We're only one quarter into 2024, and Beyoncé's Cowboy Carter has already become the sensation it set out to be when it was first announced back in February.
The album was released on March 29 and has received significant critical acclaim, becoming the year's best reviewed album and an early contender for many fans for the 2025 Grammy Awards.
While the 27 track album features several highlights and collaborations, from Miley Cyrus and Dolly Parton to Tanner Adell and Shaboozey, one that stands out is from none other than Rumi Carter.
The six-year-old, Beyoncé's youngest with husband Jay-Z, makes her musical debut on Cowboy Carter's fourth track, "Protector," with a spoken word interlude.
In doing so, Rumi became the second of Beyoncé's children to foray into the industry like her parents, following in the footsteps of her big sister Blue Ivy.
The 12-year-old was first featured on one of her parents' releases just days after her birth, when Jay-Z used her first cries on his 2012 track "Glory."
She then properly featured on the 2019 song "Brown Skin Girl" with her mom, with the 2020 music video winning a Grammy and making Blue the youngest individually credited Grammy Award winner in history.
Rumi is also more comfortable with embracing the spotlight than her twin brother Sir, just like her big sister, and joined Blue and her dad at the 2024 Super Bowl, confidently posing for photos and showcasing her confidence at such a young age.
MORE: Beyoncé reveals how daughter Blue Ivy inspired her viral new look
Blue has comfortably settled into her role in the limelight, having joined her parents for several award ceremonies and red carpets over the years (most recently at the 66th Grammy Awards this February, where her dad was honored).
© Getty ImagesShe made her mainstream leap into stardom last year, however, when she joined Beyoncé's Renaissance Tour as a dancer, performing to "Black Parade" and "My Power" with her mother.
Cowboy Carter serves as an "act ii" to her critically acclaimed house and ballroom-inspired 2022 album Renaissance, with the two records being conceived during the pandemic as part of a trilogy.
SEE: Blue Ivy's adorable bond with ultimate 'girl dad' Jay Z – rare photos
In a Parkwood Entertainment press release after the record dropped, the "Texas Hold 'Em" singer explained that her intention was originally to release Cowboy Carter first, but she felt like the world needed to "dance" with Renaissance.
© Getty Images"This album took over five years," she said. "It's been really great to have the time and the grace to be able to take my time with it. I was initially going to put Cowboy Carter out first, but with the pandemic, there was too much heaviness in the world. We wanted to dance. We deserved to dance. But I had to trust God's timing."
"The joy of creating music is that there are no rules," she continued. "The more I see the world evolving the more I felt a deeper connection to purity. With artificial intelligence and digital filters and programming, I wanted to go back to real instruments, and I used very old ones."
© Instagram/@beyonce"I didn't want some layers of instruments like strings, especially guitars, and organs perfectly in tune. I kept some songs raw and leaned into folk. All the sounds were so organic and human, everyday things like the wind, snaps and even the sound of birds and chickens, the sounds of nature."
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