyl, Livestreamed Rare 1997 Concert

By Jazz Monroe

Today, on the first anniversary of their breakup , Daft Punk are airing a one-off stream of a rare 1997 concert, recorded before they began wearing helmets. It’s happening right now on Twitch . This is not a drill! Go watch it now or forever hold your peace. Find the stream here . Update: Sorry, you missed your shot, the stream is over.

The livestream footage came from a set that Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo and Thomas Bangalter played at Los Angeles nightclub the Mayan around the Homework release. A representative stressed that the show will air only once, and that’s exactly what happened.

The duo has also announced a vinyl reissue of its landmark debut album, Homework , for its 25th anniversary. The Homework vinyl LP and a vinyl reissue of Alive ’97 are out April 15. Homework (25th Anniversary Edition) , which will also get released digitally, includes numerous remixes. Find the tracklist below.

Daft Punk called it quits a year ago today, eight years after releasing their final album, Random Access Memories . Read Pitchfork’s 2013 feature with the duo and the Sunday Review of Homework .

All products featured on Pitchfork are independently selected by our editors. However, when you buy something through our retail links, we may earn an affiliate commission.

Homework (25th Anniversary Edition) :

Disc 1: Homework – Original Album: 01 Daftendirekt 02 WDPK 83.7 FM 03 Revolution 909 04 Da Funk 05 Phoenix 06 Fresh 07 Around the World 08 Rollin’ & Scratchin’ 09 Teachers 10 High Fidelity 11 Rock’n Roll 12 Oh Yeah 13 Burnin’ 14 Indo Silver Club 15 Alive 16 Funk Ad

Disc 2: Homework Remixes: 01 Around the World (I:Cube Remix) 02 Revolution 909 (Roger Sanchez & Junior Sanchez Remix) 03 Around the World (Tee’s Frozen Sun Mix) 04 Around the World (Mellow Mix) 05 Burnin' (DJ Sneak Main Mix) 06 Around the World (Kenlou Mix) 07 Burnin’ (Ian Pooley Cut Up Mix) 08 Around the World (Motorbass Vice Mix) 09 Around the World (M.A.W. Remix) 10 Burnin’ (Slam Mix) 11 Around the World (Original Lead Only) 12 Burnin’ (DJ Sneak Mongowarrier Mix) 13 Around the World (Raw Dub) 14 Teachers (Extended Mix) 15 Revolution 909 (Revolution A Capella)

This article was originally published on Tuesday, February 22 at 5:10 p.m. Eastern. It was last updated on Wednesday, February 23 at 10:22 a.m. Eastern.

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By Alphonse Pierre

By Nina Corcoran

By Eric Torres

By Matthew Strauss

Homework (25th Anniversary Edition)

31 SONGS • 3 HOURS AND 2 MINUTES • FEB 25 2022

• TRACKS TRACKS
• DETAILS DETAILS

As they evolved from '90s French house pioneers to 2000s dance tastemakers to mainstream heroes in the 2010s, Daft Punk remained one of dance music's most iconic acts. With their early singles and 1997's instant-classic debut album Homework, Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo and Thomas Bangalter quickly won acclaim for their skill at blending their beloved Chicago house and Detroit techno with pop, funk, indie rock, and hip-hop into nostalgic yet futuristic forms. Not content to just widen electronic music's popularity, on 2001's Discovery they reinvented the then-unfashionable sounds of mid-'80s soft rock and R&B into stylish tracks that also had a childlike wonder. Despite their sizable popularity, Daft Punk were never afraid to challenge their listeners, which they did with 2005's cold and dystopic Human After All. Even when they polarized their audience, there was never any doubt that they staged groundbreaking concerts, and the tour captured on Alive 2007 helped pave the way for arena-sized EDM, particularly in the U.S. With 2013's Random Access Memories, the duo once again looked to the past to create the future, borrowing from prog, disco, and a laid-back West Coast vibe that bucked the predominant trends in electronic music but still resonated with a wide audience. Daft Punk's influence reached further into the mainstream through collaborations with Kanye West and the Weeknd, and the duo's music was sampled by artists ranging from Missy Elliott to the Fall. Though they reinvented themselves continually, wherever Daft Punk went, the rest of pop music followed.

