The superstar opened her freshly released Cowboy Carter album on Friday with “Ameriican Requiem,” a half-spoken word declaration of her intentions with the country-tinged project. “Looka there, looka in my hand / The grandbaby of a moonshine man / Gadsden, Alabama / Got folk down in Galveston, rooted in Louisiana / Used to say I spoke, ‘Too country’ / And the rejection came, said ‘I wasn’t country ‘nough,” she sings on the tracks second verse.
The lyrics are seemingly in response to criticism the Texas native has faced when trying to dabble in country music throughout her career, especially after the release of “Daddy Lessons” from her 2016 album . Half a year later, she performed it at the 2016 Country Music Association Awards alongside The Chicks.