Beyoncé’s artistry has this incredible gift of hiding Easter eggs in plain sight. And those gems are a delight for fans to uncover. From subtle samples to features that mean more than what the naked ear hears, Beyoncé is intentional. And on her latest masterpiece, Cowboy Carter, the 42-year-old genre-bucking artist offered a cover of The Beatles’ “Blackbird” intentionally featuring four Black women Country artists to pay homage to the song's original purpose. 

Written by Beatles members Paul McCartney and John Lennon, “Blackbird” was intended to offer aural solace to the southern Black community in America facing the brutality of racism. In an interview in 2018, McCartney said, “I was sitting around with my acoustic guitar and I’d heard about the civil rights troubles that were happening in the ’60s in Alabama, Mississippi, Little Rock in particular. I just thought it would be really good if I could write something that if it ever reached any of the people going through those problems, it might give them a little bit of hope. So, I wrote ‘Blackbird.'” In England, the word “bird” is slang for girl.

Beyoncé covered the song with four Black girls who are all Country artists who sing like birds: Tanner Adell, Brittney Spencer, Reyna Roberts and Tiera Kennedy. 

Cowboy Carter is the zeitgeist right now and for the foreseeable future. While the album focuses on Country music, it’s clear that the genre those 27 tracks are in is…Beyoncé. Because, in her own words, “This ain’t a Country album. This is a ‘Beyoncé’ album.” It is abundantly clear that Beyoncé contains multitudes. In a caption on Instagram, she shared, “I hope that you can hear my heart and soul, and all the love and passion that I poured into every detail and sound.”

Details like including Adell, Spencer, Roberts and Kennedy in a way that the world can’t ignore them. “Blackbird” has seen its fair share of covers from major artists, but this one sits in an intentional pocket that gave the song its meaning and that, in and of itself, is so powerful.

Black artists birthed the genres of music that exist here in America today that have expanded beyond this country. There is no ownership of music. However, Beyoncé’s not-so-subtle reminders that Black music is all music is truly satisfying.