After meeting in 1987 as students at Paris' Lycée Carnot secondary school, Bangalter and de Homem-Christo became friends and soon started making music together. In 1992, they formed the band Darlin'. Named after a Beach Boys song, the group featured Bangalter on bass, de Homem-Christo on guitar, and additional guitarist Laurent Brancowitz. Darlin's career was brief: The trio recorded a cover of their namesake song that appeared, along with an original song, on a various artists EP released by Stereolab's label Duophonic (the band also invited Darlin' to play some U.K. shows with them). Following a Melody Maker review that described Darlin's music as "a daft punky thrash," the band broke up. Bangalter and de Homem-Christo began experimenting with electronic music, taking their new project's name from that review and drawing inspiration from pioneers such as Todd Edwards, Juan Atkins, Kraftwerk, Frankie Knuckles, and many more.

By September 1993, Daft Punk had readied a demo tape, which they gave to Soma co-founder Stuart MacMillan at a rave at EuroDisney. The label released the duo's debut single, "The New Wave," in April 1994. Instantly hailed by the dance music press as the work of a new breed of house innovators, it was followed by May 1995's "Da Funk," the band's first true hit (the record sold 30,000 copies worldwide and saw thorough rinsings by everyone from Kris Needs to the Chemical Brothers). In 1996, the buzz around Daft Punk led them to sign with Virgin, and the label released the single "Da Funk"/"Musique" that year. Recorded and mixed at the duo's Paris studio Daft House, January 1997's debut album Homework -- named for Daft Punk's D.I.Y. aesthetic -- was a critical and commercial success. The album reached number three in France and stayed on the chart for over a year, while the singles "Da Funk," "Around the World," "Burnin'," and "Revolution 909" charted in France, the U.K., the U.S., and Australia. The duo supported the record with the Daftendirekt tour, while the Homework video collection D.A.F.T.: A Story about Dogs, Androids, Firemen and Tomatoes followed in 1999 and featured clips directed by Roman Coppola, Michel Gondry, and Spike Jonze.

To follow their breakthrough debut album, de Homem-Christo and Bangalter reached back to their childhoods in the '70s and '80s and sought to fuse technology with humanity. Once again recorded at Daft House, March 2001's Discovery incorporated disco and synth pop as well as house, garage, and R&B into a sleek, retro-futuristic sound that matched the robotic helmets and gloves the duo introduced with the release of the album. Featuring contributions from heroes such as Romanthony, Edwards, and DJ Sneak, Discovery was an even bigger hit than its predecessor. The album peaked at number two in France and the U.K., while the singles "One More Time," "Digital Love," "Harder, Faster, Better, Stronger," and "Face to Face" also charted in the U.K. and the U.S. That November saw the release of Alive 1997, an edit of the duo's Birmingham, England stop on the Daftendirekt tour. Daft Punk capped the Discovery era in 2003 with Interstella 5555: The 5tory of the 5ecret 5tar 5ystem, an animated film they produced with anime and manga creator Leiji Matsumoto that used the album as its soundtrack.

For Daft Punk's third album, the duo took a drastically different approach. Created in six weeks -- as opposed to the two years they spent making Discovery -- with a handful of gear that included an eight-track machine, March 2005's Human After All was a deliberately raw, stark set of songs inspired by George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four. Though its cold, repetitive feel drew polarized reactions, the album fared well commercially: Human After All reached number three in France, was a Top Ten hit in the U.K., and hit number one on the Billboard Top Dance/Electronic Albums chart in the U.S. The set was also nominated for Best Electronic/Dance Album at the 2006 Grammy Awards. Shortly after its release, Human After All [Remixes] collected reworkings by Soulwax, Digitalism, and Erol Alkan among others.

