Their fanbases might spend every other day clashing on social media, but the few of us who dream of the day a collaboration between Beyoncé and Taylor Swift will grace our ears are slowly losing their sanity trying to figure out whether that really is the “Anti-Hero” musician singing backing vocals on the Cowboy Carter track “Bodyguard.”
Beyoncé released her eighth solo studio album on Mar. 29, which she has marketed as the second act of a presumably three-part project that started with Renaissance in 2022. The country-inspired body of work, just like its dance music predecessor, is infused with references, interpolations, and features meant to honor pioneers and unsung heroes of the genre. Among them are country music legends Dolly Parton, Willy Nelson, and Linda Martell, as well as rising Black country artists like Tanner Adell, Brittney Spencer, Tiera Kennedy, Reyna Roberts, Shaboozey, and Willie Jones. Younger western pop stars like Miley Cyrus and Post Malone are also featured.
Beyoncé conceived Cowboy Carter as a statement about the contributions Black musicians have made to the country genre over the years and how historically unwelcomed they have been in that particular music scene.
Is Taylor Swift secretly in a song from Cowboy Carter?
Early rumors around the release of Cowboy Carter teased collaborations with the likes of Lady Gaga (we need the Telephone‘s sequel NOW!) and Taylor Swift. Swift, whose career began in the country genre, is friendly with Beyoncé, with the two attending the premiere of each other’s concert films throughout 2023.
After Cowboy Carter‘s release, fans of the two (yes, we exist) were convinced they could hear Swift singing on the song “Bodyguard” (you can check for yourself, but the suspicions refer to the “Ooh Wee Ooh Aah Aah” vocals heard repeatedly throughout the track). The rumors spread and soon someone had credited Taylor Swift as “Background Vocals” on the song’s page on the Genius website (which, like Wikipedia and others, can receive contributions by any user, but needs official editor confirmation at a later stage).
The credits have since been removed, and there has been no other proof of Taylor Swift’s involvement in “Bodyguard” yet (well, besides the vocals that sound exactly like her, that is). Jason Lipshutz, an executive director at Billboard, told fans on X that it was not Swift singing in the song, a statement which People also confirmed.
