Beyoncé’s ‘Cowboy Carter’ Tour Felt Like A Revolution For Southern Black Women—And I’ve Never Felt More Seen [Op-Ed] - Page 5

Posted on July 30, 2025 - By Shanique Yates

5. Black Southern Pride Must Be Passed Down To The Younger Generations

We’ve been fortunate enough to witness the evolution of Blue Ivy Carter, who has been featured in various projects led by her mother over the years. However, something about her performance at the Cowboy Carter Tour hit differently, especially with her “Deja Vu” solo, where she completely dominated the stage during each tour stop.

It’s a direct callback to the 2006 BET Awards, where her mother set the tone for what a future with Beyoncé as a solo act would look like, and Blue Ivy certainly did not disappoint, even becoming overwhelmed with emotion by the crowd’s reaction during her final performance in Vegas.

Rumi Carter, however, really stole the show, coming out to “Protector,” the track on which her voice is also featured on the Cowboy Carter album. Following a montage centered around her children, who are a central theme throughout the performance, with Rumi joining her and Blue Ivy on stage for a performance that left me in tears during both shows I attended.

Including her children in an album that is so rooted in her Southern identity, and having her daughters join her on stage for the tour is proof in the pudding that no matter where life takes us Southern girls, it is our responsibility to have those who come behind us know the importance of having a lineage that stems from the South—something that, contrary to popular belief, rings true for a lot of Black Americans no matter the region that wound up in.

For Beyoncé, it was her parents who remained rooted in their Southern identities, with roots in Alabama, Louisiana, and Texas, that have always caused her to remain authentic to who she is at her core.

Kicking the show off with a powerful live rendition of “Ya Ya” where she belts out B-E-Y-I-N-C-E, serves as a reminder that though white America tries to strip and rob us of our identity, Beyoncè will never get where she comes from, with this particular moment in the song referencing her family history passed down to her through her mother, as Beyince is her mother’s maiden name.

Again, you can take a girl up out of the country, but you cannot take the country up outta the girl, and at its core, the Cowboy Carter Tour has reinvigorated a desire in me to continue to pinpoint and highlight where I come from.

Beyoncè’s Cowboy Carter era may be coming to a close, but for what it’s worth, it has implored me to dig deeper into my Southern roots. Her first live performance of the album during the Beyonce Bowl, her history-defining halftime show during the 2024 Christmas Day Houston Texans game against the Baltimore Ravens at NRG Stadium in the Lone Star state, led to me discovering that I may have roots there myself by way of Jack Yates, but stay tuned as I continue to uncover!