April 2006 saw the arrival of Musique, Vol. 1: 1993-2005, a compilation of the duo's best-known songs and remixes accompanied by the videos for Human After All's singles. That May, Daft Punk premiered their film Electroma at the Director's Fortnight at that year's Cannes Film Festival. An experimental sci-fi film about a pair of robots seeking to become human, it began as the video for Human After All's title track before expanding into a feature film (unlike Interstella 5555, the movie did not feature any of Daft Punk's music). Initially earning mixed reviews, over time Electroma won a cult audience. That year, the duo embarked on the Alive tour, which lasted through 2007 and featured some of Daft Punk's most ambitiously staged live sets. Appearing in November 2007, Alive 2007 documented the tour. Early in 2009, the album and its single "Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger" won Grammy Awards.

Daft Punk returned with new music in November 2010 in the form of the score to Joseph Kosinski's feature film Tron: Legacy. A collaboration with Joseph Trapanese, who arranged and orchestrated the pair's compositions, it featured an 85-piece orchestra as well as Daft Punk's signature electronics. Bangalter and de Homem-Christo also appeared in the film in a brief cameo. The soundtrack eventually reached number four on the Billboard 200 Albums chart in the U.S. and was nominated for a Best Score Soundtrack Album for Visual Media Grammy Award. Also in 2010, the duo were admitted into the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, with de Homem-Christo and Bangalter each receiving the rank of Chevalier. The following year saw the April release of the remix album Tron: Legacy Reconfigured, while that September's compilation Soma Records: 20 Years featured the track "Drive," an early recording that was believed to be lost.

For their fourth album, Daft Punk once again took a different creative tack. Seeking a breezy feel informed by Fleetwood Mac, the Eagles, and Jean Michel Jarre, the duo emphasized live instrumentation and collaborated with artists including Nile Rodgers, Paul Williams, Giorgio Moroder, and Panda Bear. Pharrell Williams appeared on the single "Get Lucky," which preceded the release of the full-length Random Access Memories in May 2013. Recorded in California, New York City, and Paris and spanning disco, prog, and indie influences, the album became one of Daft Punk's biggest successes. It topped the charts in over 20 countries including the U.S., where it became the duo's first number one album and was eventually certified platinum. It also won Grammy Awards for Best Dance/Electronica Album, Album of the Year, and Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical. "Get Lucky" hit number one in over 30 countries and earned Grammys for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance and Record of the Year. That year, Daft Punk also co-produced Kanye West's critically acclaimed album Yeezus, and worked on tracks including the single "Black Skinhead." In 2014, the duo appeared on Pharrell's album G I R L and collaborated with Jay-Z on the song "Computerized." A 2015 documentary titled Daft Punk Unchained charted their history from the '90s into the 2010s, featuring interviews with Rodgers, Pharrell, and West, among others. In turn, the duo appeared in that year's Rodgers documentary Nile Rodgers: From Disco to Daft Punk.

During the latter half of the 2010s, Daft Punk remained active. They teamed up with the Weeknd's Abel Tesfaye on a pair of songs from his 2016 album Starboy, including the chart-topping title track. The following year, the duo performed with the Weeknd at the 59th Annual Grammy Awards; later in 2017, they co-wrote and produced Parcels' "Overnight." During this time, Daft Punk's members also worked on separate projects. Bangalter co-produced Arcade Fire's 2017 album Everything Now and contributed pieces to the soundtrack to Gaspar Noé's 2018 film Climax, while de Homem-Christo co-wrote and produced tracks for Charlotte Gainsbourg's 2017 album Rest and the Weeknd's 2018 EP My Dear Melancholy,. In 2019, Daft Punk were featured in the Philharmonie de Paris' exhibition Electro, which traced the history of electronic music and its influence on visual arts. In February 2021, the duo disbanded, spreading the news with a YouTube video that featured scenes from the end of Electroma. ~ Heather Phares & Sean Cooper

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Daft Punk’s ‘Homework: Remixes’ Debuts on Top Dance/Electronic Albums Chart

Plus, moves for Alok, Sigala & Ellie Goulding and David Guetta & Bebe Rexha.

