Beyoncé‘s gorgeous cover of “Blackbird” has Paul McCartney‘s enthusiastic stamp of approval. The 42-year-old songstress put her spin on the Beatles’ 1968 classic for her new country-influenced album, Cowboy Carter. 

“I am so happy with @beyonce‘s version of my song ‘Blackbird,'” McCartney, 81, shared on Instagram alongside a black and white photo of the musicians posing together at an event. “I think she does a magnificent version of it and it reinforces the civil rights message that inspired me to write the song in the first place. I think Beyoncé has done a fab version and would urge anyone who has not heard it yet to check it out. You are going to love it!”

He continued, sharing the story of how the new version of his hit song came to be. 

“I spoke to her on FaceTime and she thanked me for writing it and letting her do it,” he explained. “I told her the pleasure was all mine and I thought she had done a killer version of the song. When I saw the footage on the television in the early 60s of the black girls being turned away from school, I found it shocking and I can’t believe that still in these days there are places where this kind of thing is happening right now. Anything my song and Beyoncé’s fabulous version can do to ease racial tension would be a great thing and makes me very proud.”

Prior to the release of her full-length album, Bey explained that the idea behind Cowboy Carter was born after an unnamed incident “years ago.”

“This album has been over five years in the making. It was born out of an experience that I had years ago where I did not feel welcomed…and it was very clear that I wasn’t,” she recalled in a post on Instagram. “But, because of that experience, I did a deeper dive into the history of Country music and studied our rich musical archive. It feels good to see how music can unite so many people around the world, while also amplifying the voices of some of the people who have dedicated so much of their lives educating on our musical history.”

She continued, “The criticisms I faced when I first entered this genre forced me to propel past the limitations that were put on me. act ii is a result of challenging myself, and taking my time to bend and blend genres together to create this body of work.”

Although the mother of three doesn’t detail the incident she wrote of, fans are openly speculating that Beyoncé is referring to her performance of “Daddy Lessons” at the Country Music Awards alongside the Chicks (formerly the Dixie Chicks) in 2016. Back then, she faced criticism from the country community, including artists who dismissed her as a pop artist.

Similarly to then, the Houston-born musician has received pushback for tapping into her country roots because she’s traditionally viewed as an R&B/Pop artist.

In February, Beyoncé dropped “Texas Hold ‘Em” and “16 Carriages” during Super Bowl LVIII. She’d go on to make history as the first Black female artist to top Billboard’s Hot 100 Country Songs chart with “Texas Hold ‘Em.”

“I feel honored to be the first Black woman with the number one single on the Hot Country Songs chart. That would not have happened without the outpouring of support from each and every one of you,” she wrote at the time. “My hope is that years from now, the mention of an artist’s race, as it relates to releasing genres of music, will be irrelevant.”

Cowboy Carter, Beyoncé’s eighth studio album and the second in her planned Renaissance trilogy, dropped on March 29. It features collaborations with Dolly Parton — and a reimagined version of her 1973 hit, “Jolene” — as well as Post Malone, Miley Cyrus, Willie Nelson and Linda Martell, among others. 

On Wednesday, Beyoncé dropped the surprise “Texas Hold ‘Em (Pony Up Remix).” She also launched a mysterious and almost cryptic new website, beencountry.com, which some have suggested may be her way of teasing a forthcoming tour announcement.

For the latest Beyoncé news, watch below. 

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