Before Shaboozey topped the country charts with his April 2024 track “A Bar Song (Tipsy),” he was a new voice featured on Beyoncé’s monumental country crossover, Cowboy Carter, which she released one month earlier. Shaboozey performs on two tracks from Beyoncé’s album, including “Spaghetti” and “Sweet Honey Buckiin.” If you’re wondering if Shaboozey was aware of the gravity of his situation, walking into the studio with the incomparable Queen Bey, he and his nerves would say they definitely were.
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Conversely, Beyoncé knew the power she wielded as a prolific and internationally recognized pop icon, inviting a relatively unknown Black country artist to sing on what could arguably be considered one of the most talked-about and controversial records of her entire career. So, Bey seized the opportunity to impart some wisdom to the next generation.
Beyoncé Gave Shaboozey Three-Word Piece Of Advice
Being in the same room as Beyoncé would be understandably intimidating. But performing with her? Even more stomach-turning. Shaboozey struggled with self-doubt in the early stages of recording. “[I was like], ‘Oh, man, I can’t do these runs,’ or ‘I am nowhere near the vocalist, performer, or anything Beyoncé is.’ And I kind of got in my head about that,” the country artist confessed in a 2025 People interview. “What they told me was, ‘Hey, we brought you here for you to do you. For you to be yourself.’”
Shaboozey said his biggest takeaway from Beyoncé was a simple but effective “just be yourself.” This guidance contradicted Shaboozey’s original goal, which was to step up to the studio mic and deliver a performance that would wholly impress Beyoncé. “I got to do something that Beyoncé is going to like,” Shaboozey recalled thinking in an April 2024 interview with GQ magazine. “And they’re like, ‘No, bro, do what you would do.’ It was really cool to fully be able to do me. That was really awesome. She’s a creative creator, and so am I. I really respect her artistry, her visions.”
And indeed, Shaboozey had reason to trust his instincts. His path crossed with Beyoncé’s as both artists were beginning to carve out space for themselves as Black musicians in the historically predominantly white country music industry. “There’s not too many people of color that are really in this space,” Shaboozey explained in an exclusive interview with American Songwriter. “That was part of my reason for even being like, ‘Hey, this is something I feel like I want to be a part of.’”
Are Future Collaborations In The Works?
While we should preface this speculation with a disclaimer that we have heard no news of the sort, we can’t help but wonder if Beyoncé and Shaboozey will continue working together on other creative endeavors. Namely, our ears perked up when we heard Shaboozey talk about his admiration and respect for pioneering Black country artist Linda Martell. In his 2024 GQ interview, Shaboozey revealed that he has dreams of writing a biopic about Martell. But before that could happen, Shaboozey nabbed a performance credit with the iconic artist after Beyoncé featured her in one of her collabs with Shaboozey, “Spaghetti.”
As Shaboozey put it to GQ, “To be able to also be on a song with her is just showing me that the universe is definitely listening.” We’re listening, too. Bey and Boozey have already proved that they work well together and that those collaborations pay off. (More specifically, in the form of Beyoncé’s 2025 Grammy win for Best Country Album.)
With the popularity of biopics on the rise, thanks to films like A Complete Unknown and the upcoming Bruce Springsteen flick, it’s not completely out of the realm of possibility that Beyoncé and Shaboozey could once again join forces to pay homage to the Black woman who laid the groundwork for them to do what they’re doing right now. We can dream, right?
Photo by Corine Solberg/Getty Images
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