By Gordon Murray

Gordon Murray

Daft Punk debuts on Billboard ‘s Top Dance/Electronic Albums chart (dated Dec. 10) with Homework: Remixes at No. 17. The limited edition two-LP Record Store Day release earned 2,000 equivalent album units, with nearly all from physical sales, Nov. 25 (its release day) through Dec. 1, according to Luminate.

The set supports the 25th anniversary of the original Homework album, which spent 18 weeks on the Billboard 200 in 1997-98 (peaking at No. 150); it predated the June 2001 inception of the Top Dance/Electronic Albums chart.

Homework: Remixes contains original remixes of Homework hits “Around the World,” by Masters at Work and Todd Terry; “Burnin’,” by DJ Sneak and Ian Pooley; and “Revolution 909,” by Roger Sanchez and Junior Sanchez, among others.

Homework: Remixes is Daft Punk’s 11th charted title on Top Dance/Electronic Albums. The act’s six No. 1s are tied with The Chainsmokers’ total for the second-most of all acts – and the most among duos or groups. Only Lady Gaga and Louie DeVito have more (seven each).

Daft Punk also improves on the latest list with Random Access Memories (9-7, up 15%) and Discovery (23-16, up 3%). Random , the act’s longest-running title with 369 chart weeks and counting, reaped 21 weeks at No. 1 in 2013-14. Discovery , released just prior to the chart’s start in 2001, hit No. 4 that year and made it to No. 1 at last , following the announcement of the act’s dissolution, in 2021.

Daft Punk Returns to No. 1 on Top Dance/Electronic Albums Chart With 'Tron: Legacy'

‘All’ in Top 10

Shifting to the Dance/Mix Show Airplay chart, Alok , Sigala and Ellie Goulding lift into the top 10 with “All by Myself” (15-10). Alok’s third top 10, Sigala’s sixth and Goulding’s 10th, the song is scoring core-dance airplay on Music Choice’s Dance/EDM channel, iHeartRadio’s Evolution and Channel Q, among others. (The Dance/Mix Show Airplay chart measures radio airplay on a select group of full-time dance stations, along with plays during mix shows on around 70 top 40-formatted reporters.)

On the multi-metric Hot Dance/Electronic Songs chart, “Myself,” which samples Depeche Mode’s 1990 smash “Enjoy the Silence,” motors to a new peak (33-26). The track earned earning 629,000 U.S. streams, up 38%, in the wake of the Nov. 25 release of its club mix.

More ‘Good’ News

Speaking of Hot Dance/Electronic Songs, David Guetta and Bebe Rexha reign for an 11th week with “I’m Good (Blue).” The total ties Beyoncé’s “Break My Soul” for the second-most weeks at No. 1 in 2022; Elton John and Dua Lipa’s “Cold Heart (Pnau Remix)” spent 22 of its total 36 frames at No. 1 this year, after first reigning in October 2021.

“Good,” which earns top Airplay Gainer honors with 62.9 million all-format radio airplay audience impressions (up 8%), also matches Guetta and Rexha’s longest commands on the chart, as his “Hey Mama,” featuring Rexha, Nicki Minaj and Afrojack, dominated for 11 weeks in 2015.

“Good” leads the Dance/Electronic Streaming Songs and D ance/Electronic Digital Song Sales charts for a 12th week each, with 10.1 million streams and sold 5,000 downloads sold in the tracking week.

