Miley Cyrus gave Beyoncé her “flowers” for her new album, Cowboy Carter.
“I’ve loved Beyoncé since long before I had the opportunity to meet and work with her,” Cyrus, 31, wrote on Instagram on Friday, March 29, the same day that Beyoncé, 42, released the second album in the trilogy she began with 2022’s Renaissance. Cyrus is one of the many stars featured on the project, joining Beyoncé for the tenderhearted outlaw duet, “II Most Wanted.”
Cyrus posted the artwork for Cowboy Carter to her Instagram, along with a message about how her “admiration” for Beyoncé “runs so much deeper now that I’ve created alongside of her.”
“Thank you, Beyoncé,” continued Cyrus. “You’re everything [and] more. Love you. To everyone who spent time making this song so special thank you from the bottom of my heart.”
“II Most Wanted” sees Beyoncé and Cyrus join voices on the chorus. “I’ll be your shotgun rider ’til the day I die,” they sing. “Smoke out the window, flyin’ down the 405 / I’ll be your backseat baby, drivin’ you crazy / Anytime you like, I’ll be your shotgun rider ’til the day I die.”
Elsewhere on the album, Cyrus’s godmother, Dolly Parton, appears via voice note to make a subtle reference to “Becky with the good hair” from Beyonce’s 2016 album, Lemonade. Parton, 78, says, “You know that hussy with the good hair you sing about? Reminded me of someone I knew back when; except she has flamin’ locks of auburn hair. Bless her heart. Just a hair of a different color, but it hurts just the same.”
This moment leads into Beyoncé’s version of Parton’s classic “Jolene.” Whereas Parton first begged Jolene not to take her man “because you can,” Beyoncé warns the titular woman not to “take the chance because you think you can.”
“Jolene, I’m a woman too / Thе games you play are nothing new / So you don’t want no hеat with me, Jolene,” she sings. Beyoncé’s version includes nods to her romance with Jay-Z and the family they’ve started together. She also notes that Jolene “don’t want this smoke, so shoot your shot with someone else.”
Cowboy Carter also features Beyoncé reworking songs by the Beach Boys (“Good Vibrations”), Nancy Sinatra (“These Boots Are Made For Walking”), Buffalo Springfield (“For What It’s Worth”) and Chuck Berry (“Oh Louisiana”). The album also features a cover of the Beatles’ “Blackbird” with country stars Tanner Ardell, Brittney Spencer, Tiera Kennedy and Reyna Roberts singing along with Beyoncé.
