Beyoncé has been branded “calculated” by British singer Lily Allen who launched a scathing new attack on the Cowboy Carter star.
Allen, 38, who is set to compete with the 42-year-old chart topper when she releases her own country album at some point this year, added to the ongoing backlash for her decision to release country music after being known as a pop and R&B superstar for decades.
The singer claimed that Beyoncé’s husband Jay-Z‘s speech at the Grammys criticizing organizers for never awarding her with the honors for Best Album, was also a part of a “campaign” to boost her current album.
The London native spoke out on her BBC Sounds podcast Miss Me? on Thursday with co-host Miquita Oliver.
“I think it’s been quite calculated,” said Allen about the genre switch. “I feel like when Jay-Z got up at the Grammys, that was part of this campaign. It was before the album had come out or even been announced and she was wearing the blonde wig and a cowboy hat.”
“[Now Beyoncé] is the most played woman on country music,” she added before criticizing the multiple Grammy-winner’s decision to cover Dolly Parton‘s 1973 smash hit “Jolene”.
“It’s quite an interesting thing to do when you’re trying to tackle a new genre and you pick the biggest song in that genre,” Allen continued, cynically adding: “I mean you do you, Beyoncé.”
Allen, who is currently recording a new album in Nashville, added: “I’m here because I love country music and always have done, not saying Beyoncé doesn’t, but I tell stories in my music and that’s what country music is.”
However, Beyoncé’s fanbase, known as the “Beyhive,” were not having any of it and rushed to her defense on X, slamming Allen as “jealous” and “privileged.”
One wrote: “Who is Lily Allen? Girl stay in your lane and keep Beyonce’s name out ya mouth!” Another wrote: “So Lily Allen reckons she and bey are rivals because she’s putting a country album out too. Jealous girl sit down! There’s levels to this,” while a third replied: “Lily Allen is a Brit and she’s doing country and has the nerve to bring her mouth to Texas-born Beyonce? Oh the privilege!”
But while Allen is not a fan of Bey’s latest efforts, the same could not be said for Beatles’ icon Sir Paul McCartney.
The 81-year-old star took to instagram to share his excitement at Beyoncé’s cover of his legendary track “Blackbird,” the civil rights-inspired Beatles song released in 1968, on Cowboy Carter.
“I am so happy with Beyoncé’s version of my song ‘Blackbird’,” McCartney said in an Instagram post. “I think she does a magnificent job of it and it reinforces the civil rights message that inspired me to write the song in the first place.
“I think Beyoncé has done a fab version and would urge anyone who has not heard it yet to check it out. You are going to love it!”
McCartney revealed that he spoke with Beyoncé on FaceTime, where she thanked him for writing the song: “I told her the pleasure was all mine and I thought she had done a killer version of the song.”
Beyoncé’s foray into country music has been met with resistance and serious backlash from some country music fans and country music radio stations who ignored fan requests to play the songs on air.
Dukes of Hazzard actor John Schneider was also accused of racism when he compared the “Crazy in Love” singer’s ambitions to step into the new genre to a dog marking its territory, during an interview with conservative network One America News.
Black artists joining the country music scene has long been a controversial issue despite rhythm & blues, created by Black musicians, having inspired the genre.
On Monday, April 1, she hit back by calling out “all the record labels, every radio station, every awards show” telling the audience at the iHeartRadio Music Awards that the music industry needs to become “more open to the joy and liberation that comes from enjoying art with no preconceived notions.”