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Homework (25th Anniversary Edition)

Few records combine sonic innovation with veneration for what came before as succinctly as Daft Punk’s 1997 debut, Homework. The title itself implies this duality: It’s a reference to both the bedroom studio where musicians Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo recorded their early house and techno productions, and a nod to the older artists the duo studied in preparation for their dance music breakthrough. Many of those musical ancestors are name-checked on the Homework track “Teachers,” on which Bangalter and Homem-Christo salute the (mostly) electronic music producers and DJs who inspired their work. That includes plenty of semi-obscure Chicago house music heroes and Detroit and UK techno champions, many of whom predated Daft Punk by a decade—but who were still active in the late-1990s rave scene. By tagging their peers, the members of Daft Punk were expressing solidarity with the many BIPOC artists whom they’d obsessed over for years. It was a declaration of belonging that could have come off as appropriation, had Homework not so fully elevated the genre. Bangalter and Homem-Christo might wear their influences on their sleeve, but their music transcends mere tribute; it’s some of the most unforgettable hook-laden house and techno ever put to wax. When it comes to the dance floor, if a record’s hot, that record is hot. And DJs across the globe pumped Homework’s 16 tracks, which included everything from playful filtered disco (“Revolution 909”) to throttling acid techno (“Rollin’ & Scratchin’”). Meanwhile, radio jocks and MTV programmers on the lookout for format-friendly versions of popular rave sounds swooned over Homework cuts like “Da Funk” and “Around the World,” which became breakout hits, thanks to inventive videos directed, respectively, by Spike Jonez and Michel Gondry. That near-impossible confluence of talent and timing allowed Homework to achieve its position atop every list of 1990s electronic music. As time went on, the members of Daft Punk would prove themselves worthy of every accolade Homework received as they continued to evolve from students to teachers to masters—elevating the state of electronic music every step of the way.

January 20, 1997 31 Songs, 3 hours, 2 minutes Distributed exclusively by Warner Music France / ADA France, ℗ 1997, 2022 Daft Life Ltd.

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10 takeaways from Beyoncé’s ‘Cowboy Carter’

On act ii, the artist subverts the strictures of genre.

Turns out country music isn’t the only sound you’ll hear at the Beyoncé rodeo. The singer’s new album, “Cowboy Carter,” dropped Friday at midnight, and it’s a big one: 27 tracks, more than 79 minutes, tons of guest stars and even Beatles and Dolly Parton covers. The record, teased with two new twangy singles after the Super Bowl, was hyped as the R&B and pop star’s first “country” full-length. It ain’t , she would later clarify: “This is a ‘Beyoncé’ album.” Undoubtedly. But it’s also a lot of album. Here’s what we’re hearing on it.

It’s much more than a ‘country’ album

I knew enough about disco, house and queer club culture to know that on 2022’s “Act I: Renaissance,” Beyoncé had done her homework, mastering the genres to which she was paying homage. I didn’t go into “Cowboy Carter” with enough country music knowledge to judge whether Beyoncé was making a good country album. As it turned out, that didn’t matter. By the time I got to “ Bodyguard ,” with its shades of Fleetwood Mac and Carole King, it was clear Beyoncé was hopping across stylistic borders. At the beginning of the 12th track of “Cowboy Carter,” country music legend Linda Martell says, “Genres are a funny little concept aren’t they? Yes they are.” The track is called “ Spaghettii ” — a reference, maybe, to Spaghetti Westerns. But I found myself thinking, “That’s what she’s doing: Throwing spaghetti at the wall!”

So what kind of album is it? It’s a journey. On “ Smoke Hour * Willie Nelson ,” you can hear the turning dial of a terrestrial radio. The album ends up feeling like a late-night road trip, where you’re tuning in to whatever station has the strongest signal. You get your country, you get your adult contemporary, you hear a Beatles song and some snippets of talk radio. And occasionally you land on a college radio station and you can’t tell if you’re misunderstanding the lyrics or if the song is just weird. Did she just say “Struds in my mouth?” Why does she keep saying “Look at that horse” over and over again? It might not be “country,” but it does nod to something quintessentially American. You take what you have, you make the most of it and you sing along. Sometimes it’s beautiful and sometimes it’s a woman saying “Look at that horse” over and over again. — S.O.

