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Fans are NOT here for Lily Allen's take on Beyoncé 'Jolene' cover
We really don't have to share our opinions on everything!
Lily Allen is getting flack after opting to wade into the conversation surrounding Beyoncé’s new album in a strange way.
The “Not Fair” singer was chatting with co-host Miquita Oliver during a recent episode of their podcast, “Miss Me?,” when the topic of Cowboy Carter came up.
Oliver didn’t care for Beyoncé’s cover of Dolly Parton’s most iconic song, “Jolene,” which prompted Allen to point out, “It’s quite an interesting thing to do when you’re trying to tackle a new genre, and you just choose the biggest song in that genre to cover.”
"I mean, you do you, Beyoncé,” she added. “And she literally is doing her — or is she doing Dolly?"
Parton previously expressed a desire for Bey to cover the song, and has shown public support for her version following its release.
The conversations surrounding Cowboy Carter have been contentious, with a lot of people spouting off opinions that would have been better kept to themselves. So it really isn't a surprise that Allen’s remarks were not appreciated across social media.
And while Allen might have a point in a broader sense about artists tackling a song everyone knows when entering a new genre, in this particular instance, it doesn’t feel like a stretch to assume that was part of the reason Beyoncé chose “Jolene” to begin with.
Ahead of the album’s release, Beyoncé took to Instagram to explain that her foray into country music came from an experience that left her feeling unwelcome in the genre. Choosing to cover such a widely beloved song within that genre makes it impossible to ignore.
And Allen did seem to have a better grasp of that in the remainder of the conversation, as Oliver noted she would have liked Cowboy Carter more if it was just an album, rather than “forcing itself to be part of its own narrative of ‘I’m a country album.’”
“Well, I mean, I think that it’s intentional, right?” Allen countered, pointing out that Beyoncé was already wearing a cowboy hat at the Grammys when Jay-Z called the awards ceremony out for never giving her album of the year.
“And so it’s a bit about challenging these institutions that have thus far rejected Beyoncé as the icon and institution that she is of herself, right? So now she’s the most played woman on country radio, number one,” she added. “And you know, I guess she’s coming for that market. I don’t really know why, but then, you know, who am I to question it?”
Rachel Kiley is presumably a writer and definitely not a terminator. She can usually be found crying over queerbaiting in the Pitch Perfect franchise or on Twitter, if not both.
Rachel Kiley is presumably a writer and definitely not a terminator. She can usually be found crying over queerbaiting in the Pitch Perfect franchise or on Twitter, if not both.
