Azealia Banks tells Beyoncé “you’re setting yourself up to be ridiculed again” over new country album

nme.com:

Azealia Banks has spoken out against Beyoncé’s new country-tinged musical direction, saying she is “setting herself up to be ridiculed”.Beyoncé announced details of her new album ‘Renaissance Act II’ during a Verizon advertisement during Sunday’s Super Bowl.

The record is the second instalment of what is expected to be a ‘Renaissance’ trilogy, and it will come out on March 29.As soon as the advert concluded, Beyoncé released the project’s first two singles ‘Texas Hold ‘Em’ and ‘16 Carriages’, and the banjo twang of the former and the slow, forlorn pacing of the latter both seem to confirm ongoing fan speculation that Beyoncé was planning on releasing a country-flavoured album.Now, Banks has spoken up, warning her fellow performer that she was making a mistake.

In an Instagram Stories post (via Music News), she said about the new material: “Nothing country about it. You’re setting yourself up to be ridiculed again.

There’s a theatrical element to country music. Them critics are not just going to accept an ugly blond wig and bullying from Jay-Z.