‘Blackbiird’ gives a boost to female Black country artists

One question that has come up in the country music industry: Could “Cowboy Carter” bring more attention to other Black country artists who have been working to break through in the genre? Since the release of “ Texas Hold ’Em ” and “ 16 Carriages ” after the Super Bowl, multiple Black singer-songwriters in Nashville reported that they have received a boost in streams and social media followers due to Beyoncé’s influence. Beyoncé came through with the answer in the second track, a cover of the Beatles ballad “Blackbird” (stylized as “ Blackbiird ”) that features four up-and-coming Black country singers: Tanner Adell, Brittney Spencer, Tiera Kennedy and Reyna Roberts. They have all been working for years in the genre — all deemed “Next Women of Country” by CMT — and were all thrilled to be included on the album. Both the song and the collaborations are significant because of the backstory: Paul McCartney has explained he was inspired to write a song during the civil rights movement of the 1960s that could bring people a sense of comfort — and that in England, a “bird” refers to a girl, so he was specifically thinking about Black women. — E.Y.

She didn’t toss all the beats from ‘Renaissance’

“Cowboy Carter” spans not only the sands of time but the strictures of genre. So after exploring country and related traditions — and relying on the stomp-clap percussion of the last decade’s folk implosion — the pull of the dance floors Beyoncé staked out on “Renaissance” gets more intense: a hint of rave synths at the end of “Texas Hold ’Em,” sleazy basslines on “Bodyguard” and “ Desert Eagle .”

Then, for the album’s last act, she brings the beat back from “Renaissance.” “ Riiverdance ” connects Irish dancing to Appalachian traditions to house music a la Crystal Waters, while “ II Hands II Heaven ” sets Western imagery — running stallions, moonlight dancing — to a galloping beat that references, improbably, Underworld’s rave favorite “Born Slippy.” — C.K.

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Dad shows up.

Beyoncé has daddy issues, okay? Not all bad ones, necessarily, but she’s laid them bare repeatedly throughout her work. In fact, fans might have Beyoncé’s father, Mathew Knowles, to thank for “Cowboy Carter,” in an indirect way. When she officially announced the album on March 19, the singer explained its genesis. “It was born out of an experience that I had years ago where I did not feel welcomed …” Though she didn’t go into further details, Beyoncé watchers believe she was referencing her 2016 performance of her zydeco-infused, country-ish song “Daddy Lessons” at the Country Music Association Awards, which was met with racist vitriol from some. That was a song about being raised tough — about how her papa taught her not to take no mess. On “Cowboy Carter,” Beyoncé continues to explore her paternal lineage with lines like this one from the album’s sweeping opener “ Ameriican Requiem ”: “I am the one to cleanse me of my father’s sins.” Later, in “ Daughter ,” close to the album’s halfway mark, Beyoncé sings a murder ballad about a superstar pushed to her brink. “They keep saying that I ain’t nothing like my father … if you cross me I’m just like my father.” What to make of all this pater chatter? Legacies — musical ones, family ones — have been a theme of Beyoncé’s music. Sometimes she’s correcting artistic history and blending genres. Sometimes she’s inserting her children into her art. One way or another, she’s always tugging at roots. — H.A.

Linda Martell got several shout-outs

Martell made history in 1969 when she became the first Black female singer to perform at the Grand Ole Opry. Martell received multiple standing ovations that night, but her record label dropped her shortly after the release of her debut album — she has spoken out through the years about the racism she endured as she toured the country. Although she left the music industry, her influence has never been forgotten, and Beyoncé features Martell on two tracks: “ Spaghettii ,” in which Martell’s voice-over kicks things off with a message to anyone fretting about whether you can blend country music with other kinds of music. “Genres are a funny little concept, aren’t they? Yes they are. In theory, they have a simple definition that’s easy to understand,” Martell says. “But in practice, well, some may feel confined.” And in the aptly titled interlude “The Linda Martell Show,” Martell introduces the next track, “ Ya Ya ,” advising listeners that it “stretches across a range of genres — and that’s what makes it a unique listening experience.” — E.Y.

