Chris Young may not have made Beyoncé’s list of collaborators on Cowboy Carter, but he’s opening up the invitation to get in the studio together in the future.
“Tell her I’m here for her,” Young, 38, told TMZ on Thursday, April 4.
When asked how he feels about Beyoncé, 42, entering the country space, Young gushed, “I love it.” He added that he’s a big fan of Dolly Parton’s spoken-word intro to the song, “Jolene,” titled “Dolly P.”
“I love the fact that she had Dolly do the intro,” he said. “I think that’s amazing.”
Parton’s highly-anticipated contribution to Beyoncé’s album was revealed when Cowboy Carter dropped in March.
“Hey, Miss Honey B, it’s Dolly P. You know that hussy with the good hair you sang about?” Parton, 78, quipped in the intro. “Reminding me of someone I knew back when, except she has flaming locks of auburn hair, bless her heart. Just a hair of a different color, but it hurts just the same.”
Parton’s intro referenced Beyoncé’s song “Sorry” off her 2016 album, Lemonade, where she sang about a cheating man and his mistress. “He only want me when I’m not there / He better call Becky with the good hair,” Beyoncé sang.
Since the song dropped, the Bey-hive has debated the real-life identity of Becky. “Sorry” cowriter Diana Gordon eventually set the record straight about the speculation, saying the line wasn’t in reference to one particular person.
“I laughed, like, this is so silly. Where are we living?” Gordon told Entertainment Weekly in August 2016. “I was like, ‘What day in age from that lyric do you get all of this information? Is it really telling you all that much, accusing people?’”
Parton, for her part, was tight-lipped about her involvement in Cowboy Carter. In March, she teased that Beyoncé may have covered “Jolene” in the album.
“I think she’s recorded ‘Jolene’ and I think it’s probably gonna be on her country album, which I’m very excited about that,” Parton told Knox News. “I love her! She’s a beautiful girl and a great singer.”
In addition to Parton, Cowboy Carter featured a star-studded list of guests including Willie Nelson and country music icon Linda Martell, who joined the album for spoken-word intros. Beyoncé also teamed up with Parton’s goddaughter, Miley Cyrus, on the track “II Most Wanted.”
“I focused on this album as a continuation of Renaissance,” Beyoncé wrote via Instagram in March. “I hope this music is an experience, creating another journey where you can close your eyes, start from the beginning and never stop. This ain’t a Country album. This is a ‘Beyoncé’ album. This is act ii COWBOY CARTER and I am proud to share it with y’all!”