Speaking of blending genres …

Beyoncé also made sure to include Willie Jones (“Just for Fun”) and Shaboozey (“Spaghettii,” “Sweet * Honey * Buckiin’”), who have both earned lots of fans in Nashville as they mix country and hip-hop. — E.Y.

It could have used some editing

For its five-year gestation, nearly 80-minute runtime and history-making ambitions, “Cowboy Carter” still feels somewhat undercooked. Why not have Willie Nelson light up and DJ KNTRY Radio Texas all night long? Songs like “ Spaghettii ” and “ Just for Fun ” don’t commit to their featured guests and their outlaw lyrics, while “ Alligator Tears ” and “ Flamenco ” fail to develop. And while “ Levii’s Jeans ” ably takes “Blow” from the roller rink to the hoedown, what does Post Malone — another country-come-lately — bring to the proceedings, other than a case of Bud Light and some Gen Z clout? — C.K.

She covers ‘Jolene’

Back in 2022, Dolly Parton explained on “The Daily Show” why she wanted Beyoncé to cover her 1973 single, “Jolene.” “I would just love to hear ‘Jolene’ done in just a big way, kind of like how Whitney [Houston] did my ‘I Will Always Love You.’ Someone that could take my little songs and make ’em like powerhouses.” Asked and answered. Beyoncé’s cover — introduced here by Dolly herself — turns Parton’s classic on its head. Instead of begging the titular hussy not to take her man, the Queen Bey’s song is a warbling warning. “Don’t take the chance because you think you can,” she sings, before letting Ms. Jolene know in no uncertain terms that Mrs. Carter is not the one: “So you don’t want no heat from me.” Whether a song about a jezebel bogeywoman feels empowering or reductive is a worthy argument to have when Beyoncé, who began dipping her toes into feminism more than a decade ago with 2013’s “***Flawless,” is at the center of the rewrite. If anything, “Jolene” feels like a long-awaited cleanup of the pile of skeletons left by 2016’s “Lemonade.” That’s when fans were first introduced to Beyoncé’s own personal Jolene, “Becky with the good hair,” a homewrecker of the highest order. Eight years later, Beyoncé and Jay-Z are happy, to go by her rewritten “Jolene” lyrics: “I know my man’s gon’ stand by me.” — H. A.

She’s thinking about her legacy

Beyoncé once sang that she wanted to leave her footprints “on the sands of time.” On “Cowboy Carter,” she’s acutely aware of whose footsteps she’s following. A radio dial time travels from Son House and Sister Rosetta Tharpe to Chuck Berry and Roy Hamilton. Living legends like Nelson and Martell testify to her bona fides. On “ Ya Ya ,” she reworks Nancy Sinatra and the Beach Boys by walking in Betty Davis’s boots.

When, in the great tradition of country music, Beyoncé covers others’ songs, she makes them into her own image, sometimes too obviously. “Blackbiird” doubles down on McCartney’s ode to the civil rights struggle, turning the leading lights of Black girl country — Spencer, Roberts and Kennedy — into Destiny’s Children (Adell, who wished upon X for a sprinkle of magic , gets her own verse). Parton connects the dots between “Becky with the good hair” and “Jolene,” but whereas her original was sung from vulnerability, Beyoncé dismisses her rival as another desperate peon. It’s the reimagining of “Landslide” as a Bonnie-and-Clyde anthem, “II Most Wanted,” that most deftly melds the past and the present. Miley Cyrus and her whiskey rasp hold their own as two pop chameleon’s ponder a day when they won’t be young. — C.K.

The album is cyclical

The final note of “Cowboy Carter” loops seamlessly back into the first track, which begins “Nothing really ends.” Like James Joyce’s “Finnegans Wake,” “Cowboy Carter” was written to be an eternal loop. The album begins with a warning about the demise of America, telling us that “now is the time to face the wind.” By the end, the wind she’s singing about is the breeze in a convertible and Beyoncé (or the persona she’s inhabiting) is begging for mercy as she watches her world crumble. It’s unclear if she gets the absolution she’s asking for, since she ultimately ends up right where she began. Oof. — S.O.

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